Objective: Learn about the different platforms you may use as a StrongMind teacher, student, or guardian. 

Notes: Most students will use Canvas to access their courses. The comparison below mentions Player. This is a new learning platform only available to pilot users at this time. 

Related Article: Accessing StrongMind Central

Canvas LMS

• An LMS is a learning management system - or a place to complete course work and see grades for individual courses. 
• MOST schools who use StrongMind curriculum have students and guardians access the actual lessons and activities in Canvas.
• You might access Canvas directly with a web address like SMAcademy.instructure.com, or you may access it through a link in StrongMind Central. 
• When you log into Canvas, the Canvas dashboard will look something like this: 

• Some schools choose to have students use Canvas for things like messaging a teacher or viewing a course calendar.
• Students and guardians can select a course card to view course content and grades for that course. Only students will have access to complete activities or assessments. Guardians are view only access. 

StrongMind Central (SMC)

• StrongMind Central is a singular platform that gives you a wide variety of options from launching your course to Canvas or Player, viewing course completion progress or grades for all courses, communicating with instructors, and for some Arizona schools, submitting attendance.
• Main Components of SMC:
  • Dashboard: View announcements, a quick snapshot of progress, and attendance (Arizona only).

• Courses: View a summary card for each active course which allows you to view progress and current score, launch the course, contact the instructor, view events, or jump directly to upcoming or past due assignments. 

• Community: There are two types of communities in SMC - Academic and Interest Based 
  • Students are automatically added to an academic community for each course they are enrolled in. Instructors can post discussion questions, resources, and announcements in the community. Guardians can view any content posted by the instructor as well as any participation by their students only. Guardians cannot post or see other student's communication.
  • Students can search, or discover and join interest based communities set up for their school or organization as well. These are always run by an adult and follow community guidelines. 

• Classroom: Each enrollment has a classroom. Here you can view discussions, events, resources, see classmates, and launch your academic course in Canvas or Player. 

• To access SMC, students, teachers, and guardians will go to central.strongmind.com and enter their login credentials. Some schools start from Powerschool to jump directly to SMC without the central.strongmind.com login.