Digital Adventure 3:

Tool Type: App / Web-Based Design Platform

1. User Experience and Challenge

For this Digital Adventure, I explored Canva for Education as a design and storytelling platform to produce an engaging, multimedia presentation titled “Badges, Leaderboards, and Motivation: Gamification Pathways in University Learning.” My experience using Canva exceeded expectations, its interface was intuitive, and the library of 11,000+ education templates offered endless design possibilities.

I used video-based templates, background music, and animated transitions to create a presentation that feels alive, not static. The challenge was in balancing motion and clarity, ensuring that the visual dynamism did not distract from the core academic message. Adjusting timing, layering videos, and syncing animations with audio required patience and attention to detail.

2. Starting Skill Level

My starting level with Canva was intermediate. I had previously used it to design simple graphics and infographics but had not explored its full multimedia or interactive potential. Prior to this digital adventure, I was unfamiliar with features such as embedded video backgrounds, timeline animation control, audio layering, and team branding kits.

This activity allowed me to stretch my creative and technical skills by combining design principles, multimedia storytelling, and instructional content within one cohesive project.

3. What I Learned

Through this experience, I gained both creative and technical insights:

Design depth: Learned to integrate color harmony, motion, and typography to convey tone and emotion.
Multimedia layering: Discovered how to embed short videos as moving backgrounds, synchronize transitions, and apply upbeat background music for energy and engagement.
Team collaboration: Added my group’s logo and customized theme to align visuals with our Quest4Learning identity.
Pedagogical reflection: Realized that presentation design itself can model engagement—students respond to visual and auditory stimulation as part of the learning process.

By experimenting with timing and transitions, I also became more confident in troubleshooting Canva’s export and playback settings to maintain quality across devices.

4. Classroom Application

I plan to use Canva for both instructional design and student projects. In my sophomore level classes and my capstone courses, students can use Canva to design visually dynamic project summaries, simulations, and system proposals. Presentations can include short video snippets, live elements, and background audio to hold audience attention and reflect real-world communication standards.

As an instructor, I’ll apply these techniques to replace static PowerPoint slides with interactive video-based presentations that capture student attention from the start. Canva’s visual storytelling features enable me to model creativity, motivate participation, and elevate the overall classroom experience proving that learning presentations don’t have to be boring.

Reflection

This digital adventure reminded me that engagement begins with design. Tools like Canva help transform the traditional lecture format into an immersive visual experience. The platform’s combination of accessibility, interactivity, and aesthetic flexibility allows educators to merge creativity with pedagogy. By mastering Canva, I not only improved my design literacy but also discovered how to make academic presentations more reflective of today’s digital learning culture, colorful, active, and meaningful.

October 9th, 2025