[Course Settings] Student View-Only Period for Terms

[jason_hill]

   

  Idea open for vote Wed. November 2, 2016 - Wed. February 1, 2017  Learn more about voting...

As a Canvas Admin, I would like to enable students to view their courses for a specified period prior to the term start date and for a specified period after the term end date. This view-only period would work much like the Grading Periods established for Teachers. An admin would create a Student View-Only Period (probably a date range that precedes and extends beyond a term's start/end dates), and then 'attach' a specific term to the Student View-Only Period. (See Attachment)

Prior to the Term Start Date

During the timeframe that precedes the semester, students would only be able to view the course content including the syllabus, calendar, published assignments/modules, embedded eBooks, and announcements from the instructor. Students would not be able to submit work for assignments, take quizzes, or participate in discussion boards.

After the Term End Date

During the timeframe after the semester ends, students would only be able to view the course content including the syllabus, calendar, published assignments/modules, embedded eBooks, announcements from the instructor, and final grades including grades for final submissions and final exams. Students would not be able to submit work for assignments, take quizzes, or participate in discussion boards.

The only current method to enable students to have view-only access for courses is all or nothing. An institution can choose not to enable Restrict students from accessing courses before start date and Restrict students from accessing courses after end date; but these settings apply to all courses in the future and all courses in the past, regardless of the semester in which the courses took place.

This Student View-Only Period would allow students to see their eBooks prior to the course start date and get a jump start on the reading if they chose to do so, and it would allow students to see their final grades and submission comments from the instructor after the course ends without turning on all other courses and without allowing students to participate in courses outside an institution's official course start/end dates.

[Renee_Carney]

 @jason_hill 

Thank you for this thorough submission!  I reread your text above a few times, but couldn't quite tell if you had tried using the term dates​ feature to provide access to students?  Term dates do indicate when a user can "participate" in a course, however, more granular control can be set at the instructor level.  As an admin, we used to set the term dates a week prior to the quarter and then instructors would have their modules and other content closed until the first day of the quarter - with the exception of what they wanted to students to access early of course!

[jason_hill]

The problem we have is that instructors do not abide by our institution's policies with regards to course start/end dates. When Instructors had access (prior to me locking it down), some were requiring their students to have multiple chapters read in preparation for an exam the first day of class. If we open the term early, there's no way we'll be able to control that.

So, unfortunately, we need a way to make the content visible to students without enabling instructors to set expectations that conflict with our university's standards.

[jordan]

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. November 2, 2016 - Wed. February 1, 2017.

[jordan]

This idea has moved to the next stage and will be open for voting among the Canvas Community, from Wed. November 2, 2016 - Wed. February 1, 2017.

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

[jason_hill]

[jacquepreston]

Hi Jason,

Thank you for this. I've had concerns with this as well. In addition to some of the issues that others and you have raised here, just last semester I had a student for whom I issued an Incomplete. His inability to see the course, assignments, lessons, etc. caused me to have to recreate assignments and lessons in google.  Also last semester, I had to create a work around using Google Drive so that online students could submit work to portfolios late. While this does not affect most of my students, every semester I have one or two students (often a technological problem) that need to resubmit or submit work late. It seems counter-productive and unnecessary that I would have to start duplicating everything in Google Drive because of the all or nothing structure.

I recognize that there are most likely  good reasons for the restrictions, but I would like to see more conversation take place before such stipulations were put into place. I'm sure that I would have voted for nothing rather than all, but of course that may very well be that I don't fully understand the reasons for restricting access to the course after the course has closed. I will say that I’m concerned that these restrictions were put in place without any input from those it affects directly, students and instructors. This is for me is an administrative overreach, and moreover, it appears to be a trend in and outside the university that we will want to be cognizant of as we move forward. 

Thanks so much for taking time to address this issue. I very much appreciate this effort.

Jacque Preston

[laurakgibbs]

ANYTHING that increases availability of syllabuses to students sounds like a good idea to me!

I am very keen to hear from anybody about how they have used Canvas as part of an open syllabus campaign:

Canvas for Open Syllabuses – Teaching with Canvas 

[kyle_johnson]

Voted for this with a concurring opinion. '-)

If this feature is added, please make sure this date, date range, or delta (i.e. -7 days from start date) is available via the API. I'd also like this to be consistent with the date logic for course date (i.e. if the course date is empty, the term date is used).

[heather_tolen]

I think this is a great idea so that students can see the required textbook ahead of time, and can anticipate the course policies and workload before the first day of the semester. Then if they realize it won't be a course they want or can handle, they can withdraw in time for another student to enroll. On the other end of the semester, this makes it easier to work with students who are given the "I" so they can find assignments (even if they can't submit them, at least I don't have to recreate the course for them in some other form) they still need to submit.

[carteran]

I voted for this option with reservations. My key concern is the possibility of being required to have my syllabus and course outline ready a week prior to the start of the term. I am often still building the course and adjusting the order of lessons up to the weekend prior. Especially during the Christmas Break when we often only have two weeks between the end of one semester and the start of the next, getting materials ready by the weekend before the semester begins is all I can do. Having them ready a full week before may not always be possible.

What I do like is the option to the have the course available for viewing for a couple of weeks after the semester ends. I had several students emailing me asking me to send them their final grades this semester. Having a view period would address students' concerns about seeing how they scored on their final assignments, which are usually worth the most points. If students can see those scores, they are less likely to ask the teacher to send those to them directly, saving teachers much needed time as they prepare final grades and prepare for the next semester.

My bigger concern is with the lock dates that make adapting to legitimate student needs more difficult. I appreciate the administration's concern in reducing clandestine incompletes. At the same time, Canvas fails to work for some students some times. It feels like punishing them for something outside their control when our hands as instructors are tied in dealing with those issues.