[ARCHIVED] Dashboard organization

[rww_nbw]

Hello,

I am a building substitute which means that I am in the same school everyday. Sometimes I am the same teacher for a whole day and other times I am multiple teachers in a single day. Therefore I have access to multiple teachers Canvas Course pages - 5 to 8 per teacher. Is there a way that I can organize their Canvas Course pages so that all of the courses for the same teacher are together? What would be ideal is to have a box for each teacher which I can name so I can easily find their courses, like organizing the different icons on a phone into boxes. Any other ideas would be great.

(We have thought about using a naming scheme but given the number of letters that appear in a title, that may not work for teachers with longer names.)

TIA

[Steven_S]

The first letter (or two) of the teachers' last names would probably be enough of a naming convention for what you need.  You also have the ability to customize the list of courses that appear in the course list menu (before you open the list of all courses).  In the list of all of your courses, just click the star next to the courses you will need to teach on that day, and uncheck the stars for any you won't be teaching.  This will make that shortlist a customized list of only those courses you need right now.  You can change these as often as you need to, until the course concludes, and then any you turn off cannot be turned back on.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi there, @rww_nbw ...

In addition to the information that you received from @Steven_S, it is also possible to arrange the course cards displayed on your Canvas Dashboard.  You can move them to any position on the screen that you want.  This is covered in How do I view my favorite courses in the Card View Dashboard as an instructor?.  (Scroll about half-way down to the section on "Move Course Cards".)  Also, you can give your course "nicknames".  "Nicknames" are names that you can give to your courses ... and they are not seen by anyone else ... nor do they change the official/original name of the course.  The "Nicknames" feature is also described in linked Guide that I've provided...under the section called "Create Nickname" (about a quarter the way down the page).

I hope this extra bit of information will be of help to you.  Sing out if you have any other questions about this...thanks!  Take care, stay safe, and be well.

[rww_nbw]

Hi - Great tips - thank you! If I share the course with another teacher (so we have access through Canvas to the same course) and I put in a nickname, will that change the name in his Canvas dashboard as well?

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello again, @rww_nbw ...

Per the Guide that I had linked for you in my previous response, "A course nickname does not affect the course name at the account or course level; it only changes the name of the course for the individual user who created the nickname."  (Highlighting is my own.)  So, in summary, your nickname can be completely different than your colleague's nickname...for the same course.  You and your colleague will not see each other's nickname.  Hope this helps.

[rww_nbw]

Thank you.