M6 Blog Post 5: Navigating Networked Communities and Digital Ecologies

Digital Tools in Action: Evaluating Seesaw and Canva in the K–12 Classroom

I chose to take a deeper look at the communication app Seesaw and the collaborative creation app called Canva. I am currently using both of these in my classroom and wanted to take a critical look at my use and how I can fine-tune my usage to best meet the needs of my students and parents. Below you will find my analysis of how each of these are used in a K-12 setting, and the impact on student learning and opportunities for parent involvement. 

Seesaw For Communication 

"Seesaw helps schools develop strong family relationships and build them as partners in their child’s learning"

In the reading, Remind was identified as being capable of one-on-one messages, having translation features, and the ability to set the timeframe for hours that you receive push notifications. It is also a safe app because it does not share personal information of students (Zhao, 2022). I used this app for communicating with parents last year, but I only had 6 parents join and my students complained that the messages rarely went through properly. I struggled with limiting my messages to the required 140 words or less (Joseph, n.d.). This led to my search for a new communication app, and how I came across the app Seesaw. 

The app Seesaw is used for communicating with parents and students, and was specifically created for Elementary aged students and their parents. My district has an agreement to use Seesaw in the Elementary School, and they granted me access. I am able to send pictures, connect my Google account for easy file attachment, and share student work with parents. Having used the app Remind, I like Seesaw better because there are no character limits on messages. 

Not only is this a valuable resource for communication about after school clubs, this is very important for classroom learning. It can also serve as a collaborative platform with group chats functioning similarly to text group chats. Another feature allows the attachment of pictures and pdfs to their “journal” that is accessible by their parents. There are opportunities for collaboration between teachers and support staff so that notes can be reviewed during 504 and IEP meetings, documentation of learning for non-verbal students through picture attachments in their journal, over 100 language options for assignments, strong multimodal tools for differentiated instruction, as well as features like “Focus Mode” and “Practice Mode” to increase engagement (Seesaw, n.d.). These features will assist in meeting the needs of each child and also providing feedback to parents who can track their child’s progress. 

The knowledge that students must have before using Seesaw is that students must know how to enable push notifications, where to find the group chat section, how to post photos in their journal, and digital communication skills. In my case, the student’s role in using Seesaw is to view notifications so that they know when meeting dates and times are, when fundraiser paperwork and money is due, and when they need to study for competitions. My experience of the negative effects of Seesaw is that students do not frequently check their notifications. On my end I can see the number of parents and students viewing my announcements, but sometimes the messages do not get high views. The app offers push notifications, but not all students accept notifications. I do find this app to be very valuable, and have students that ask questions through the app, post in their journal, and participate in group chats with their peers. Whereas they do not see all FFA members throughout the day because they are spread throughout grades 7-12, this chat feature serves as a place for students to share their ideas and get feedback from peers. 

For more ideas of how you can incorporate Seesaw, visit this link: The Seesaw Blog: Accessible and Differentiated Learning

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Canva for Collaboration 

Canva is used as a collaborative platform for students to work together and shift communication towards visually appealing and design based media. The users of this media include students who are collaborating and creating, teachers who are creating, and parents who are receiving that media. The media you can create includes Facebook & Instagram worthy posts, flyers, brochures, and more (Canva, n.d.). This is extremely helpful for communication to parents because newsletters and monthly calendars are readily available and can be customized before being sent to parents. 

Canva influences the way information is accessed because of the possibility of multiple users making edits at the same time. The templates are easily accessible and cut down the time involved in creating products from scratch. Newsletters assist with parent communication because they can be mailed, emailed, sent through Seesaw, or posted on Facebook & Instagram. 

With Canva, students need to be able to use the search bar to locate themes, and be able to add text boxes, change font color and style, and add pictures to their templates. All of these are important to practice in emailing and writing letters. The number of templates offered can be helpful for future use in event planning, such as birthday parties and graduations parties, or in the workplace when flyers or social media posts are required.

An issue that Canva has is that because it relies on internet connection in both app and browser form, that accessibility can limit the number of students that can access it. For some students, they may not have reliable internet access and this can limit their ability to work on accessing these outside of school hours. If there is not a stable internet connection while you are working, your work will not be saved on Canva (Pedroso, et. al. 2023, p. 454). 

This is a picture of a classroom newsletter that I created in Canva to send out to parents so that they new what their students were learning. 

Using Canva & Seesaw Together

These apps align well with educational goals that improve communication with both parents and students, increase collaboration of students with their peers, and increase student engagement. When used together, parents are able to review their students’ progress in real time and witness their child creating projects that enhance their digital and literacy skills. This builds strong home-to-school connections. 

We must also be mindful of the required literacies that students must have to operate such platforms. Students must have clear and appropriate discussions with their peers when they collaborate on Canva or participate in discussions within Seesaw. They must be able to navigate the process of exporting or uploading documents, such as images or pdgs to both Canva and Seesaw. Once they master these skills, they can document their learning in unique ways for their parents and peers to see.

As educators, we need to be intentional with how we use digital software, and be careful of how they are implemented because of student safety and privacy. Both Seesaw and Canva offer Ed-Law 2D agreements, ensuring the safety of student information. Seesaw is designed for elementary school students and parents, and requires a unique code be entered to join the messaging notifications. 

Overall, when used thoughtfully, both Seesaw and Canva can build strong communication, support diverse learning needs, and develop meaningful engagement between teachers, students, and their families. 

This is a picture directly from my group chat with parents and students. You can see our March newsletter, that was created on Canva, was attached in the group chat for both parents and students. 

References

Canva. (n.d.). About Canva. Canva. Retrieved March 22, 2026, from https://www.canva.com/about/

Joseph, V. (n.d.). What is the character limit for messages? Remind. https://help.remind.com/hc/en-us/articles/4415750968973-What-is-the-character-limit-for-messages

Pedroso, J.E., Sulleza, S., Francisco, K., Noman, A., Martinez, C. (2023). Students’ views on using Canva as an all-in-one tool for creativity and collaboration. Journal of Digital Learning and Distance Education. https://doi.org/10.56778/jdlde.v2i1.117

Seesaw. (n.d.). 10 Ways Seesaw Can Support IEP and 504 Accommodations. https://seesaw.com/blog/10-ways-seesaw-can-support-iep-and-504-accommodations?

Zhao, Y., Lu, J., Woodcock, S., & Ren, Y. (2022). Social media web 2.0 tools adoption in language and literacy development in early years: a scoping review. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 9(12), 1901. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9121901