Suggestion: make it easier to suggest improvements to Canvas

[mabrams]

Please make it easier to suggest improvements to Canvas.  My understanding based on past experience is that the helpdesk personnel are not supposed to pass on suggestions, and instead instructors are supposed to come to this Canvas community and enter into a conversation, and then have one's suggestion voted on by the few Canvas users who happen to show up in the appropriate window of time. This has the effect of discouraging suggestions, and therefore turning away opportunities for improvement.

I have in fact gone through this community process several times, and despite nice people responding, I usually feel that I have wasted too much precious time.  (I have complained about this in different ways in the past, but I'm trying one more time.)

If my assumptions are wrong because the policy has changed, that's great!  I'm not aware that it has. (I would know it if this site had a prominent "Feedback" or "Suggestion" button or link, but I haven't noticed that yet.)

(I do have a specific suggestion at present, but I don't think it's worth bothering to offer it if there is not a better procedure for offering suggestions.)

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @mabrams ...

Thank you for posting your comments about the current idea process.  I am not sure if you've seen these blog posts or not, but the idea process will be getting some changes in the near future.  I'd invite you to read through these posts from Instructure:

• It’s Time for Your Feedback on the Future of Ideas... - Instructure Community - 619026
• Thank You for Your Feedback on Ideas and Themes - Instructure Community - 626947

And...I'm sure you've seen these Guides, but if not (and if others are reading this topic):

• What is the feature development process for Instru... - Instructure Community - 469504
• How do Ideas work in the Instructure Community? - Instructure Community - 2980
• What are the guidelines for submitting a new idea? - Instructure Community - 535609
• How do I create a new idea in the Instructure Comm... - Instructure Community - 2986

I hope this will be of some help to you (especially those first two links).

[mabrams]

Thanks Chris. I skimmed those texts just now.  I don't have time to read long texts about how to go through the process of submitting feedback, and what steps will be taken. It sounds like there have been some changes, and some sound good to me.  On the other hand, it sounds like you still want people to spend a lot of time in the community system in order to make a suggestion.  I also note that there is no pointer to a suggestion box or feedback link on the main home page, or on every page.  I also didn't notice anything that said that one can pass on suggestions to helpdesk personnel, and they will pass them on.  (That's something I've experienced with support terms for other organizations.)  So I do appreciate you making available resources to me that explain the current policy, but it doesn't sound like it easy or quick to offer feedback.  So it still sounds like it is not easy to offer suggestions and feedback.  I still suggest that the process be made easy.  Asking me to read two to six webpages in response illustrates the point, but I didn't expect that this would be easy.  I'm asking for it to be made easy.

You may feel that the response you gave is a good response to my suggestion.  But what it describes is the kind of process I was objecting to.  I'm worried now that the Instructure culture makes difficult to understand what I am suggesting.  So here is one example from another context.

I have an app for a news organization that I subscribe to.  The search function allows me to sort returned articles by date.  I searched for an article from the last two days by an exact title, and sorted by most recent, and the search function didn't find the article.  I then searched by the author's name,  and found the article, but by scrollng down one screen.  (Sometimes the titles of articles change from day to day, but in this case it was the same--and searching by an old title ought bring up the article, too.)  So there's something wrong with their search function or their data.  I reported this to the support staff for the news organization--essentially giving the description I just gave you, but with a little more detail.  Within a day I got an email saying that they were concerned about this, and that the help desk person was going to pass it on to the team that works on the app.  That's it.  I described the problem, and I was told that they would work on it.  That's all I wanted.  And I'm done with it.  Hopefully they'll fix the app at some point, and if so, I'll be happy about it, but it's not my problem any more.

I fully support the idea of a Canvas community system for those users who want that. I have benefited from the community in some cases.  I'm not sorry that it's available to me sometimes.  But I don't see it as a substitute for a support desk that one can interact with directly in simple ways.  Since  you probably have users who like this community-based support, it's probably good to continue it.  For me it's an hindrance, for most of the suggestions I have had in the past.  I still feel that if I have a suggestion, it's usually not worth making it.  I'm trying it now, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

[JeffCampbell]

Chris provided some excellent links regarding the upcoming changes to idea submission. It went through a trial period over about two years and they decided to pursue a more effective route for submitting ideas. Also note that the process you mentioned occurs in a slightly different location (Ideas Page) than where you are currently at (Community Forum). The Ideas Page can be quickly found by clicking on Help in the far left menu within Canvas, then clicking on Submit an Idea:

You can also click on Products at the top of this page and select Canvas LMS. There is heading there for Contribute that also has a button for the Ideas page. I hope you submit the ideas you have. User suggestions are what helps Canvas improve.

The method you described sounds a bit like it might be combining two different elements of past idea suggestion. Over the recent period (what Canvas is moving away from) there was voting in a limited period, but lacked some of the conversation side of things previously seen. I feel that is why they are going back to more of a conversation style. It gives users the chance to comment and add to the suggestion, potentially reducing the amount of duplicate ideas being submitted (among some other hindrances that developed). Definitely look at the first two links Chris sent. And definitely consider commenting on those posts if you have any suggestions for making the process even better. This is coming about due to user feedback, so they do try to pay attention to it.

