Canva
What is Canva?
That was what I asked myself when I was asked to use it for an assignment in grad school about a year ago. Our professor wanted us to make an infographic about something and told us that this resource would be a good one to use.
Canva is a graphic design resource that is available as an app and from its website. I have used both the app and website versions and both run pretty smoothly. I only have the free version which limits what you can do through the app. The upgrade is $12.95 per month. Below are the different features between the versions. There is also Canva Enterprise, but that is primarily for groups of people with 30+ members.
I'm really fine with only having the free version of Canva. I don't think I would use it enough to warrant the Canva for Work version. However, if I ended up using the app a lot I like it enough to consider paying for the upgrade.
One feature that is only in the upgrade is the resizing of designs. I've used this before and have wished that there was a different size template to use but I had to stick with the templates.
How to use it
Below I have added a video of how to use Canva. Please keep in mind that I am still a beginner when it comes to Canva and there are probably more advanced features than what I covered!
Advantages
There is so much that you can do with this app because there is so much that you can choose from. For educational purposes, both as the teacher and student, these are the apps that I think would be useful in the classroom: presentation, poster, flyer, resume, book cover, photo collage, infographic, and brochure. However, there are many more to choose from and you can use different templates for different things than they advertise. For example, I wanted to do an infographic for a website that I'm building. The infographic ended up being way too big and I had to switch to an Instagram template, which was a better size.
The struggles
Moving things around on your creation can be difficult, especially if you're using a mouse pad that is built into your computer like I did. I would recommend attaching a mouse for the best use. Likewise, it can also be a little hard to use if you're on your phone, just because the screen is so small.
My creation
Like I discussed in my video, I did an infographic on John F. Kennedy. In a classroom, I could ask my students to create an infographic on a vocabulary word revolving around a certain topic. So if the topic was the Cold War I could assign someone JFK, someone else could do Cuban Missile Crisis, someone else could do the red scare, etc. Below is my creation!
Canva for infographics is a great idea to make something that can be complex a little easier for teachers and for students. Canva allows users to get fairly creative and is an awesome resource for creating your own visuals for presentations or you did for a website.
ReplyDeleteI did find out that Canva is free for non-profits which includes K-12, colleges and universities. Find our more at https://support.canva.com/account-basics/nonprofit-program/apply-for-nonprofit/
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteGreat screencast! It really helps the viewer get a better idea of how to use Canvas and to see you actually create something step-by-step.
I have used Canva several times in the past, and love it. I didn't realize they have a subscription version. However, I have paid for some of the images a la carte.
Thanks,
Heather
As Heather stated, really liked your screenshot. Things like that are great for helping the reading gain a better understanding.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering what Canva is all about. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteKatie! I'm so impressed with your blog and your video! I will have to give it a try and maybe have my students create an infographic soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of Canva before, but from what you have shared it sounds like an awesome application! I like the idea of students creating infographs to show understanding.
I had to do the same thing for one of my classes! I'm not going to lie, I actually really disliked Canva. I thought it eas way too hard to use and planned on giving up on it. You're infogrpahic about JFK has somewhat changed my mind (maybe because yours was waaaaay better than what I made for my class). I've looked into it a bit more and see where even though it is difficult, if you spend some time on it you could definitely create something interesting and informative. Thanks for changing my mind!
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