This Canvas Shell was created to equip university students from RMIT Vietnam with essential and advanced employability skills so that they will land suitable internships or jobs.
Audience: Students with compulsory internship, year-2 and year-3 students
Responsibilities: Problem Solving, Focus Group, Learning Design, Scriptwriting, Storyboarding, Visual Mockup, Animation, eLearning Development
Tools Used: Canvas LMS, HTML/CSS, Genially, Twine, Padlet, Game.io, Canva, Google Sheets, Google Docs
As some students struggle to find suitable placements and receive negative feedback from their employers, the Careers Department wants to create a Canvas Shell to assist the students with practical employability skills.
Pinpointing the precise issues is the first step to see if building a Canvas Shell is the right solution and what to put in the course if it is.
This is the start of the analysis in agile ADDIE, the design process I used for this project.
I reviewed the problem presented by looking at the perspectives of three different stakeholders:
From the department’s perspective
The careers team had taken time to deliver workshops for different student groups, often for repetitive, procedural content
They wanted to use workshops for more in-depth topics
From the employers' perspective
I viewed the reports from previous employers and looked for specific feedback that demonstrated a gap in knowledge or a lack of skills from the students.
From the students’ perspective
Needed something practical, engaging, and relatable.
Found current educational experiences a bit theoretical and not very helpful
My findings:
Although students' unsatisfactory performance at work was caused by some environmental factors, it also stemmed from knowledge and skill gaps.
This means learning could be a solution. Since the students had flexible study time and location, eLearning could be a suitable approach.
I consolidated these issues in a document, making it easier to communicate with other stakeholders.
After getting the green light, I started designing the course.
I continued to analyze these key aspects:
High-priority content
Out of all the knowledge/skill gaps, which affects students' performance most?
Learners' context
The level of support learners need in each topic
Learners' attitudes towards optional courses: the students were busy and only learned what they found helpful
Learners' preferences: practical, actionable guidance
Instructional context
The limitation of Canvas (the students already used this in their academics)
Based on the analysis above, I made these design decisions:
The course would be designed to enable students to pick any problems they find relevant.
Assessments would be included at the end of each page. They would be of different formats like quizzes, discussions, or sharing.
The overview includes what the module is about & its learning objectives
After creating the first version of the course content, I conducted a focus group with 20 students to gather their insights based on these criteria:
Relevance
Novelty
Difficulty level (if something is too easy, it might not be helpful)
For this step, I used Google Sheets to consolidate the data, which were later used to fine-tune the course content details.
Based on my learners' preferences analysis, I created a Mood Board to inspire the course look & feel.
I wanted the course to look approachable and semi-casual rather than formal. However, it still needs to look consistent.
The result was this:
I created or sourced different memes to make the content relatable and fun for the students.
Interactives along with texts can enhance learning. I used these tools:
h5p
Genially
Padlet
Emblem integrated in Canvas. Then customized elements with HTML/CSS.
h5p
Genially
Padlet
HTML/CSS Customized Buttons
I used the accessibility checker in Canvas until no issue was found.
I also made sure all the links were screenreader-friendly.
I wrote Images Description and defined text levels: Header - Titles.
Two key things:
I created the Home Page and provided instructions on how to use the course.
Then, I reviewed Canvas Design Best Practices to fine-tune all the course details.
Home Page 1
Home Page 2
Canvas Design Best Practices
The project received positive feedback from different stakeholders. After this project, I have gained crucial lessons that will enhance my learning experiences in the future:
Keeping each page in the course concise helps retain learners' attention. Four to five scrolls per page is a good place to start.
A mix of media helps enhance learning. I applied multimedia design principles to bring my courses to life.
If the learning content is interesting and relevant enough, learners will engage with it.
