Kristin Foster

Ever since the beginning of the Canvas migration, it was clear that Kristin Foster found something fulfilling in her work with Canvas. "It's really a creative outlet for me, someplace where I feel that I have a lot of freedom." Kristin has harnessed this enthusiasm for design, informed by her past experience in HTML, to venture far beyond the scope of her role as Faculty Assistant.

In our work with faculty and staff transitioning from iSites to Canvas, we have come to appreciate the importance of creating a Canvas experience that is similar enough to be familiar to iSites. Kristin, who is a Faculty Assistant to David J. Deming, Ebony N. Bridwell-Mitchell, Fernando Reimers, Jon R. Star, and Thomas Hehir has taken a different approach. She has thrown away all iSite conventions in favor of building course websites that, in her own words, "make the best use of the platform."

Rather than hold to the iSites convention of creating many links on the left-hand navigation pane, Kristin's goal was to use as many Canvas-integrated features as possible. She embraced the freedom with excitement, no longer feeling "boxed in" by iSites and free to create organized, simple, and modular course navigation.  "I think the best Canvas sites are the simple ones...students want to be able to access content as quickly as possible." To accomplish this, Kristin utilized two course navigation tools:

Custom Top Navigation Bar:

Buttons showing: Home Page, Syllabus, Daily Readings, and Assignments

This bar appears on every page in the course and pronounces the most important course resources. Students learn very quickly that they can find almost everything they need in the course's page view. They learn that the most often-referenced site content is all in the same place.

Weekly Reading Page Buttons:

Buttons to navigate to the assigned readings for each week of a course

These weekly reading links may look familiar to those of you who are familiar with iSites; however, Kristin's goal was to remove these links from the left-hand navigation.  This way, it is much easier for students to find resources like Library Reserves, Grades, and People.

Trying New Things:

Kristin’s work is not limited to course navigation. In addition to the custom buttons she implemented, Kristin also makes heavy use of Assignments and the Speedgrader.  Once her configurations are complete, her faculty are able to enter all of their grades within Canvas itself. Once the semester is complete, Canvas tabulates students' final grades automatically.  This has reduced the time spent organizing grading data and dramatically reduced the number of e-mails her faculty have sent when grading assignments. "All they have to do is Grade," says Kristin.

Kristin's advice to anyone who plans to follow in her path: "Don't be afraid to try something new. If it doesn't work for you, throw it out." It is clear that Kristin's templates have developed and changed over time, and that she has enjoyed every step of the process.

To learn more about the Canvas features implemented by Kristin Foster, and how they can be incorporated into your own Canvas site, contact our team at canvas@gse.harvard.edu. Each of us is happy to schedule time to walk you through these features in detail.

Do you know of anyone who is innovating and exploring in Canvas? Let us know!