[ARCHIVED] What does it take to get a response?

[trolson]

If a feature has been requested several times a month for more than 5 years, why has it not been acted on?  This must be terribly embarrassing, especially when it is not a very complicated request, and other LMS systems offer it.  

@Submit an assignment on behalf of a student  

[DTrewhella]

I am requesting help on .ppsm PowerPoint file type and getting no answer.  This is disappointing.  My course design is solely based on engaging learners with course content.  If I cannot have animated infographics with clickable features that lead to further learning pages based on student choice for learning preferences, what use is the Canvas LMS platform to an instructor?

[Chris_Hofer]

Good evening, @trolson ...

I understand the frustration, and I've been there right with you at times.  Although it may seem like Instructure isn't listening, I know that they are!  They do read our suggestions here in the Community, but they also get feedback from other sources, too...not just here in the Community.  (See my link at the end of this reply.)  From my own experience, I can tell you that they have implemented a couple of my Feature Ideas that I thought would never be considered.  Sometimes they were developed fairly quickly, but other times it was quite a while (maybe a year or two...or more) before my idea was marked as "Developed" as part of the core code.  So, I guess what I am saying is...don't lose hope.  I'm not sure if you've seen this document, but I think it may help to answer some of your questions: What is the feature development process for Instru... - Canvas Community.

I hope this will be of some help and encouragement for you.  Let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!  Take care, and be well.

[trolson]

Thank you for your response.  The link  Feature Ideas and Product Management (and responses)   eventually helped.

Although "the Instructure/Canvas Community is listening," I think this was a rare Conversation that slipped through the cracks and went completely unnoticed by *any* developer.  I tried a couple of times to start a new conversation (which, of course, got transferred to the old conversation that no one at Canvas was monitoring) and eventually was referred to the article linked above.  After sending personal messages to three product managers, I finally got a response and believe that someone (besides the hundreds of requesters) is now aware of the topic.

I made a suggestion to avoid this situation in the future:  allow labeling posts to a conversation with "I have this (or similar) problem, too" or "Here's a solution (or workaround)"  or "other".  Then any conversation that has, say, 200 "I have this problem, too" posts and zero "Here's a solution" posts will automatically be flagged and viewed by someone at Canvas.

[KristinL · Accepted solution]

Submit an assignment on behalf of a student is now in Beta! Please read the Canvas Release Notes (2023-03-18) for more details.