Lucid for Education

First time users of Lucid for Education will need to link their Lucid account with Canvas. This instruction pertains to both staff and students.

Please note: These steps are not guaranteed to work in privacy browsers (e.g., Brave) or privacy browser tabs (e.g., incognito window, privacy window). We recommend that you use Chrome, Edge, or Firefox.

1. Open your Canvas course and select Lucid (Whiteboard) from the course navigation. The window may take a few seconds to load.

2. Click Log in (Canvas will forward your name and UoA Google email address to Lucid).

3. The University has opted for staff and students to log in to Lucid through our UoA Google accounts, therefore you will need to link your Lucid account in Canvas to your UoA Google account.
   Click Next.

4. You will be redirected to a ‘Sign in with Google’ page.
5. Enter your University of Auckland Google email address, e.g., username@aucklanduni.ac.nz.
6. Click Next.

7. Optional: If you have previously created a Lucid account through your UoA Google login, you may see the following screen. Click Link and log in.

8. Otherwise, you will be redirected back to Canvas where you should see a message from Lucid asking you to link your UoA Google account. Click Connect to Lucid.

9. The ‘success’ screen confirms that the link was made. Click Continue.

10. Optional: You may see the following screen. This indicates that Lucid is asking permission for Canvas to have access to various functions on your behalf. Click Grant Access.

11. Finally, when your Lucid connection is complete, the tool invites you to open Lucid in a new window. This is where you can create Lucid documents in ‘full screen’. Click Explore Lucid.

12. Read the next section for how to embed a Lucid document into a Canvas page or assignment.

Now that you have connected your Lucid account with your Canvas account, embedding a Lucid document is easily achieved through Canvas’ Rich Content Editor.

1. From your Canvas course, navigate to Pages, or Assignment from the course navigation menu.

2. Edit the page or assignment description so that you are viewing the Rich Content Editor. Click the Apps icon followed by View All.

3. Click Embed Lucid Document.

4. The Lucid app will appear, displaying any documents that you have created or are shared with you. Select the document that you want to embed within Canvas and click Continue.

5. Review the permissions for how you want students to interact with the document and click Insert.

If teachers use Lucid as the Assignment submission type, it will automatically get added to speed-grader as a PDF. Then you can use the annotation features in Canvas to mark up the student’s submission.

This video highlights the process for a student’s Lucid assignment submission to SpeedGrader.

If the teacher also wants access to the student’s actual Lucid document, this video shows how students would share a link to their Lucid document.

Lucidspark is a collaborative virtual whiteboard like Miro, Jamboard, and other whiteboarding tools, but with a focus on teacher facilitation functions. Use Lucidspark for collaborative brainstorming sessions, discussion prompts, group projects, and icebreakers.

Lucidchart is a advanced tool set for interactive diagramming and graphic organisers, which can be useful to ‘scaffold’ instruction. Use Lucidchart for thinking maps, mind maps, concept maps, timelines, process maps, procedure maps, flow charting, and technical diagramming.

Visit: Welcome to Lucidspark and welcome to Lucidchart.

In Canvas’ Rich Content Edior, click on the black L in the bottom row (close to the green Panopto video integration button), select or create a Lucid Spark board, set sharing permissions, and then save.

See: Embed a Lucid document.

No, you cannot change the access settings after embedding. You would need to reattach it with the new settings.

Create the template in Lucid, go to Assignments in Canvas, select the Lucid submission type, and attach the template.

View: Integrate Lucid with Canvas: Create an assignment.

Yes. Click on the blue share button, toggle on the shareable link option, and set the sharing permissions.

Visit: Share with collaborators in Lucid.

Click on the ‘three people’ icon in the upper right-hand corner and select ‘Make me a facilitator’.

View: Use Facilitator Tools in Lucidspark.

Yes, Lucidchart is also collaborative, but it is more suited for smaller groups working on diagrams or flow charts.

You can create folders and drag your items into folders to organise them. From the dashboard, expand the Documents folder, right click on My documents and choose New Folder.

Add frames to your board, and they will automatically be added to the table of contents for easy navigation.

Click on the item and then click the lock icon to lock it.

See: Organise and arrange objects.

Click on the frame option in the organisational pane and drag it onto the canvas.

View: Organise content with Frames in Lucidspark.

Teachers cannot control how students work on each frame, but they can hide and unhide activities to manage the flow of the lesson.

Visit: Use Containers to organise and hide content in Lucidspark.

Yes. Click on the three people icon and toggle the ‘Show cursors’ option. The same can be done for authors.

See: Collaborate in Lucid.

Private mode hides others’ names when you are collaborating (typically you see people’s names on sticky notes, etc.) and it obscures any content that other people create so that you’re not influenced by what other people are adding.

Click the secret agent icon in the upper right-hand corner and start private mode for collaborators.

Visit: Brainstorm with private mode in Lucidspark.

Click the breakout board icon, create a new breakout board, and duplicate it for multiple groups. Students will be able to see the boards of other breakout groups, so it is not recommended for summative assessments.

View: Collaborate with Breakout Boards in Lucid.

Use private mode to keep students from editing over each other’s work and lock the sticky notes after ending private mode.

• Brainstorm with private mode in Lucidspark
• Organise and arrange objects: Lock objects

Yes, you can drag and drop PDF files onto the Lucid board or use the import option from the toolbar. However, as this would create a copy, caution is advised to avoid breaching the Copyright Licensing New Zealand (CLNZ) agreement. Instead, we recommend that all course readings are requested through Talis reading lists.

Rather than embedding the article as a PDF, copy a link to the article—either a Talis shareable link (as pictured) or a link to an online database—and paste the URL into Lucid. Lucid will create an icon to make the link more aesthetically pleasing.

See: Embed links and media in Lucid.

For more on Copyright, refer to the Course Materials Copyright Compliance Matrix (PDF).

There are features that Lucid provides to help you create accessible content within your documents.

Explore these features at: Make Lucid documents more accessible.