Wicked Tools to Transform Your Canvas Course

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This content coordinates with “Changed for Good: Wicked Tools to Transform Your Canvas Course,” a presentation given at InstructureCon 2025. The presentation was facilitated by Valentine S. King (The Wharton School at UPenn), Greg Beyrer (Cosumnes River College), JeVaughn Lancaster (Lynn University), and Jessica Sowalsky (University of Maryland).

The conference was held at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, WA – the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Spokane Tribal People. Our presentation team was grateful to be on this land and for the people that first stewarded it. We welcome you to learn more about the Spokane Tribe of Indians.

This magical session introduces a collection of premium tools & LTIs that seamlessly integrate with Canvas to enhance engagement, streamline navigation, and improve overall ease-of-use. Each featured tool from this edtech grimmerie is paired with alternative solutions – such as Cidi Labs DesignPLUS, Articulate Rise and quizzing features – ensuring flexibility in course design.

 

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Questions – Answered

Types of External Assets Checked by DesignPLUS

Great question! The types of external assets that can be checked or managed by DesignPLUS is:

  • External Links (URLs)
    • Highlights broken external links in Pages
    • Identifies if link opens in new tab
  • Embedded Media
    • i.e., YouTube, Vimeo, Panopto & other 3rd-party video or audio embeds
    • Identifies missing or broken iframe or embed codes
  • Images Hosted Externally
    • Image URLs can be flagged if missing or broken
  • Google Drive/One Drive Embedded Files, and
    • Identifies issues like missing embed permissions or broken file links
  • LTI Tools
    • Checks if tools (like Perusall, Turnitin, VoiceThread) are correctly embedded; can show if a tool fails to load or embed properly.

Examples How DesignPLUS Can Be Used

Besides creating a welcoming home/front page, Cidi Labs DesignPLUS can be used in other ways.

  • Create consistent and branded course pages (using the Design Tools sidebar – Theme feature and Institutional Templates/Custom styles).
  • Build interactive and accessible course pages (using Tabbed Content & Accordions, Acessible Image Tooltips and Alt-text)
  • Streamline course copying & setup (using MultiTool, Template Builder, and Due Date Modifier)
  • Check for broken links or missing media (using Accessibility Checker and Validate Links and Media feature)
  • Enhance instructor presence helping teachers humanize their courses

Canvas & Assessment Resources


Image Resources

  • Slide 1, 3, 4, 23, 27, 36, 38 | image assets from Canvas free account
  • Slide 5 | Cidi Labs logo
  • Slide 17 | Google images; public domain
  • Slide 18 | You’re Green! by Rizal Badar (notsobadart)
  • Slide 20 | We’re going to make you pop-u-lar by NaomiMakesArt
  • Slide 22 | Portrait of Glinda by Denver Balbaboco
  • Slide 28, 29, 33, 35, 37 | Chat GPT