Is it possible for students to use the Contact link for a Teacher in a course?

[EvanDonovan]

Is it possible for students to use the Contact link for a Teacher in a course?

When we go into any of our courses as administrators, then click on the course-specific profile page for a Teacher from the People page, there is an icon under the Contact heading that looks like a speech bubble. When you click this link, it takes you to the Inbox to send a message to the Teacher.

However, when students click on that same page, they see the Contact heading, but they don't see anything under it.

This is causing a great deal of confusion, since, in our previous SIS/LMS, Populi, they were able to see faculty's email addresses on the course syllabus page. Now they aren't sure how to contact their faculty.

Is there something I can do so that students can use the Contact link?

In case it affects things, the courses in question have not yet started. The term start date is Jan. 10. But students are wanting to contact instructors prior to the beginning of term.

[Chris_Hofer]

Good morning, @EvanDonovan ...

I'm not sure if that contact icon would work...or is even available.  That's not normally how I would recommend students reach out to their instructor via Canvas anyway.  There are other options.

• Canvas Inbox -- Students can contact their instructor via the Inbox, and the instructor will be able to reply to their messages.  Keep in mind that the Inbox is not e-mail.  It is a messaging system within Canvas.  It is not e-mail because people cannot send messages to family and friends who are not enrolled in the courses.  It's simply a messaging system for students and instructors.  Here's a Guide for students on how they can send messages to people: How do I send a message to a user in a course in t... - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com).  And, there's also a good video tutorial available: Inbox Overview (All Users) - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com).
• "Ask Your Instructor a Question" link -- Within your school's Canvas "Help" menu on the left-hand side global navigation bar, you should have an "Ask Your Instructor a Question" link.  This is a quick way for your students to send a message to your instructor...and might be an alternative to using the Inbox in some cases.  See this Guide for more information: How do I get help with Canvas as a student? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com).

I hope these resources will be of some help to you.  Let Community members know if you have any other questions about this...thanks!

[EvanDonovan]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will test your second suggestion to see what it does. I saw that on the menu, but I haven't used it before.

Regarding the first one, we have trained new students in that but it is confusing for our existing students, who are used to emailing their instructors, because the emails were listed in the syllabi in our SIS. That's why I had hoped I could get that Contact icon to show up. It uses the Inbox system in any case; it's just a quicker way to get to it.

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

I see what you mean.  I could be wrong about this, but when I go to my Canvas "Account" >> "Profile" screen and then go to "Edit Profile", I do have some options I can check (The left-most icon is for the "Message" function you are referring to, I think.  The same icon on the right is for "Google Drive"...which does have a check-mark under it.)

I am a Canvas administrator, but I am not sure if some of this might be related to permissions or other account settings that we have turned on/off.

I would still recommend the options I outlined this morning...as this will allow your students to get in direct contact with instructors pretty easily.

[EvanDonovan]

For now, we decided just to create a page in each of our courses that lists the email addresses for faculty. That way, students have a method of contact that is more like what they are used to doing. It is unfortunate that we couldn't get Canvas to generate that for us automatically, like our old SIS, but it wasn't too hard to make.

It's worth stating, though, that the link you shared doesn't appear to have an option to allow the Inbox, or even email, as an option for Registered Services. It can be used for Google Drive or Twitter, but those won't help with our use case.