A Parity Problem: Home Page on Desktop not Home Page on Mobile

[mdvdmorris]

Hey there, Instructure Community! I'm hoping to get some help from folks in the know.

I'm an Instructional Technologist at my school and yesterday I discovered that when one of my teachers sets the Home Page––say, on Modules––that configuration only shows up correctly on a desktop. If a student views the course on mobile, they see the full menu and not the Module page. This creates a pretty significant design problem for teachers, as any parity problem would.

Is there a workaround or are there plans to improve the parity between the desktop interface and the mobile app?

[StephenLank]

Hello @mdvdmorris ,

I hope this finds you well!

I recommend reviewing the following comparison guides which detail the expected mobile experience for users leveraging Canvas over the web, iOS and Android apps. These Admin Resource Documents break down features for each respective mobile app user type: Canvas Teacher, Canvas Student, and Canvas Observer. Our Canvas Mobile Hub also includes helpful end-user guides, tutorial videos, as well as information on system requirements.

You may also be interested in checking out the Mobile App Design Course Evaluation Checklist which details important considerations for mobile-focused design within Canvas. As an added bonus, this guide includes visual examples which explain the 'why' behind key recommendations.

Lastly, if the above resources are unable to capture your particular mobile app use case, we encourage you to share any suggestions you may have for future mobile functionality by creating a new post in our Ideas and Themes area within the Community.

I hope this is helpful!

Best,

Stephen

[mdvdmorris]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Stephen. I really appreciate it!

These checklists provided some clarity regarding the problem I'm running into. On the Teacher page, the checklist indicates that the Teacher can change set the Front Page from all 3 options––Desktop, iOS and Android. However, on the Student page, there's nothing about the Front Page, and it's the student's experience of the Front Page that is the problem.

When the Teacher sets the Front Page, regardless of how they do it, the Student can only see the chosen front page if they are looking at the course on the web. The mobile user can see that there is a Front Page (it's labeled), but they do not land on that Front Page the same way that the web user does. This may seem like a somewhat trivial difference, but it can create a break in the desired flow of information. Do you see what I mean?

I would welcome any further feedback and I will gladly create a new post in the Ideas and Themes.

Again, thanks for taking the trouble to respond.

In peace,

MDM