Can the student to-do list be disabled?

[hmrozarb]

I would like to know if it is possible to hid the to do list from the student view.  We are having an issue with some students clicking on the assignments from the to do list instead of following the order of the modules.  It would be less confusing for our middle school students to see less on the homepage of their course.  Thank you!

[andrew_sheppard]

Just a reminder that it's 2023, and we still do not have the ability to hide the "To Do" list. The presence of this item is causing confusion for students and disrupting student learning. Moreover, it's not consistent with commonly accepted instructional design principles. Please address. 

[mark_taormino]

There continues to be multiple threads about the to-list. No action after years of requests. I have yet to speak to any instructor who does not want the option to TURN THIS FEATURE OFF. Having an option to turn this feature on/off would meet every instructor's need.  The todo list issue has been around for years but never gets addressed. I sense this will never be remedied. 

[andrew_sheppard]

It's now 2024.  Yep. 

[deborah_okey]

I teach at a community college, and I teach exclusively only because of my health. Based on this thread of discussions, it seems that most faculty hate that TO DO list because it allows students to SKIP LEARNING. Let's see if CANVAS cares what faculty thinks and deals with this. I doubt that they do. Few corporations care what consumers think, and corporations in the tech industry appear to care even less than other corporations do. 

[clawrence6]

As an instructional designer, I've noticed an uptick in the issue echoed in this thread - students skipping instructional content and going straight to assignments if they're not otherwise locked-down. I'd like to add in another thing I'm noticing, which is stemming from the facts that the To-Do list sorts oldest-first by default and has a 6-7 item limit before "Show All" appears.

So, if a student is falling behind on 6-7 or more assignments, the To-Do list no longer displays future upcoming assignments and instead shows a backlog of old work. Yes, the student could hit "X" and clear this out, but many don't. Clicking "Show All" doesn't lead to a comprehensive list or link to the student's Calendar, and instead switches the Dashboard over to List View (which, in my personal opinion, is confusing 🙄). As a result, the interface design is appearing to exacerbate a student's late/missing work struggles. 

As a teacher, I try to catch my own students before they get this far behind and guide them through assessing whether catching up on all work or taking zeroes and only working on remaining upcoming work is a better choice. This could be a bigger challenge for instructors whose courses are mostly online and/or aren't Canvas admins, though, since there'd be less of an opportunity to take a look at a student's own To-Do List yourself. 

[Brelki]

Sadly, I came here with the intent of finding a solution to this problem and found this very lengthy, very old thread instead.  I have a significant challenge I encounter with the mandatory "To Do list" feature in my online courses, and I'd love to advocate for an option to disable it on a per-course basis.

While I understand the potential pedagogical benefits of the To Do list for traditionally structured courses, it presents considerable difficulties in certain contexts. I teach fully online, self-paced courses where students have flexibility in choosing assignments from designated categories, with the primary deadline being the end of the semester.  In this specific course design, the To Do list often misleads students. A recurring issue each semester involves a subset of students relying solely on the To Do list, consequently overlooking comprehensive instructions available on the Modules page (which are also assigned and on the To Do list), detailed Calendar entries, and direct email communications. This reliance leads to confusion where students either complete more assignments than necessary or fail to fulfill the requirements across all mandated categories.

Despite assigning introductory materials explaining course navigation and repeatedly guiding students towards the Modules and Calendar, the To Do list's prominence often overrides these efforts for some learners, creating significant issues for their progress and increasing the need for instructor intervention.  Implementing a simple toggle in the course settings to disable the To Do list would provide instructors with the necessary flexibility to tailor the learning environment to specific course structures, particularly those emphasizing self-direction and flexible pathways. This would greatly improve the experience for both students and instructors in non-traditional course formats.