[Files] Add an identifying element to identify files in a course that are not being used in the course

[saustin]

Problem statement:

We are migrating from Blackboard to Canvas. In the migration process, we are migrating literally hundreds of files from old courses that are many years' old. ,Most of these files are not being used in the newly revised Canvas versions of the course. Going through each one of the hundreds of files and images, particularly images, and then tracking down their location in the course, "if" they are being used in the course, is extremely time-consuming. This means that, because of a lack of time to be able to clean the course, those files are likely to be carried over as un-necessary cruft from course copy to course copy as the semesters move forward. Although quota may not be a concern, course management is a concern, as is accessibility management. Without having a mechanism to know whether a file and/or image is being used in a course, we don't have a good way to manage courses, or manage accessibility.

Proposed solution:

In the options available to each file (Download, Copy To, Send To, Rename, Move To, Delete, Share To Commons) please, at a minimum, add a flag to let us know if that file is being used in the course (Module, Assignment, Discussion, etc.). Better yet would be a "location" option to tell us "where" in the course it is being used. The "why" is to allow us to clean old course material from courses in a timely manner, and better be able to both manage content, and critically, manage accessibility of our courses.

User role(s):

instructor,student,ta,designer,observer

[saustin]

Related #1: Tool to Identify and Delete Unused Files

Related #2:  Add new functionality for data management

Related #3: Indicate where files are located in a course

[AllisonHowell]

This idea has been added to the File Management Functionality and Experience theme for further consideration. 

[aaron_bahmer]

Problem statement:

When courses are copied from one term to another, there may be files from the source course that are not relevant in the new course. Even for freshly created courses, there can be files that get uploaded but never incorporated in the published course. These unused files create unnecessary data bulk that typically only increases with each iteration of the copied course.

Proposed solution:

A solution to this would be to include a workflow that analyzes all course files to determine where in the course they are being used. It could then provide a list of files that are suggested for deletion or download before deletion. The workflow could be initiated by the teacher or course designer, and could be included in the import a course copy process. Deleting these files will help eliminate and prevent wasted data bulk. Teachers will also have less clutter to browse through when selecting files to include on a page or as an attachment to a variety of other tools.

User role(s):

instructor

[KristinL]

Hi @aaron_bahmer -

Thank you for sharing this idea! I wonder if [Files] Add an identifying element to identify files in a course that are not being used in the cour... would be similar to your request and would allow you to achieve the same outcome. If your idea would complement or align to the existing thread, I'll merge it. If it should stand independently, what would be the reason that your thread is unique?

Thank you for taking the time to correspond with us as we evaluate new ideas.

[aaron_bahmer]

@KristinL,

Thanks for being able to find a similar idea -- I'm surprised the system didn't pick up on that as I wrote the title.

Indeed, I think the ideas expressed there are in line with my idea. Please do merge.

[saustin]

Thank you @aaron_bahmer I loved reading your description; I think you were way more eloquent than I was!  And thank you, @KristinL for watching for similar requests and joining our forces for us!  Have a great day, everyone!

[ronlembke]

Problem statement:

I just want to look at the list of files and see which ones are not being used, so I can delete them.

Proposed solution:

In the file view, just give me another column after "accessibility" that gives a green checkmark if the file is being used somewhere in the current course, and a red X, if it is not being used. This does not seem like it should be hard to do, and would be extremely helpful, and yet Canvas has not yet implemented it.

User role(s):

instructor

[DavidSchlater]

Problem statement:

A teacher or an ID staff member has no idea if files found in the FILES area are being used in a course. All course files must be made accessible and it is a waste of effort to remediate files students never see and have no active linkage in a course. We should be able to easily find and remove such files.

Proposed solution:

One of the big challenges we have is improving the Accessibility scores of our Canvas courses. We use the Anthology Ally product to score courses and pinpoint issues, but this tool has no way of knowing which files are not linked vs files that are in use in any given course. We would like all files in the FILES area in Canvas marked as either In Use or Not Used in the course - if a file is not part of a classic or new quiz question, not in an item or test bank, not in a discussion, not linked from a module, or embedded in a page, or announcement, or linked in a description, etc. - it should be marked as Not Used. This needs to be 100% accurate to give teachers and instructional design support staff the confidence to delete these files and not have some area in the course break for students. Having a button or built-in filter for unused content in the FILES area would work - ideally, this would become part of the Files interface so one could search, see a list, and remove all unused files all in a familiar interface with a few clicks. A file added to a module, but not yet published should still be considered In Use. Only files that have no linkages (published or not published) anywhere in the course should be marked as Not Used. The reality is that courses get passed from teacher to teacher over the years and we need to clean these up to meet accessibility targets - the best way to make real progress would be to first remove/eliminate all the files that are not being used in the course - but asking a teacher to investigate 150 or 300+ files and "clean up" is not feasible. We know that we are going to be required to have Canvas content meet WCAG 2.1 accessible in the next few years due to new ADA laws, but we can't get there without help from Canvas to allow us to identify and remove what is not in use and does not need to go thru expensive remediation. We want to focus on what matters to students, not investigate every file ever added to a course. We have tried products such as TidyUp, but these were not 100% accurate since the Canvas product itself was not able to "know" what files are linked up to content and tell TidyUp via the API. We need a rock-solid method. Related, when we used the Blackboard LMS we had 2 easy options to copy a course forward - one was to only include content "in use" - and the other to include "all files" - as LMS admins, we were able to make the default choice for our teachers to copy only content "in use", and let teachers pick the other option if they had a special reason (like linked HTML packages). This helped clean up many bloated courses. Canvas does not have these same easy options we can toggle on or off as an Admin for our users. We have experimented with the Canvas "Select specific content" course copy where we copy forward everything except the "Files" area which we do not check. This seems to work but is undocumented as 100% guaranteed to bring forward all the used files - at least no one at Canvas has been able to give such assurances. Also, it would be hard to train 1000 teachers to do this type of selective copy regularly even if we were assured it would work 100% of the time. If we are going to get to a more accessible future, we need to make the best options the easy defaults. I would be happy to meet and talk more if you are interested. I really would like to work towards making Canvas better and more accessible for our students.

User role(s):

admin