And you do have the weird users like Chris and I (and others commonly here) who like trying to help ready to assist if you have questions. 😄

[mabrams]

Ack! I right-clicked on the Product link in response to your suggestion, and instead of opening a new tab,  your software captured the click and erased my earlier comments that I was about to submit.  Quick summary of what I had written:

Link in Canvas: Great!  Hard to find, though, since you have to scroll down.  I think I knew about it at one time, but who would remember?  It's not like I make suggestions every week.  So I didn't think it was there, because I didn't see it.

The process of submitting a suggestion is kind of annoying. I understand that it's good for you if you don't have to look at duplicate suggestions, but preventing that doesn't seem like my job.  But it's OK.  It's a much better process than what was described in Chris's links, which as I indicated, I skimmed.  Yes, if some people want to have conversations, that's great.  I don't.

(About the process of clicking on Product, etc.: There is no way that I would ever think to go through those steps. That's not a helpful way to find a place to offer feedback.)

If you really want feedback, I suggest putting a feedback link on either the top or bottom of every page, and move up the "submit an idea" link in the Help dropdown in Canvas.

[Chris_Hofer]

---

If you really want feedback, I suggest putting a feedback link on either the top or bottom of every page, and move up the "submit an idea" link in the Help dropdown in Canvas.

---

Hi @mabrams ...

The "Submit a Feature Idea" is actually something that can be moved up or down within the "Help" menu...by your school's Canvas administrator(s).  I'm not sure if they made a decision on where exactly to place it within your "Help" menu, but it is absolutely something that can be moved.  You might want to have a conversation with your school's Canvas administrator or someone from your school's Online Learning / eLearning / Distance Education team to see if they would be willing to move to a more visible location.  Here's a Guide on this:

How do I customize the Canvas Help Menu for an acc... - Instructure Community - 127

I hope this will help a bit.  Sing out if you have any questions...thanks!

[mabrams]

One more thing. If someone offers a suggestion, it would be good if there was some response.  "Thanks for the suggestion", "we'll look into it", "I've passed it on to such and such team", etc.  Not essential, but then you know that Instructure is at least saying that it's not ignored. Ideally, if there is a fix to respond to the suggestion at some later date, it would be good to notify the person suggesting it. Not essential, but that would be a nice thing, and helps build good will toward Canvas and Instructure.

[Chris_Hofer]

@mabrams ...

I agree that is always nice to be able to get feedback from Instructure employees based on our suggestions.  I might suggest that you leave your above feedback to Ruth's blog post that I had previously provided to you:

• Thank You for Your Feedback on Ideas and Themes - Instructure Community - 626947

I know that she had been replying to folks last month when they commented on this blog post:

• It’s Time for Your Feedback on the Future of Ideas... - Instructure Community - 619026

So, I think it would be valuable for you to post your feedback there so she is sure to see it.  My $0.02 ... for what it's worth.

[mabrams]

I don't see a way to add new comments.  That's OK. I upvoted some posts that expressed my view.  The main point is that while some Canvas users clearly want to vote and spend a lot of time interacting with this forum, some of us are busy with other things, but want to be able to quickly provide suggestions, complain, and provide other feedback. That is the fundamental point.  It shouldn't take a lot of time.  Now, if you suggest that I read a long blog post about detailed internal procedures, what should I do?  (I did skim it--now for the second time.)  The feeling I get from what you wrote is that if I don't read long documents about your processes, then I'm not being responsible--I'm not holding up my end of the bargain.  But I wanted that.  It's never been my responsibility to be actively involved in figuring out what is the best procedure for Instructure.  I want to give feedback that's taken seriously, but I am not part of Instructure.  I want to be able to provide feedback *without* it involving a lot of time. You have given me a method for doing that, although it's not perfect, it's something.  I'm grateful for that help.  I don't think there's anything else for me to say.  I don't get it.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @mabrams ...

Per one of the Guides I had linked to in my original response to you, How do Ideas work in the Instructure Community?, there is currently a light pink box at the top of that Guide that indicates the Ideas and Themes voting process is currently on hold while the team at Instructure works on a better process for collecting feedback.  So, we will need to wait until that process is in place in order to be able to vote for ideas we would like to see implemented in Canvas.  (By the way, submitting ideas and voting for ideas that have been submitted by others isn't the only way that Instructure collects feedback from us.  That is covered more in What is the feature development process for Instructure products?.)  I agree with you that providing feedback should not take lots of time.  In previous iterations of the voting process here in the Community, ideas were open for voting, and people could vote up or down and leave comments.  I don't know exactly what the new process will look like, but I am looking forward to whatever Instructure does come up with.  In that light pink box, there's a link to the Product Blog.  I might suggest that you "Subscribe" to that page.  That way, when Instructure posts new blog posts, you can get notified about them and decide if you'd like to review them or not.

My $0.02 ... for what it's worth.  Happy Holidays!