Mobile Statement

I'm back from the Canvas InstructureCon and raring to go. Good thing too, because it's crunch time - class starts in 10 days and I am really not ready.

I attended a great session on thinking about mobile access for classes. Canvas has a great mobile app for the iOS.  The presenter clarified that when he said "mobile" he really meant iOS, specifically iPads.  He said he really didn't think people wanted to or actually did engage in course work on their mobile phones, the screen was too small. I totally disagree - especially since you can record submissions, freeing one up for typing.  Anyway, he was restricting his thinking to tablet computing.

Then he said that android tablets were not really relevant in this discussion. He asked how many people in the room had an android tablet with them in the room. No one raised their hands. I have a Kindle Fire, but I'd left it at home.  He then asked how many people had iPads with them in the room. Dozens of people raised their hands, including me. Point made.

He recommended that, if you were making your course mobile friendly, you should put a mobile statement in your syllabus so students know what specifically they can do on what devices.  I have crafted one that I still need to test out, but its a start:

Mobile Access - This class is mobile friendly. Using the browser on your mobile device, you should be able to do the following activities:

• Access course readings
• participate in discussion
• take quizzes

You can also download the Canvas App on your Apple iOS device (iPad, iPhone, Touch) and have access to even more features.

Two things missing from this list are viewing course videos and submitting assignments. Both require some work arounds or the Canvas App. On the Canvas App page, a note at the bottom states that the App functionality is only available to Canvas customers, so I don't think you can use it with the free for teachers access. But I'll test it out and see.
 
Resources:
Canvas Mobile - includes a little video on what you can do with the Canvas mobile app.
My Global Studies Syllabus