Why Canvas Needs To Reflect A Social Medium
In today’s world, it’s hard to find someone who does not use at least one form of social media. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter or one of the other popular social media apps, it feels as if everyone you meet is always connected. This is a fact that universities need to exploit through their smartphone applications. In particular, Oregon State University (and its students) would greatly benefit from a Canvas app designed to resemble a social medium. In doing so, OSU and Canvas would increase the app’s usage rate from students, which would hopefully be reflected in their academic performance. In addition, a Canvas redesign would help OSU’s E-Campus students, who could benefit from an improved interaction with the app.
Essentially, Canvas’ smartphone app needs to be as addicting as a social media application so that students will want to use it constantly. In an ideal scenario, students should want to use the Canvas app just as much as they want to use Facebook, Twitter, etc., constantly opening the app throughout the day to check their assignments, announcements and grades, much like they would check for memes or tags on other platforms. If this is ever the case, it can be assured that student academic performance would improve, as the redesigned Canvas app would encourage interaction and help students stay on top of their coursework, especially those who rely heavily on online tools like Canvas.
