It is tempting to fall into the habit of thinking that you have to use a lot of complicated online tools to provide opportunities for meaningful active learning. You can provide meaningful interaction with quite basic tools as long as they are well-structured and clearly support students in reaching learning outcomes.

Consider the Experience

While there are obviously arguments to be made in favor of some tools over others, it is more effective to first consider the experience you are trying to create for the student.

What do you want the student to know and be able to do at the end of this activity?
What is an appropriate and logical way to provide the student with an opportunity to practice this?
In what ways can you add dynamic elements to the experience?

Consider leveraging the tools built into Canvas such as Discussions (including recording video/audio directly into a discussion post), Group Spaces, Collaborations, or Conferences. A great student learning experience can be designed within a simple environment and there is something to be said for not over-thinking or over-developing.

Other Interactive Tools

If you find that Canvas-native tools are not sufficient to create a robust active learning experience for your students, you can explore third-party tools. When considering adding tools, please remember that while bells and whistles can deliver a better learning experience, they don’t automatically deliver a better learning experience. Always ask yourself, how is this tool supporting the student's learning experience?

You'll see mention of lack of LTI support as a drawback on several tools listed. Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a standard that allows a sort of “plug-and-play” integration of learning tools with learning management systems. It provides standard ways of launching a 3rd-party learning tool from inside Canvas, providing information to the learning tool about which student from which course is accessing it, and, where appropriate, allowing the learning tool to send a grade back to the Canvas Gradebook. The main thing to remember is that tools without LTI support can't pass grades back to Canvas so if you want to count work your students did in that tool as part of their grade you'll need to add the grades to the Gradebook. If you have a larger class, these tools may be better suited to practice activities and other ungraded exploration.

Zoom.us (videoconferencing, video capture, and screen capture)
- Pros – integration with Canvas; HD quality video; allows up to 100 simultaneous video participants in normal mode, up to 1000 in webinar mode; full-featured apps for iOS and Android; ability to mix computers, mobile devices, and video conferencing rooms in one meeting; simple recording of sessions; full-featured collaborative whiteboards and screen sharing; breakout rooms.
- Cons – Pro accounts are needed for anything beyond a basic 40 minute meeting room
- Accessibility – still some issues with color contrast and video user interface
See the KB on Zoom
DropThought (instant feedback)
- Pros – Provides an instant feedback platform that allows students to give real-time, anonymous feedback throughout the course on specific items, free, can be inserted as a module element
- Cons – No LTI, Instructor interface is a bit awkward, DropThought assigns user id and password which can't be changed.
- Accessibility – Accessible
See the KB on DropThought
VoiceThread (visual presentations with discussion)
- Pros – Create discussions around many kinds of artifacts (videos, images, documents, powerpoints) using audio, video, or text commenting, Canvas integration, flexible commenting options, easy to use, iOS app
- Cons – difficult to manage in large courses, free at basic level but pro level is needed for many useful tools
- Accessibility – VoiceThread Universal provides an accessible interface through which users with disabilities can view and comment on voicethreads. Voicethreads cannot be created using the VoiceThread Universal interface.
See the KB on VoiceThread
Piazza (discussion and problem solving)
- Pros – Wiki-like discussion forum that supports anonymous posts; excellent for STEM discipline problem-solving, lightweight Q&A; code support; equation editor; Canvas integration, free
- Cons – Sometimes students don’t understand why they need to go to a different tool for discussion
See the KB on Piazza
Quizlet (flash cards)
- Pros – Make matching-style study aids; easy to make your own or search for pre-existing; integrates with Canvas through the rich text editor; mobile friendly, free basic account
- Cons – Only one kind of question (presented multiple ways), not accessible
VideoAnt (video annotation)
- Pros – Free, video annotation, simple interface
- Cons – No LTI, limited to text annotation, accessibility under determination
VideoScribe (animated presentations)
- Pros – Easy to build hand-drawn whiteboard-style presentations with voiceover, good sized collection of pre-made assets, relatively inexpensive subscription provides cloud storage to access your work from any computer, has iPad app
- Cons – No LTI, if you want additional animatable images they must be .svg files (which can be made in Adobe Illustrator which you can download free from IUWare), not free
LucidChart (diagramming/concept mapping)
- Pros – Powerful cloud-based mindmapping and diagram creation, free educational account, collaborative online creation and editing, free basic account
- Cons – No LTI, not accessible for individuals with vision and some motor impairments
Camtasia by Techsmith (Screen capture and video editing tool)
- Pros – Powerful screen capture and editing, educational discount pricing <$200
- Cons – No LTI, interactions like quizzes must use the Camtasia player which is not accessible, no enterprise support, not free to IU
Articulate Storyline 2.5 (interactive presentations)
- Pros – Easy to create professional elearning assets, produces HTML5 output, total score on activity can be captured using Canvas SCORM tool
- Cons – No LTI, PC only, no enterprise support, not free to IU, educational discount pricing still ~$700
- Accessibility – Version 2.5 has enhanced accessibility; with careful development and instructions, presentations/activities can be made accessible

What about social media services?

Social media services such as Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter provide a wide array of tools that faculty can leverage for student activities and interactions. However, before you incorporate social media into your course, there are some things you need to consider.

Are you prepared to support students if they have technology issues?
If you want students to post publicly as part of an assignment, do you have a way for them to post under an alias or anonymously if they prefer? FERPA rules govern the release of student information to third parties, which include social media sites. For more information, see Is Your Use of Social Media FERPA Compliant?
Copyright and intellectual property policies may also need to be considered depending on the content of the assignment.

Social Media: Legal and Privacy Concerns from the IUB Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning provides additional, detailed information on using social media in teaching and learning.