Hi learning pod 9! We really enjoyed reading your interactive learning resource and this is learning pod 8’s review of “Storybook Creation Using Canva”.
What We Liked
On the home page, the “What is Canva” and “Examples” sections were a great introduction into the Canva portion of the material. It was well reasoned and helped us to understand why the topic was chosen. We also thought that having text-to-speech links at the bottom of the home page was innovative.
What Could Be Improved
(Overall)
Starting off, we have feedback on the overall resource. We found that the page title is hard to read on most pages. We would suggest changing the background image, because the student’s head and braids makes it difficult to read the first one or two words of each title. Additionally, it seems that the audience of your learning resource is an educator who will then use the materials to teach a grade 4-5 audience? If this is the case, this intention could be made more clear on the home page and alignment page.
(Resource Overview)
We also had feedback on the learning resource overview sections. In particular, the learning design rationale felt disconnected from each other. Each learning design style had different formatting and had different ways of highlighting its important points. We recommend reviewing this page and making these justifications more consistent and aligned with each other. Each learning design style also had its own citations and own citation method. We think this page would feel more cohesive if the citations were moved to a common section at the bottom of the page.
(Module Specific)
Finally, our feedback on the module organization itself. We found that each module could be more clear about what the activity is and what the student is expected to do. The “Alignment” section of each page described what the student was supposed to do well, but because it came before the “Resources” or “Learning Outcomes” we weren’t sure if the student was supposed to start these suggested activities before, during, or after watching/reading each resource. We would recommend carefully considering the order of each module’s content, and ordering it based on what order the student needs to know that information. The modules were also all formatted differently, using different backgrounds colours and header sizes. We would recommend making each module’s formatting more consistent with each other.
Module 1 did not seem to have an activity at all, so it was lacking interactivity. A few of our pod members thought that the students were meant to follow along with the instructions in the videos, but if so, that instruction should be made more specific. Is there a way to measure how much the student learned from the videos in the resources and marking if what students learned aligned with the learning outcomes?
Modules 3 and 4 seemed to cover very similar and overlapping information (see below table). The most concerning issue is that both activities result in needing to create an entire story or storyboard. In module 3 you need to know the title, characters, setting, and plot to create the images. Some of this is developed in module 2, but the title and some of the plot details aren’t developed until module 4’s activity. Module 4 does also get student’s to add the text to the story/storyboard.
| Module 3 | Module 4 | |
| Activity/Alignment | Design each of the pages of the student’s story, including a title page. | Create a story in Microsoft Word from the module 2 brainstorm, come up with a title, complete a story using Canva. |
| Essential Questions | Navigate Canva Include all story elements Using Microsoft Word to edit stories first | Full sentence/descriptive writing Include all story elements Using Microsoft Word to edit their stories first |
| Learning Outcomes | Use Canva tools to include images in the background and foreground. Create detailed images and/or storyboards with main story elements. | Use Canva textboxes to add text. Use language in creative and playful ways to engage my readers. Communicate in full sentences, applying conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation. |
| Resources | Create Children’s Book with Canva Create Storyboard with Canva | Character, Setting, and Plot Descriptive Writing |
Our recommendation for these units is to ensure that the essential questions, learning outcomes, resources, and activities all align. Be clear in each aspect of the unit that module 3 is meant for images and module 4 is meant for text. It did not seem clear in the essential questions of alignment sections. Additionally, on the Alignment page it says the units are meant to be sequential. Currently module 3 is slightly reliant on also completing module 4, so this may need to be updated. The main adjustment to make it sequential is that the title and all plot details should be decided as part of module 2 or 3.
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