Piecemeal seems to be the norm rather than the exception when developing a robust and creative online course. At a recent symposium I asked a presenter, an expert on self-evaluation, for an alternative to the lackluster evaluation tool in Blackboard. She said their institution has an API that can be converting using a plugin to the latest Canvas platform.
Our institution doesn’t have, nor needs, a small army of programmers and coders required to do this.
The solution lies in simple embedding, or iFrame. Become proficient at embedding and your designs will engage your students even more with their creative and fresh approaches. Some, if not most, apps provide embed codes that can be placed right into your LMS course. To your students, these apps appear to be part of the course shell, so students do not have to navigate out of your course minimizing the inherit temptation of the Internet.
Prezi, for example has an embed code you can easily place in and LMS. A fresh alternative to PowerPoint.
Get them collaborating with an embedded and integrated Padlet. It can fit right into your flow of the lesson.
Even Kahoot!, which doesn’t offer an embed code, can be embedded.
To embed an app that doesn’t provide embed codes use the embed code iFrame generator. Don’t be intimidated by the name, it’s really straight forward if you know how to copy and paste.
Finally, a nice self and peer assessment, or even an anonymous instructor evaluation, can be completed if you have a form tool such as Microsoft Office Forms, a standard Office 365 app.
Or, if you prefer the following style by all means stick with it, it accomplishes the task and is straight-forward. But, it’s like eating raw potatoes when you can have poutine (without the calories).
Just look for “Share” and the “</>” option and you are heading in the right direction to adding a whole new dimension to you courses.
Enjoy creating for learning.
HKKS Education 