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Introduction: Educreations is a powerful mobile content creation app for educators and students. Educreations works with UDL principles by providing multiple means of content creation using, audio, video, screen recording, and images. Educreations has a subscription fee for instructors but is free to use for students assuming an instructor’s institution has a license. Here at FSCJ we have a College-wide license. Below is an infographic that highlights many of the uses of Educreations and an educational video I created with one of our math professors. _{Images courtesy of: Educreations ©Educreations 2019.}

UDL Principles: One of the strongest features of Educreations is its ability to create almost anything you can think of and its multiple means of delivery. You can store what you create, post it to a class or website, and share it.
Representation: Educreations provides multiple means of representation through it’s multiple means of displaying information. Video, audio, recorded lecture, importing images or video, and the ability to write on the screen with a stylus means there are multiple alternatives for auditory and visual information. An educator or student can be provided customized content to help with vocabulary, math, or almost any topic. Content can be created as FAQ’s, help videos, or other supporting material to promote understanding and comprehension in a variety of ways.
Action-Expression: There are multiple means of responding to students using Educreations or working with provided content. The mlearning aspect allows for recording just audio, the webcam, or drawing on the screen. Those features create options for communication and response. Guides, linking content to learning goals, and sharing create options for execute functions like planning and strategy development. Educreations is an open sandbox for communicating and expressing ideas because it combines audio, video, and screen recording.
Engagement: Because Educreations is access friendly we can see the content optimized for the individual. Students can create or modify existing content to make assignments have relevance and value. Students can work safely on their own mobile device or process instructor created content with minimized threats and distractions. Being able to access or create content anywhere mlearning is feasible fosters collaboration and interest. A professor could even import a student’s paper and write on it and provide audio commentary for customized feedback and assessment.

Classroom Applicaton: Educreations works easiest when the professor creates content that the students can access so a professor can create a repository of support for students to access; for example, solving a specific type of problem like balancing equations in Chemistry. In the video provided we see how a professor could solve problems. One activity would be where students create their own how-to solve a problem video where they verbalize their steps and draw their problem solving on the screen. They could even present these videos to the class, work in groups, or design their own activity. A professor could provide feedback along the way and the class can post their finished work to a repository thus teaching each other or future classes how to solve similar problems.

Introduction: All the tools in this repository lead up to Canvas which is one of the most powerful, cloud-based learning management systems (LMS) available. It is a web interface and supports mlearning so no special software or equipment is needed. Once you have assembled content and need to design a course Canvas is the tool you can use to populate your information and build your courses. The version of Canvas we use at FSCJ allows for tool integration with MyMathLab, Turnitin, the Big Blue Button, Arc, and many more. The means of representation, action, and engagement are so multiple we are only going to highlight some of the key features of Canvas that coincide with UDL principles and how they cross integrate with the other tools in this repository. Below are some infographics from the Canvas LMS website, the UDL breakdown, and some class activities.

_{Images courtesy of: Canvas LMS Copyright © 2019}

UDL Principles: By aligning a variety of methods, submission types, and assessments one can use Canvas as the UDL tool hub that ties the other 9 tools in this repository together. Students and instructors to have that one learning management tool that has the multiple means by which to work with all others. For this tool repository we’re going to look at how the notification, online conference, and course design features allow instructors the multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement to provide a student-centered learning experience in and out of the classroom.
Representation: Instructors can plan for leaner variability by providing activities and assignments that take advantage of web tools, audio/video tools, and html features of the discussion forums, assignment features, and pages forums. Instructors can provide clear learning outcomes because of the clean Canvas interface. Information can be expressed using a variety of multimedia options through the navigation bar with tools and activities from Connections or shared video in Arc. Educators can create diverse exercises that require critical thinking, pattern analysis, and demonstration by using solid design principles Action and Expression: Students and instructors can build, discuss, and express their knowledge in multiple ways with Canvas. Instructors can give students variable means of knowledge submissions. Students can produce and consume content through proper course design in Canvas. Courses can have group and individual forms of expression as audio/video, live streaming (through Big Blue Button), or text postings. From message boards to discussion forums, the instructor has multiple means by which to provide students options for content posting, consumption, and creation. By optimizing and guided students to the various tools that are available to them in Canvas, instructors can have students construct, express, and compose ideas and information. Canvas’s analytics can work in conjunction with the normal course design to help instructors guide students and provide them multiple means of support.
Engagement: Canvas and its online meeting capabilities provide multiple forms of engagement and communication. Feedback can be customized through the rubric tool or provided live through the Big Blue Button. By having variable means of assessment instructors can apply UDL principles and meet established goals while being focused on the learner. Instructors can drive interest and promote a variety of engagement options through the tool integration features and multiple means of submission. By having such a flexible LMS, instructors can clearly defined learning goals to assignments and modules. Links through the syllabus to assignments and rubrics allow students to self-assess and reflect if an instructor follows UDL principles.

Classroom Applicaton: Because FSCJ uses it as it’s LMS and the Center for eLearning provides course shells, the classroom activities that are best suited for a wide range of activities are ones that can employ multiple tools, assessments, and variability. Tying Canvas to the other tools in the repository one can allow students to submit audio, video, a music montage or infographic based on the learning method that suits them. In Chemistry class students who are learning balancing equations can create a video that shows them balance amounts of water or a podcast submitted in conjunction to a problem where they describe how they solved it and why. Canvas’s quiz feature can allow for matching visual items, normal multiple choice, or true or false. That quiz can be multiple submission or tied to an essay that’s linked to Turnitin.

Here is a video on how Canvas helped instructors better meet the needs of students in the State College system in California.