Option to exclude Assignments from Syllabus

[gwk]

It would be good to have an option to exclude the Assignments Summary from the Syllabus page.  Many faculty wish to only have the Syllabus with a course description, lecture schedule, grading, and other policies.  Now if you have any assignments they are automatically put on the Syllabus page - this should be an option only.  Why have an Assignments page if you force a link also on the Syllabus page.  Other ideas describe how some faculty like the assignments on the Syllabus page, so it should be simply kept as an option.

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-18528-canvas-release-notes-2020-03-21 

[cking4]

I agree with  @kmeeusen ‌:  I don't want students going straight to the assignments without seeing what else is on the pages I've created.  For example, my chemistry "assignments page" has tips on answering some of the hard questions, and links to online videos.  Some of the students never discover those resources, because they go straight to the list of assignments in the syllabus.  Those students do not do well in my course.

The students can also bypass an "assignments page" by going to their grade page, which also has links to the assignments.  I would like an "assignments page" to be the only place for students to go to get to assignments, so that the students will see the extra resources I've provided.  (Going along with that philosophy, I hide both the "modules" and "assignments" menu items from the students, so that they can't bypass the "assignments page" that way.)  So, please include deactivate links in the students' grade book to assignments in the option to hide the assignment summary in the syllabus

Of course, students should be able to click in the grade book to see their previous work.  For this option I suggest that, in the students' grade book, the assignment name not have a link to the assignment, but, when an assignment has been completed, the assignment score will link to the student's submission (if made available by assignment policy).  If the assignment has been started, but not completed, then the student must go to the appropriate "assignments page" to resume work on that assignment; that way, the student will have easy access to any extra resources made available for that assignment.

The simplest way to implement this would be to have an option, probably in course Settings, that says, "Hide 'Assignments Summary' in syllabus, and hide links to assignments in grade book."  If this was implemented, you could wait and see if users wanted it broken down into two options (I suspect they wouldn't).

[jew21]

PLEASE!!!!!!!

[Jeff_F]

I might prefer an indication of which assignments are not published on the syllabus page.  This way the instructor can see them all on a single screen.

[acompton]

I would like to see this as an option to make the list a static list so it can be used as an outline of course activities, but still not clickable. I, too, don't want students to go to this list and click on assignments and quizzes and complete them while skipping course content intended for them to read, process, and review before attempting those activities and assessments.

[jew21]

Thank you!

[mouldera]

I am disappointed with the fact that this is still going on after two years. How hard is it to change something in the Syllabus tool? We instruct faculty here not to use it because of the problems of students not going to the modules, but using the Syllabus tool to by pass the course content and only do the assignments. In many cases, the assignments are NOT in order because there are no due date. We are an open-entry, open-exit school, so we can't use due dates for assignments. 

[gwk]

I agree completely. I started this string two years ago by suggesting this

simple option to exclude Assignments from the Syllabus. It made no sense

to me why this was built into Canvas in the first place. I and everyone

else I know also just avoid the syllabus option in Canvas because of this,

which is really crazy -- if you designed a course management tool from

scratch, what would be the first functionality? To be able to list a

syllabus. In my experience with Canvas, the organization is much more

interested in stimulating discussion on chat boards and getting input from

users than they are in simply fixing basic issues. This last point has

been raised many times in this Community forum...

[Jeff_F]

Perhaps hit up your IT shop and ask for CSS or javascript that acts to strip the hyperlinks from that section of the syllabus page. Yes, I know, Egad!!   Removing links from a web page.... 

Of course doing so would probably be an all or nothing proposition for the subaccount vs. a course level opt-in feature.

How to Disable Links | CSS-Tricks 

[Renee_Carney]

The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.

[bwaters]

I can't believe this feature has not been added by now. We have been using Canvas since 2013 and have wished for this to happen from day one. It's as if the Instructure has no idea as to the real function of a class syllabus, particularly a section syllabus which is how I suspect most users would utilize the syllabus tool. Come on Instructure, get with the program. Just include a toggle with the default option set to not include assignments.