Welcome Students to Your Course With Canvas Studio

Before introducing students to syllabi and assignments, one of the best ways to start a course is with a warm, personable welcome from the instructor. The Teaching, Learning and Technology Center (TLTC) encourages faculty to use Canvas Studio to create short welcome videos that build connections and set the tone for engaging online learning environments.

Canvas Studio allows instructors and students to collaborate through video and audio media, fostering meaningful engagement between faculty and peers alike. A simple but powerful use of this tool is recording a 1–3 minute welcome video at the start of the course. A welcome video helps students connect more naturally when they see and hear their instructor early on. It conveys your teaching style and enthusiasm, humanizes the course by letting your personality shine through, and creates a supportive, genuine learning environment from day one.

Using Canvas Studio in Your Course

Canvas Studio integrates seamlessly with Canvas, enabling instructors to embed interactive media and active learning activities into their classrooms. View the Canvas Studio overview and how-to articles to get started.

3 Simple Steps to Create Your Welcome Video

1. Plan: Consider what you’d like to share, such as your academic background, personal interests, the course structure, or even a mini-tour of your course layout.
2. Record: Keep it brief and engaging, using Canvas Studio’s intuitive platform on your webcam or mobile device. View step-by-step instructions for recording in Canvas Studio.
3. Share: Post the video as an announcement in Canvas. Studio embeds it directly into the course for easy student access. Learn how to share your video.

Upcoming Faculty Workshop

To help you make the most of Canvas Studio, the TLTC is offering a hands-on workshop, Capture. Communicate. Collaborate — Canvas Studio for Faculty (Remote), on August 27 from 11 a.m.–noon and August 28 from 7–8 p.m. via MS Teams. These sessions will provide an overview of using Canvas Studio to engage students, view student video interaction and create multimedia-based assignments. Faculty will explore strategies to elevate digital discussions beyond traditional post-and-reply forums, learn how to integrate Studio activities into course structures, and discuss best practices for evaluating student performance and assigning grades for multimedia-based engagement.

Ongoing Support and Professional Development

The TLTC offers a wide range of remote workshops, covering topics like Canvas, Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Cloud and more. Faculty can also request one-on-one support from designated instructional design liaisons to help integrate technology effectively into their curriculum. For further support or to schedule training, contact your instructional design liaison. For a complete list of workshops, check the events calendar.

Categories: Science and Technology