Course Format in SIS Import

[John_Lowe]

  This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

  Idea open for vote Wed. April 6, 2016 - Wed. July 6, 2016  Learn more about voting...

In light of the new option to allow courses to have a format of "Blended" (see https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-6332#jive_content_id_Course_Settings), it would be incredibly helpful for this course format field to be available as an option within the SIS Import format for the courses.csv file.  At the present time, this field can only be set through the GUI or through a separate API call to add this field to a course that already exists, but it cannot be set during course creation through the SIS Import process.  This feature request would allow this format flag to be set during course creation through the existing SIS Import process.

The SIS Import format could look something like this with options for on-campus, online, blended:

course_id,short_name,long_name,account_id,term_id,status,format,start_date,end_date


  Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the Canvas Production Release Notes (2016-09-17)

[John_Lowe]

To clarify, this field should be an optional field in the SIS format (just like start_date and end_date are) so that schools who do no wish to set this flag, do not have to and also do not have to change the format of their existing SIS files.  Basically, if you want to set this flag, include it in the header row like you do start_date and end_date, and then fill in the value.  If not, the format flag retains the "Not Set" option just like it does now for SIS loaded courses.  This feature request is about flexibility and options to align with recent GUI and API changes, not changing existing behavior to existing SIS loading processes where schools may not want to include this flag.

[biray]

Thank you for submitting this feature idea!  Learn more about the feature idea process and how to champion your idea.

Your feature idea will be open for vote from Wed. April 6, 2016 - Wed. July 6, 2016!

[jordan]

This idea has moved to the next stage and will be open for voting among the Canvas Community, from Wed. April 6, 2016 - Wed. July 6, 2016.

Check out this doc for additional details about how the voting process works!

[millerjm]

Having the ability to bring in the course mode would definitely make Canvas Data much more valuable for sharing with administration and justifying budget for Canvas and support resources for online classes.

[straussi]

Agreed, but to clarify, can we actually report on course mode (format) anywhere at this time?

[John_Lowe]

Yes and no.  The value is visible within each course setting in the GUI, but not within any of the native reports that I'm aware of.  However, since it can be set via the API, it can also easily be read by the API.  So if you use the API to do any custom reporting or queries, you should be able to do so based on this value.  Also, if you are a Canvas Data user, "Type" is one of the fields available in the course_dim table.  If this "type" contains this field, then with this, you should be able to report any way you need.

Otherwise, when Product Dev looks at this post, please accept this message as a companion request to make sure that the course format is included in both Canvas Data and future GUI reports.

[scottdennis]

 @John_Lowe ​,

Looks like early voting show that your idea resonates with many admins as it is the vote count leader 24 hours after opening.

[John_Lowe]

Just trying to build that army. 

[gschultz]

That would be a great idea John.  I only fear that there are not enough SIS admins reading these updates and voting to get this to the next phase. The more that can be program through the .csv files the better.  I hope they can add reports to support these features without using custom APIs.

[John_Lowe]

Exactly, Greg. That's been my biggest complaint about this voting process.  The admins have spoken, but this type of thing just doesn't have the "wow factor" that grabs the attention of other types of voters.