[Modules] Modules Display as Collapsed by Default

With courses that have many modules and module items, the default un-collapsed state on the modules page makes the view overwhelming. I would love the option to choose a 'current' module and have that automatically open for students or at least have the default view be auto-collapsed. The un-collapsed view is often a turn-off to faculty and designers who are considering different ways to represent their course content.

79 Comments
snugent
Community Champion

This would be awesome! I think this is great idea. Modules are great but a list of 10 or more modules can be overwhelming to faculty and students. This would also help to keep students focused on current module as well.

G_Petruzella
Community Champion

Hear hear! I will be voting this one up as soon as I can - bookmarking it so I won't lose track. 🙂

Chris_Hofer
Community Coach
Community Coach

eCollege.jpgI would like this as well.  One of my main responsibilities in my job is to build content for our faculty so it's ready to teach for them at the start of the semester.  We have "Learning Plans" (inside of the "Modules" button).  Sometimes, we have courses that have 5, 10, or even 15 Learning Plans...and content within each of those Learning Plans.  This makes scrolling down the screen get longer and longer as more Learning Plans are added.

In our previous LMS, Pearson eCollege's LearningStudio (see the screen shot to the right), our Learning Plan buttons were listed along the left side of the screen, and we could click on them to open each individually and see the content within them (on the main part of the screen).  In this example, Learning Plan 1 is open, and I am viewing the content on the "Activities" page.

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team

A colleague and I were just talking about this today. It would be a feature which could help students navigate a module-heavy course.    

pchaney
Community Member

I've seen in other user interfaces a "Collapse All | Expand All " link at the top, so that all individual modules, regardless of being opened/closed, could be closed or expanded. For everyone that wants to start with modules close, there's someone else that wants them open, so this may be a good compromise on that point, and be good for general use when navigating after the initial page load.

macaulayl
Community Member

Yes, I agree that a Collapse all/Expand all would be awesome.

Chris_Hofer
Community Coach
Community Coach

In a way, it's like using the Accordion from the StyleGuide shown here: Canvas LMS

kedgecomb
Community Champion

I like the idea of the current module opening at the entry of the page.  Sometimes the long lists of modules can be overwhelming and confusing to students! 

kshepherd_canva
Community Participant

For me, the preferred implementation is for us to have the option to choose whether all or no modules are collapsed by default for all users. Further granularity is always appreciated, like the option to choose one module expanded by default with the rest collapsed. But at the least, the all or none option would provide greater clarity for students in our longer courses.

Thanks for considering this option.

sberkowitz
Community Member

It would be a great benefit to our users to view the course modules list in a collapsible format, so that they can more and close sections as needed as well as see an the higher-level overview of the course roadmap.