[Modules] Hiding and Viewing Modules for Individual Sections

[GideonWilliams]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

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Parts of this have been mentioned in previous requests (Modules within Modules and others) and I wonder if this is more to do with the needs of K12 than beyond?

We run a model based on UK curriculum which may be different to other school models (10+ subjects in a timetable, classes selected by ability, external examinations in 2/3 year groups, different content taught depending on the class etc). Having begun our implementation of Canvas the last thing we wished to do is create individual courses for each class and teacher in a subject. With up to 9 classes in a subject this would be an administrative nightmare and would go against much of what I believe a VLE is for - forward facing, collaborative, personalised, sharing of resources etc.

The reality is at school level it is very very difficult to create a core course that is truly personalised without some form of conditions/restrictions especially as "content is king". We add our classes as separate sections which enables assignments to be posted to individual classes. We would dearly like Canvas to go further and enable this option for other content such as pages/links etc.

The idea being suggested though is for teachers to be able to hide/view modules for individual sections

This would allow content (pages, links etc) to be viewed by individual sections. It would give teachers and students the best of both worlds. Modules could be 'turned on' for all sections or individual sections. It would allow you to create differentiated blocks of content/resources eg for those students who are perhaps sitting the 'Higher Level' exam. It would also allow us to support subjects where they have banded/set ability groups. It would also support subjects where topics are done on rotation due to resourcing. It would also reduce the risk of common core subjects such as Maths/Science developing vast 'silos' of resources/modules and making navigation harder than it should be. Would it also be less messy than Conditional activities?

I know that some suggestions have talked about creating extra courses but with the majority of our students having up to 15 courses to manage, the last thing I wish to see is doubling up courses and reducing engagement.

I think this is more of a K12 issue and it would be nice to see a little bit of love sent their way...

UPDATE: APRIL 2018

I was at the Dutch Users Group consortium on Friday. This consortium represents a sizeable and growing number of universities, colleges and schools within the Netherlands. As a group, we identified a number of ideas we wished to take forward and the one above emerged as a clear favourite (without any prompting from me!)

This is now an idea that has support across multiple educational organisations and the benefits of this idea are seen as hugely positive and wide ranging.

As the last comment on this was 16 months ago and 2 years since the idea was published, it would be nice to know what progress, if any, has been made here.

[nicobsdc]

Hi  @GideonWilliams ​,

I am also from a UK institution and agree that it's incredibly annoying that something that would make such a significant impact to those delivering a UK model hasn't been considered. I requested this idea again and received a response from Instructure to say that this idea (though being tracked) isn't something planned for the near future. You can read their comment here - https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/1278#comment-61494

[GideonWilliams]

I wish there was more flexibility on offer with Canvas to develop resources. It is increasingly clear to me that the needs of the UK education sector for Canvas are very different from those currently imagined. If you plan to use one course for learning but have different groups/classes then where else would you put them other than in Sections. If you are going to enable assessments to be targeted at different sections then why not content too? If you are going to have different classes (with other teachers) in one course then why not design a more flexible gradebook rather than have everyone's assignment appear on it.

Whilst I applaud the attempt to develop additional features such as Conditional Activities, I cannot understand how this is put in place before considered before something like this?

I am sure that pedagogical considerations are given when developing features and I can't see why this is not top of the list.

[nicobsdc]

Hi  @GideonWilliams ​, I couldn't agree more. I think us and some of the other UK institutions need to work together to collect feedback on what improvements need to be made to Canvas for the UK market. It would be also good to find out how Instructure are prioritising ideas before others and to see whether they're actually asking people what they want first.  What we need is clear answers and guidance on how they're planning to address issues raised by UK institutions - I was told that a BTEC Grading System would be arriving to Canvas but I'm yet to see evidence of this.

[blake-whitten]

Gideon and Anique: Thought I would chime in that this idea makes as much sense in the U.S. as in the U.K. (You may remember that I made a positive comment when voting was still open.) Common sense isn't limited by "the pond!"

