Canvas Error Report - Send Broken Link errors to instructor

[anthonem]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

When students run into a broken link (e.g. link to file that has been deleted) they fill out the "oops!" error report, which is sent to me as a Canvas Administrator at our institution. I will then forward the error report to the course instructor. Wouldn't it be more helpful if there is a way for this type of error report to be sent immediately to the instructor?

I'm guessing there is metadata originated on the "oops!" page that would differentiate missing file errors from other types of error screens, so Canvas would know which type of error messages to send to instructors and admins vs. errors to send to admins only.

-or-

Perhaps there could be a prompt on the error screen asking the student if they ran into a broken link, and give them an option to message the instructor directly (an of course send this error message to the Canvas admin as well).

Bottom line - broken links to deleted files is not a system error. It's a user error, and thus it's more important for the instructor to know about it than a Canvas admin.

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-16250-canvas-release-notes-2019-03-30 .

[RobDitto]

Nice idea,  @anthonem ​, and you make an excellent point about informing the user of an error related to how they (or their team) managed course content!  I can't wait to vote for this.

As has been discussed in " modifiedtitle="true" title=""Replace" Function to Retain File Properties, ​ and related ideas, sometimes Canvas' current design for file replacement runs counter to the way users naturally revise files. At our institution, file replacement/updating has always been a significant cause of broken links.

[anthonem]

Thanks  @RobDitto ​ -- as I was writing this I was starting to wonder if there is already a feature request that might prevent this problem from happening in the first place. You linked me right to a couple existing requests :smileylaugh:

[scottdennis]

Hello  @anthonem ​ and  @RobDitto ​,

Thanks for submitting the idea and for the follow up.  I'll go ahead and add this to the May 4th queue right now.

[zachw]

Good idea! I submitted a similar request​ asking for a more descriptive error message, but now I like this one more.

Ideally, the instructor gets a push warning (through Conversations?) and there's a more instructive error message. Otherwise instructors will just get the same sort of confusing shorthand that the current message encourages.

[anthonem]

Good point Zach -- the error message would need to be more helpful than the one Admins receive. Perhaps the name of the page/discussion/assignment/etc (?) and the name of the file would need to be included in the message to the instructor. Or, as you mentioned Zach, the student needs to be prompted to provide detailed information before the error message is sent to the instructor.

[jaydsonnenburg]

I just submitted a very similar request asking for the empty box to have more detailed info such as course, file or discussion name,etc. but I love the idea of a message going directly to the teacher. As far as it also going to help desk, I'm not sure how we would know if the teacher resolved the issue or not.

[ejackson]

I could really use this! It's very frustrating when we get this type of case submitted to us, and when I follow the link, it takes me directly to the error page, and then I have to hunt and search and try to figure out what content item in the course generated the error. NOT fun!

[snugent]

This is our number one issue for help tickets submitted through Canvas. I usually look at the students user account details to figure what the last page was that the student visited before submitting the ticket. Then on the ticket I cc the instructor on the message I send to the student. It would be great to see this process streamlined.

[kmeeusen]

So just a quick comment...........

This is a faculty training issue. On the Course Settings page there is a link-validator tool available. We train and advise our faculty to run it before their courses are released to students.

Learn more at How do I validate links in a course?

I hope this helps,

KLM

[anthonem]

 @kmeeusen , thanks for posting the validation guide to this thread - very relevant! I might be feeling cynical today...but in terms of faculty training fixing broken links feels like one of those "you can only lead a horse to water" issues :smileygrin: