Nickname a course title

[nuvlg721]

  This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

  Idea will be open for vote Wed. July 1, 2015 - Wed. October 7, 2015  Learn more about voting...

At our institution, we don't allow instructors to rename their courses, so they are stuck with long and sometimes ugly course names. We don't allow them to rename because we don't want to mess up courses with new data coming from the student system. Would it be possible to allow instructors to provide a nickname for a course, the way a bank allows users to nickname an account? Ideally, it would be visible to the instructors, students, and admins, but the "real" course name would appear in reports and the nickname would not be affected by the new data coming from the student information system.

  Comments from Instructure

This idea has been completed.  For more information please review the Canvas Production Release Notes (2015-11-21)

[James]

I think it's important to have the nickname visible as well as the real name to someone who is masquerading. If support only sees the real name and tells the student to "Click on MATH 113-01 Introduction to Applied Statistics" and the student just sees "This class is a joke", there will be a disconnect both ways and an inability to quickly help.

[jeremy2]

Fair point about avoiding a disconnect between a student and support (although I'd hope the student remembered nicknaming the course!)

The course code is still shown on dashboard cards regardless of any nicknames; does this help? I guess I should have mentioned that in my earlier comment.

[James]

It does help, although we're still on the old UI so I'm not sure what the dashcards are.

When support views a User page with the list of courses, it will have only the official name and not the nickname. Why not? It may be beneficial to be able to tell the student "Click on 'This class sucks'". As long as both are there, it should be okay. Just questioning why not show the nickname? That would help support assist without having to masquerade -- they'll know what the breadcrumb is.

When any user pulls up their main course page, it will have both their nickname and the official name. Okay, good there.

When any user clicks on People and then on a name and it says "You know this person as a  ...", will it show the nickname for the student pulling it up or the official name?

I understand your "course navigation menu" to mean that the "short code" for the course will be replaced by the nickname. I worry, but as long as your UX people make it so long names are ellipsisified, it should be okay.

So, all in all, I think I'm okay with what you've described now that I know the official name is going to be on the main course page for a student.

[jeremy2]

If you're not using the new UI, then your students don't actually have a UI to create course nicknames. Because it's in the new UI.  Each course's dashboard card ("dashcard") has a context menu thing that lets the user customize the color that is shown on the card and calendar events, and, soon, also the "nickname" shown on it and in other places as described.

I hadn't considered the possibility of showing a student's course nicknames to teachers or administrators on a student's course list, since these names were intended for a user's own benefit (and I had considered the likelihood that they'd be derogatory in some cases ).

[Renee_Carney]

This idea has been completed.  For more information please review the Canvas Production Release Notes (2015-11-21)

[Renee_Carney]

Thank you to nuvlg721 for submitting this idea, as well as,  @millerjm , kkr255,  @kona , ztoups, stefaniesanders,  @James ,  @kmeeusen ,  @straussi ,  @Chris_Hofer , and  @jeremy2  for your contributions. Your investment in this idea helped refine a feature which is now part of the Canvas!

[Stef_retired]

Yippee! I never thought I'd earn this badge!

[kmeeusen]

Yahooeee Mountain Deweee!

I love prizes!

[kona]

Pretty cool! Thanks!!

[straussi]

Cool .. Thanks!