Blended Learning Essentials: Developing Digital Skills

Crib Sheet: Tools for designing digital images

A common requirement when creating digital content is the utilisation of a design. There are many
design tools available online or as apps for mobile phones/tablet devices.

Canva https://www.canva.com/ This is a simple graphic design software which can be used for:
 creating posters
 brochures
 certificates
 presentations
 letterheads
 graphics and design for social media
 marketing materials
 invitations
 …and many other types of content.
It has thousands of templates you can use to get you and your learners started, many of which are
free. Canva is free to use but you are required to create an account.

Crib Sheet created for Blended Learning Essentials, funded by Ufi Charitable Trust, by Bronwen Swinnerton (University of Leeds). This work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .
Here is a promotional leaflet for a pizza restaurant, created using Canva:
https://www.canva.com/design/DACTU959jzM/V2IS5HgcUL6wQ_1AU5w2Xg/edit?utm_source=onbo
arding
Canva has many tutorials to help users. A good place to start is the ‘Beginner’s challenge’ which
shows you the basic ways to add content to an asset. There are also some useful YouTube video
tutorials for Canva: eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lB4Q-k1OI

Infographics
Canva can also be used to create infographics using a drag and drop facility:
https://www.canva.com/create/infographics/
This YouTube video focuses specifically on using Canva to create an infographic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1v3ILOnfGs

How can Canva be used in learning and teaching?

Digital content creation is a very useful skill for young people to take into the workplace. Canva is a
very easy to use tool that at the most basic level can be used to adapt a template for whatever
content your learners want to create, but it can also be used to create content from scratch. It also
has a lot of advice and help about things to think about when creating visual content, such as font
size, colour of font, layout, and branding.
Within the Vocational Education and Training sector, possible uses of Canva to create content that
could be adapted to your own educational context are:
 Catering students to develop a menu.
 Construction apprentices to create health and safety material to place on site.
 Sports science students to create a poster showing ways to stretch after a workout.
 Performing Artists advertising their shows
 Marketing students can learn about branding
 History students using infographics to depict events on a timeline

Canva also has a website which contains teaching resources, including lesson plans, that you may
find useful. https://designschool.canva.com/teaching-materials/
Crib Sheet created for Blended Learning Essentials, funded by Ufi Charitable Trust, by Bronwen Swinnerton (University of Leeds). This work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .