[ARCHIVED] Inconsistent nomenclature for course ID fields?

[palmarinich]

I'm a brand new Canvas admin, and am working with our IT department to develop proper SIS feed files.  I've come across what seems like a substantial discrepancy in the names of some fields related to courses, and would like to get some feedback on whether it's just me, or if this might warrant a product suggestion.

Specifically, there are some required fields when creating a course, but they are labeled differently in three places (except "SIS ID," which is the same in two places).  The three areas I'm looking at are:  SIS feed file, Add A New Course (UI), and Course Details (UI).

In an SIS feed file, the fields are:

course_ID

short_name

long_name

In the Add a New Course UI, the same fields are:

SIS ID

Reference Code

Course Name

When viewing the Course Details for an existing course, the same fields are:

SIS ID

Course Code

Name

It took a bit of trial and error to figure out which fields matched what, and it's still a little tricky to keep it straight.  So, is it just me, or is this a little confusing for others?  Thanks for any feedback.

[kona]

 @palmarinich ​, you might get more information if you post this type of Canvas question in the Canvas Developers​ group. This is the group dedicated to those who work on the back end of Canvas. You  might also want to join this group so you can get access to their resources and information.

[211159]

Yes, I would say I found it (and still find it) unnecessarily confusing.

[ssnider]

We have had the devil of a time with naming conventions.  Our problem is making sure faculty can determine what term and section they are seeing when cross listing a course.  Also when you send a message through the e-mail it can be confusing because it snips out the middle of the course ID.

So far here is what we are doing.  Our naming for our current Blackboard is what we have based the Canvas naming on.  This may need to be changed.  We're still scratching out heads.

Subject: ACCT

Catalog Number: 2301

Section: 0011

Term: 1154

course_id	short_name	long_name	account_id	term_id	status
ACCT2301-0011-1154	ACCT2301-0011-1154	INTRO TO FINANCIAL ACCT - 0011	COX	1154	active

section_id	course_id	name	status
ACCT2301-001-1152	ACCT2301-001-1152	ACCT2301 Section - 001	active

The Course ID and the SIS ID are the same thing from what we have determined.  I believe Course Name and Name are the Long Name.  The best bet is to upload a single row like below.  It is helping us figure things out.  You may want to add pad the field so the names are long enough to see what they do when Canvas truncates the names and IDs.

course_id	short_name	long_name	account_id	term_id	status
SIS-ID	Short-Name	Long-Name			active

[Robbie_Grant]

 @palmarinich ,

We are giving the Canvas Admins area a little bit of love (especially questions that are really, really old) and just want to check in with you.  This will also bring this question new attention. 

Were you able to find an answer to your question? I am going to go ahead and mark this question as answered because there hasn't been any more activity in a while so I assume that you have the information that you need. If you still have a question about this or if you have information that you would like to share with the community, by all means, please do come back and leave a comment.  Also, if this question has been answered by one of the previous replies, please feel free to mark that answer as correct.

Robbie