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Canva
I am so impressed with the power of sharing and how it spreads. Recently I did a post about infographics and highlighted Carol Anne who posted some of her amazing infographics she does for her sermon notes. She recommended two apps: Procreate and FlipInk for the iPad. However since that posting Tom showed me another one that I just couldn't help but get into your hands tonight. Technology certainly gives us a whole new world of communication because I know that this new website will get passed to others and they will pass it on and continue that sharing because that's what great teachers do - they share. This "tuesdays" is a short and sweet introduction to a powerful new tool that could make good design become the norm for your students and you.
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Canva is a beta website that gives you the power to drag and drop an endless canvas of high-quality images and text to create a look to enhance anything you do in school from presentations to blogs to documents to posters and even Facebook covers. One of the really cool features is remixing. Other Canva users make their creations public and allow fellow Canva users to re-mash or re-mix their original. There is no copyright infringement because it was entered into Canva for just that reason. Hasn't it been said that imitation is the greatest compliment? We often say to not reinvent the wheel. Canva gives you plenty of space to still be original, yet allowing you to remix digital images and backgrounds to tell your story. This powerful new tool has amazing potential to help our students put a more professional look to their digital creations. Please share. Thanks to the teachers who shared with Tom who share with us! (Isn't that the way it works?)
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As I read more about Canva, I was excited to see that Guy Kawasaki, former Apple revolutionary, is now the chief evangelist for Canva. His ingenious approach should be an encouragement to us as educators as we try to instill in our students the entrepreneurial spirit. Good ideas are always easier to promote when they are accompanied by great visuals. Guy Kawasaki has a great blog on Canva that can help us understand the important of this great charge we have as teachers: inspirer, encourager, cheerleader, role model, etc. I encourage you to read his blog entry written last Thursday with 12 points for evangelizing what you believe in. His 12 points are:
- Make it great.
- Position it as a "cause."
- Love the cause.
- Localize the pitch.
- Look for agnostics, ignore atheists.
- Let people test drive the cause.
- Learn to give a demo.
- Provide a safe, easy first step.
- Ignore titles and pedigrees.
- Never lie.
- Remember your friends.
- Conclusion (check it out, it's pretty brilliant.)
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How do you get to use Canva? You create an account, of course! It was super easy and the minute I logged in I got a 23 second video tour. Very cool. It's compelling because it's simple and draws you into making designs as if you have Photoshop skills. As I notice the beta label, I realize that it may not be free forever, but I highly recommend that you get in on the ground floor while it is free and in particular, share it with your students so that they, too, can experience the ability to make what they have to say graphically appealing. Marketing is not just for business, but for the business of getting our message across whether we are the student or the teacher. Why not make our message appealing to the ear and the eye? Thank you Guy Kawasaki for giving us such a great new tool.
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| What is "tuesdays with Karen"?
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"tuesdays with Karen" is a weekly newsletter/blog designed to encourage, equip and empower teachers to be creative with educational technology. Please add your technology comments to my "tuesdays with Karen" blog. |
