Indian Epics

For this week's tech tip, I am talking about Canvas' dashboard. The Canvas dashboard it the first thing you see when you long into Canvas. Something that I really like about Canvas is how you can customize the colors and titles of your classes. I know some people who title their classes with their course ID and class name and I personally title my classes just with the class name. There are so many options so you can make it whatever you want it to be.  Something else that I do that is really handy is I customize the color of my classes on the dashboard. In my planner I color code my classes, for example for my Indian Epics course I write all of my homework and assignments in my planner in a light, lime green color so for my Canvas dashboard I made my Indian Epics course that same color.  You can even customize the colors so much that if you know the exact location on the color wheel you can write the corresponding color name (a series of letters...

Browser bookmarks have always been my friend. I have found it extremely useful to create browser bookmarks to access sites that I visit frequently. On my browser I have four bookmarks. If I have more than four I get a little overwhelmed because I do not like seeing all of them on my browser. Currently I have browser bookmarks for Canvas because I use Canvas for all of my classes and need easy access to it. It is much faster to click one thing instead of typing in the web address. I also have browser bookmarks for my PRSSA GoogleDrive. I am a member of exec. for PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) and I frequently need to access documents for PRSSA so it makes sense to have that as a bookmark. I also have a browser bookmark for the site where I log my hours for Lindsey + Asp. And my final browser bookmark is for Netflix because the quicker I can get access to Netflix the better right?

For both of my online classes last semester I had to edit my Canvas profile. The professors had us do this so they could get to know us a little bit since we didn't have class in-person with them. In my profile I describe who I am and a little bit about what I do for the university and what I do that is important towards my major, PR. I also have links to my Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and personal website/portfolio. (Screen shot of personal profile from Canvas)

During the first week of class I subscribed to the announcements email because Laura suggested that we subscribe. The subscription to announcement emails are really helpful because the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check my email. I check my email in the morning because it starts to get me thinking about everything that I need to do for the day and sometimes that includes tasks I need to complete for Indian Epics. Since I work a week ahead in this course it is helpful to look at the announcements double check and make sure that I completed everything that I needed to do the week before and double check that I turned everything in that I was supposed to turn in. ( GIPHY )

I have been a huge fan of Pinterest for many years. Many of my boards are what I would like to call "Dream Boards," which are a collection of different things that I would love to do or have in the future or even things I look at for inspiration. (Pinterest logo from Wiki ) This semester I am in an art therapy class where I have to keep a sketchbook. At the end of the semester I have to turn in 91 pages of drawings, collages, etc. that I have done throughout the semester. I wouldn't consider myself a very creative person so I look to Pinterest for ideas. I have a Pinterest board titled " sketchbook " that I save pins to for inspiration. I keep most of my boards private because they are all for my personal use and I don't follow anyone or invite my friends to view my pages. But, I do have a lot of friends who like to share their Pinterest board with others and they have a lot of fun doing that.

My first semester at OU I downloaded the Canvas   mobile app. I have found it very useful to look at announcements and grade postings. However, it isn't as user friendly as other apps that I have on my phone such as the Gmail app. (Screen shot of Canvas website) When I use the app for notifications about grades posted and announcements made by my professor. It is a great way to quickly view those things on Canvas. But the reason why I do not think it is very user friendly is because it doesn't allow you to read comments made by professors on the assignments you submit.