SEED projects 2019 – A new Canvas for teaching and learning

Integrating and customising Canvas course packs provided by book publishers

Dr Ludmila Adam

Dr Ludmila Adam, Dr Nicholas Richards, Prof Kathleen Campbell, Prof Shane Cronin, and Dr Lorna Strachan (Faculty of Science). With Peter Ruscitti (W. W. Norton, Inc)

In 2019 we restructured the way we teach our core EARTHSCI 120* Planet Earth class. We are now teaching it as a studio class style . The aim is to have better student engagement by providing hands-on and critical thinking exercises while emphasising key learning points. With this approach students can be active participants of the class rather than sitting and passively listening. The class has 5 contact hours a week. We have learned how to implement, at a large scale, a studio class style from conversations with physics colleagues and by attending PHYSICS 120. Our proposal builds on the opportunity to implement the Norton CANVAS course pack linked to the class textbook.

Studio classes rely heavily on practical components for which we have integrated assignments, activities and audio-visuals from the CANVAS course pack. For five years we have used “Earth, Portrait of a Planet” as the class textbook, which is published by Norton. We are familiar with the book as we closely follow the book outline and content. To support our change to an interactive and engaging class, we have taken advantage of the book’s free CANVAS course pack material offered by Norton. This has allowed us to directly integrate digital material into the studio class sessions, CANVAS-linked videos, pre-lab homework and tests.