I Can See Clearly Now (I've Cleared My Cache)!

[ssimpso4]

Context

Anyone supporting Canvas users for awhile has discovered the need to frequently troubleshoot issues in response to vague statements like, "Things don't look right" or "I can't see it." Therefore, less experienced Canvas admins might find this a useful tip!

Suggested Troubleshooting

Please use these alt. lyrics to sing along to Johnny Nash's I Can See Clearly Now (1972):

I can see clearly now, I've cleared my cache,

I can see all the stuff that had gone away.

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind,

It's gonna be a bright, bright, bright tech-integrated day!

The latest example of the need to clear the browser cache was just yesterday when I heard from multiple users that their Mastery Path settings had vanished. Upon checking, mine too! Rather than despair, however, a song entered my head . . .

I can see clearly now, I've cleared my cache . . .

Information about clearing the cache in a variety of browsers can be found here.

The Payoff

When things aren't looking quite right in Canvas, I've found that clearing the browser cache very often pays immediate dividends for the end user. Why wait up to 24 hours to have Canvas Support suggest the same thing as their first line of troubleshooting?

Like the song says, It's gonna be a bright, bright, bright tech-integrated day!

[cm3644]

Hey Stephen,

Thanks for sharing! This newbie-Canvas admin greatly appreciates it

[stelpstra]

Hi ssimpso4‌, thanks for sharing this quick solution. Apparently we are not the only users experiencing cache problems, see my post Did you experience missing content display or buttons not working, related to browser cache? 

We have had situations with missing quiz questions and missing submit buttons, causing students to fail completing assignments in time which is a significant problem. Your example where Mastery Path settings had vanished is also not a small thing.

Although clearing cache might solve the problem for an individual user for that particular moment, hopefully in time (for those who become aware something is wrong while most users don't), I would rather see that is researched which elements in Canvas become problematic in relation to browser cache. It seems that this is not on the radar of the development team and I think this should be taken seriously and more importantly I should be solved!

Which browsers does Canvas support? This document does not say, we only support these browsers provided you delete your browser cache every time you do an important task in Canvas. What do you think?

[ssimpso4]

 @stelpstra ‌, I certainly find it annoying that clearing the cache is a necessary step for a variety of users, in a variety of contexts within Canvas, and in a variety of browsers. What I don't have is the underlying knowledge of internet browsers to really draw a conclusion as to whether there's anything that Instructure could do to help alleviate the frequency of these occurrences, but I do feel that it could be better addressed in the Guides (perhaps in the 'Known Issues' section of the guide you referred to above (Which browsers does Canvas support?). Oh wait, it already is! How do I clear my browser cache on a PC?  Perhaps this new document should be linked from the supported browsers doc (erinhallmark).

For now, I feel like my efforts are focused on making sure our users internalize this as an initial troubleshooting step and can perform theactual steps to clear the cache via Browsing History settings (in Chrome). It may just be that modern computer users need to internalize these and other critical tasks (updating software, plug-ins, etc.) so that they have as joyful a web-experience as possible. 

[erinhmcmillan]

Hi, Stephen,

Our upcoming changes to the guides will help better connect related content. After that we'll be conducting an audit to see how to improve content that isn't so directly related.

Thanks,

Erin