All jokes aside, I STRONGLY agree that section-specific timed modules are basic. AND the "improvements queue" seems murky at best. Unfortunately the University of Iowa recently switch from Desire-To-Learn to Canvas for LMS so I'm afraid that I'm stuck for many years --- for better or worse. Why did UI switch? One reason is that D2L seemed to have a snail-like response rate to feature requests. (But at least D2L has the equivalent functionality to your request.)

Blake Whitten,

University of Iowa

[GideonWilliams]

Thanks Blake. I'm actually in the Netherlands so I'm deliberately playing both sides from the middle just to rattle some cages ;0)

We have just begun our journey with Canvas and make huge uses of sections to add in classes. With no effective working integration model with our MIS we have put a huge amount of time and effort into trying to create an environment that supports all our staff (hence the UK reference as we teach a UK curriculum). There is a real sense of frustration with teachers that courses are bloated with content and they would really like some filtering ability. The pedagogical arguments for one course with options to view/hide resources are overwhelming and ultimately this is where we want to be heading.

Sent from my iPad

[blake-whitten]

Gideon, I’m a cage-rattler myself, pleased to meet you! I can see that you and I think alike. You’re very well-spoken and state the case forcefully and accurately. Now if only we can get the decision-makers at Canvas to listen . . . the pedagogical arguments for large classes are overwhelming, indeed!

Blake

[GideonWilliams]

Ha, you say the nicest things. My Scottish upbringing…?

Am sure we will see some developments in the future. It would be good for some of these (critical) points to be aired in a wider forum than perhaps hidden away in an idea.

Currently drafting what I see as key requirements for a Canvas course that hopefully have a foundation built from strong pedagogical reasons…

[GideonWilliams]

Here is my 'perfect scenario' for a Canvas course based on the curriculum/delivery model I see in almost all UK schools.

1. The school has an 8 form entry. This means that there are 8 tutor groups in every year.
2. The Art Department wants to set up a single course for each of Year 7, 8 and 9
3. It does this because there are 3 teachers in the Art Department who are taking more than one class in each year
4. They decided against separate courses as this would be too labour intensive to build (one for each group)
5. Each of the 8 classes will be added as sections in the course, controlled by the MIS which can easily update the membership
6. Each one of the Art teachers will be responsible for a particular Year (to reduce the amount of work to do setting up the course)
7. With the support of the eLearning advisor, each teacher creates a course and populate it with resources and activities
8. All teachers teaching in the course will be able to do so using the resources already on the course. They do not have to bring in their own. However...
9. If a teacher would like to add in their own resource they can do this and make it available to just the section she teaches and hiden from other classes
10. When the teacher goes to the Gradebook, she is able to see just the class she teaches and the assignments she sets for that class - there are no gaps or extra assignments that have been added by other teachers
11. There is the option to see a global gradebook of students in a Year for example if each student does the same end of year test

In my opinion, this is how I should be able to construct my Canvas courses (before we even start talking about the types of resources and the ability for teachers to easily transfer resources they are used to using on a memory stick eg Office presentations).

I am not sure why this is so difficult to achieve, hence my mention earlier that this idea may be only pertinent to UK schools? In my school I have some teachers who have 5 separate classes of Year 7 students. I also have teachers who teach 3 streamed classes in the same year where the students are put in different ability groups. We cannot expect those teachers to spend excessive time replicating digital content (no matter how straightforward it may be).

This is why the suggestion proposed above makes so much pedagogical and practical sense (to me at least!)

[johnpj]

If it's an comfort Gideon, it's not just UK schools that use this structure. This is a very common scenario at our Institutions in the US. In my particular case, a large research institution with hundreds or thousands of students in the same lecture section that need to share content, but with many lab and discussion sections that need their own distinct content.

[GideonWilliams]

I am comforted that we are experiencing the same issues as University of Michigan ;O)

I loved Ann Arbor when I stayed for a bit when my best friend was there in the 90s..