As an educator, you know the importance of using high-quality visuals in the classroom. They can help engage students and make complex concepts easier to understand.

But finding reliable, affordable tools to create those visuals can be challenging. Moreover, the premium ones come with a high price tag which might not be feasible for all educators.

Fortunately, Canva offers a FREE Canva for Education Account specifically for educators with all the features and resources you need to create outstanding visuals for your lessons.

In this article, we’ll show you how to sign up for a free Canva for Education account and explore all the features that come with it.

Pssst.....did you miss the Podcast Live on July 21st with the Canva for Education expert, Amanda Fox. Don't fret! In this event she will speak on all the amazing ways educators can use Canva in their classroom. Check on the replay here on Youtube.

What is Canva for Education?

Canva for Education is a free online design platform educators love for its simple interface and vast library of ready-to-use templates and resources. It’s used by over 60 million monthly active users worldwide, including teachers, students, and educational institutions. Canva for Education offers all the features of Canva Pro but with added benefits specifically tailored for educators.

These include:

• You can choose from hundreds of ready-to-use educational templates for every topic, subject, and grade.
• You may use copyright-free photos, animations, videos, typefaces, and features to create exciting lessons and activities.
• You can reach out and inspire students wherever they are. You can comment on your students' work in real-time: share it, review it, and offer feedback.
• Add text or visual sticker comments to demonstrate your appreciation for someone's work.
• Google Classroom, Schoology, Moodle, D2L, Blackboard, and Microsoft Teams are popular classroom tools that can readily be integrated into your lesson plans with Canva.

Who can apply for a Canva for Education account?

Any teacher or other staff member at a Qualified Educational Institution can apply for a 100% free Canva for Education account.

“Teacher” means:

• An independent contractor or team member working for an Educational Institution who primarily teaches enrolled students

• Google Certified Trainers (GCT) and Google Certified Educators (GCE) credentials are eligible to apply.

• Other responsibilities, such as teaching assistants, librarians, learning support teachers, and curriculum coordinators, might be classified as Teachers by Canva.

“Qualified Educational Institution” means:

• a primary or secondary school (public or private) that an authorized governmental agency has approved within its applicable national, federal, provincial, state, or local government and has the primary purpose of educating its enrolled students.

Please note that Canva for Education's free edition is only intended for primary and secondary (K-12) educators and institutions, not higher schools.

Eligibility criteria

If you don't already have a Canva account under your current school email address, create one.

Must supply evidence of valid teaching credentials, such as:

• An image/scan of a teaching license/certification.

• An image/scan of your current employment situation at the institution.

• An image/scan of the School ID showing your teaching status.

• An image/screenshot of GCEs/GCTs certification (for Google Certified Trainers and Google Certified Educators).

• An image/scan that verifies your connection to a state school (for homeschoolers)

Step-by-step guide for getting a Canva for Education account

If you join Canva using an education domain on their list of accepted domains, you'll be immediately moved to Canva for Education. They may still demand that you provide proof of your teaching credentials.

• Open the Canva for Education sign-up page on your computer.

• Use that if you have access to an email provided by the school, Department, or Google-certified email domain. You may also create an account through Google, Microsoft, Clever, etc.

• Fill out the signup prompts.

• After signing up, select your profession as a Teacher.

• Get it verified.

• Fill out the following information and proof of teaching certification and employment.

They will email your application result within 48 hours. You may utilize the free version of Canva while you wait.

Why choose Canva for your classroom?

Besides the many benefits of a Canva for Education account, here are several reasons you should choose Canva to create your teaching materials.

Psst...Make sure to click on some of our cheat sheet links below to visually explore the many teacher templates you can use as is or redesign as needed.

Practice design thinking

Use design thinking principles to engage all learners in your classroom. Help them understand the design process and how it can be used to solve problems.

Empower every learner

With Canva, everyone can be a designer. No design experience is necessary. Just use their easy drag-and-drop tool to create beautiful materials that engage and inspire your students.

Foster creativity

Encourage your students to think outside the box and express their creativity. With Canva, they can let their imaginations run wild!

Make learning fun

Make learning fun and engaging with Canva’s massive library of templates, illustrations, and videos (60,000+). Students will be so excited to see their creations come to life!

Presentations and Videos

Canva also makes it easy to create presentations and videos for your classes. With the library of templates, you can create professional-looking slideshows and videos in minutes without any design experience.

Classroom Branding

Make your classroom stand out with unique branding. Canva’s library of templates, illustrations, and videos makes it easy to create beautiful materials that will wow your students (and their parents!).

Team Work

Canva’s easy-to-use design tools are perfect for collaboration. Students can work together on projects, and you can give feedback with the Commenting feature.

Sign up for a free Canva for Education account today and see how easy it is to create beautiful materials for your classroom!

FAQs on Canva for Education

Is Canva for Education free?

Canva for Education account is free for primary and secondary (K-12) educators. In addition, higher education institutions can sign up for a free trial of Canva Pro.

Is Canva Pro free for students?

To help students develop their designs and graphics, Canva has teamed up with GitHub Education to provide the company's most popular design tools. You'll get a $119 value of a whole year of Canva Pro for FREE.

How can Canva be used for Education?

Canva for Education can be used for various educational purposes, such as creating classroom presentations, engaging visuals for lesson plans, or designing worksheets and activities. Using the platform, you will access a library of over 60,000 educational templates of the highest quality.

What if I already have a free Canva or Canva Pro account?

If you have an existing Canva account, you can easily upgrade to a Canva for Education account (https://www.canva.com/edu-signup/) by signing in with your education email address. This implies that all of your existing designs will be accessible.

How can students get a Canva for Education account?

It's only accessible to K-12 students now. Students must be invited to Canva for Education by a teacher. Students at an Educational Institution can maintain the account during studentship and use Canva under the supervision of a registered teacher.

Extending your Canva Knowledge

The Canva Classroom Facebook Group

Join the Canva Classroom Educator's Community - a space for educators to interact, share lessons/activities and get feedback and support on designs.

In this group, you will share your creativity & ideas with this fantastic community, transform your students' learning experience, and unleash their potential with Canva. Learn, support, and inspire one another by joining this Facebook group today!

Canva Librarians Facebook Group: Learn about Canva from librarians far and wide! Join this group by TeacherGoal's author, Kristina Holzweiss to discover amazing resources for your signage, programming lessons & curriculum. Share those creative Canva ideas or templates that you love so much with other like-minded library professionals today!

The Canva Classroom: 42 Ultimate Answers to Templates that Rocket Student Engagement by Amanda Fox

Do you love to learn with a great book? We highly recommend the book, The Canva Classroom: 42 Ultimate Answers to Templates That Rocket Student Engagement. This book is an excellent introduction to Canva for people looking to learn all that Canva has to offer for educators.

Enjoy Canva for Education Now

Canva for Education is an excellent way for teachers to create beautiful classroom materials. With the library of templates, illustrations, and videos, it's easy to make learning fun and engaging. Sign up for a free account today!

Once you have signed up for a FREE Canva Pro account play around with the program by making your emails look professional with this FREE editable CANVA template. Edit, use, and share with your friends and colleagues.  Coming to you FREE from TeacherGoals.

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