Canvas link changed to My Courses link

[rsasso]

Can anyone tell me when and why the link to 'Canvas' changed to 'My Courses' in the drop-down menu underneath a user's name in Canvas Catalog? Not only did the link text change, but also the behavior. A user will no longer see their Canvas Dashboard card view.

I could not find any reference to this change in the Catalog Release Notes.

[KataKeri · Accepted solution]

hi @rsasso Catalog product manager here.

Apologies for the missing release notes, that's on us. In the last few weeks there were organisational changes within the company, and we are just getting back on track. I'll also write a blogpost about this, because this change is a part of a bigger project.

It was changed on February 26th, and it is part of the Instructure Cohesive Experience - Cross Product Flow Improvements. We learned that it usually takes 5 minutes for learners to go to Canvas to Catalog after their enrollment, and our goal is to get them to Canvas as soon as possible so they can start their courses. We did a thorough discovery to learn the pain points learners experience while getting from Catalog to Canvas - it was not straightforward to them what steps do they have to take (where to click/navigate) to start their courses. It also takes too many clicks for them. So we did some improvements - hence the changes. We've renamed 'Canvas' to 'My Courses' which now redirects them to the list of Courses within Canvas instead of their dashboard.

Also, we did some changes on the buttons and navigation after checkout/enrollment to lead them to Canvas right away, and only navigate them to the Catalog Student dashboard if that is absolutely needed - discovery also showed that students are can get confused with having two dashboards.

Sorry about the lack of notification on this change, we are doing our best in the future not to miss these.
Please don't hesitate to share your feedback about the change - e.g. is it important for you to point them to the Canvas dashboard card view? and so, why?

Thank you,
Kata 

[rsasso]

Hi Kata,

Thank you for your reply and explanation. To answer your feedback questions...

Yes, it is important for our teachers within Canvas Catalog to get pointed back to the Canvas Dashboard. Without their Dashboard, they are no longer able to view their ToDo list which helps to keep them on track with grading, etc.

I can understand and respect the change being made for students to assist with ease of navigation. However, the change had unintended consequences for teachers.

Thanks,

Rosie

[KataKeri]

Hi Rosie,

Thank you for your reply! Would you please share a bit more about this 'ToDo list' use case? Sadly, I wasn't aware of this. I'd like to hear more about it so we can somehow make this work for teachers also. 

Thank you,
Kata 

[rsasso]

Hi Kata,

I did a little more digging and can see a workaround for our Catalog instructors. The To Do and Coming Up lists do appear for instructors on the Home page of each individual course site. It was just a bit easier for instructors to see all course To Dos in one place on their Dashboard. I've grabbed two screenshots to show the before and after views (outlined in orange):

Before - the view from an instructor's Dashboard:

After - the view from a course Home page:

I'm thinking we can simply re-educate our instructors on how they will need to access individual course To Do lists from the course Home page.

Many thanks for your assistance on this and for getting the release notes updated.

Rosie

 

[KataKeri]

@rsasso Thank you for your reply. We also thought it over and it seems like the Canvas Dashboard is more useful for the majority of our users - taking into consideration the teachers and the todo list you pointed out. So we will change it back - meaning 'My courses' in Catalog will point to the Canvas dashboard course cards, instead of the course list. The change will be live in production next Monday (March 25th), and will be reflected on the release note for that day (update will come soon). No need to start educating the teachers from your side, the redirection will work the same way.

Sorry for the confusion about this change, and thank you for pointing out this use case. 

[rsasso]

@KataKeri Thank you so very much for the update and the unexpected change back! I am truly appreciative!

[hechla]

Just out of curiosity, why are teachers going through Catalog to get to Canvas? Why not just have them login to Canvas directly? 

[rsasso]

Hello,

Our institution has two instances for Canvas - our academic Canvas environment and our non-academic Canvas Catalog environment. The two instances are not connected in any way. The Catalog interface allows users to view (and select and/or purchase) all training and professional development courses that are being offered. In essence, that is the point of Canvas Catalog...a storefront interface.

Hope this helps to explain/clarify.

Rosie

[jsowalsk]

@KataKeri I see the notes were updated -- thank you! https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Catalog-Releases/Catalog-Release-Notes-2024-02-26/ta-p/595... If you could continue doing this along with a cadance for the notes that would be greatly appreciated.

[jsowalsk]

Thank you @KataKeri It will be much cleaner pointing to the dashboard instead of the courses. Will it still be called My Courses? Should it be called Canvas Dashboard instead of My Courses?

[KataKeri]

Hey @jsowalsk, yes, that stays. Based on the user tests we conducted for this change 'My Courses' was the winning solution and made much more sense for users to find and start their courses faster. We're checking the data too for this, it is in progress at the moment and we will measure it back compared to past data. Of course we are open to feedback, so I took a note of your suggestion for future changes if that will be needed. Thank you! 

[jsowalsk]

Great, thank you @KataKeri. When will the release notes be updated?

[KataKeri]

I've just approved the update on the release note for that day, and once the US documentation colleagues start working they should publish it. So I guess today! 

[jsowalsk]

@KataKeri Will it be these notes? https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Catalog-Releases/Catalog-Release-Notes-2024-03-25/ta-p/596...

[KataKeri]

Yes. I asked the documentation team to publish the updated one, hopefully it's gonna happen today. 

[jsowalsk]

@KataKeri Thank you!