This document introduces the Student Dashboard List View as noted in the Canvas Release Notes (2018-08-04)
The Dashboard includes an enhanced view of the To Do list to help students manage tasks across all their courses. In addition to displaying automatically populated graded To Do items, the List view allows instructors to add non-graded items to the To Do list and students to add their own items to the To Do items.
- Account Management
- Permissions
- APIs
- Account-Level Features
- Account Settings
- User-Level Features
- DashboardSetup
- Card View DashboardChanges
- ListView Dashboard
- Calendar
- Modules
- Syllabus
- InstructorFunctionality
- Announcements
- Calendar
- Modules
- Syllabus
- Community Resources
- Future Enhancements
- Customer Feedback
- Feature Documentation
- Known Behaviors
Account Management
Permissions
No additional permissions are required to manage this feature.
Users who want to select the Dashboard default option for the institution must have access to the Account Settings page with the Account-level settings - manage permission.
APIs
This feature may be used with the Planner, Planner Note, and Planner Override APIs.
Account-Level Features
Account Settings
Admins can select the Dashboard default view for new users in the account. In the Default menu, List View is included as a default option for new users.
New users can change their Dashboard view at any time in the Dashboard Options menu. Once a user has selected a different view, the default no longer applies.
To change the Dashboard view for all users in the account, select the Overwrite all users’ existing default dashboard preferences checkbox.
User-Level Features
Dashboard Setup
If List View is not enabled for the entire account, students can enable the Dashboard List View by selecting the List View in the Dashboard options menu.
Card View Dashboard Changes
When List View is enabled for an account, if students switch to the Card View, the global To Do list sidebar no longer displays the number of all items outstanding. Instead, the bottom of the list displays a Show All link, which links students to the List View dashboard.
Additionally, the sidebar displays the same fonts for all assignment types in the To Do list but they are rendered in a font instead of images to ensure consistency with other Canvas areas.
List View Dashboard
The List view displays all current courses in an agenda view and does not account for course favorites. The Dashboard loads to display the current date, though previous and future dates can be viewed by scrolling up and down the page. Prior items with activity can also be accessed quickly by clicking the New Activity button.
The Dashboard is loaded incrementally by date. When multiple courses display for a single date, courses are organized by course ID, followed by the due date and due time. Each item on the list includes a link for easy access to the To Do item.
Items also include an icon that represents the item type. Graded items include the point value and due date. Announcements always display in the List view display according to their posted date.
Item Status and Activity
Once a graded item is past the due date, the item displays a label according to the item’s status. Items can display labels for graded, new feedback, late, missing, and excused.
Any new activity is indicated in the List view, and items with new activity are indicated by a dot next to the item. New activity can include updates such as new replies to discussions, new grades for submissions, or new submission comments. New activity on a prior date can be viewed by scrolling up the Dashboard.
Completed Items
When an item in the list is marked as completed, all previous items remain in the list. Graded items are marked as completed when they are submitted. Non-graded items must be manually marked as completed by the student and are updated when the page is refreshed. Information about the completed item can be viewed by clicking the item. If multiple items are completed, they will be grouped together.
Opportunity Alerts Menu
The List view includes an alerts menu, which displays opportunities available to each student to help improve course grades. Like in the other Dashboard views, all items in the List view alerts menu can be dismissed at any time but will not display again in the menu. Dismissing an item from the alerts menu has no direct effect on the item in the list and does not mark any missing items as completed.
Additionally, grades can be viewed from this menu. If a course is using grading periods, the grade displayed is the grade for the current grading period.
Student To Dos
Students can manually create To Do items for their To Do list in the List View Menu. To Dos include a specific icon to differentiate from other To Do list items. To Do items default as general items that are not associated with a course. However, students can choose to associate the note with a specific course.
General To Dos always display below any course items for the To Do due date. To Do items associated with a course will be grouped with other items in the course.
Calendar
All items in the List View also display in the Calendar. Items that are not associated with a course display as part of the student’s calendar. Items that are associated with a course display in the calendar for the specified course.
Modules
In the Modules page, any item added to a module that contains a to-do date also displays the to-do date in the module.
Syllabus
The Syllabus displays both due date and to-do items for the course.
Instructor Functionality
Pages and Non-Graded Discussions
Instructors can set pages and non-graded discussions to display in the Dashboard List view.
When creating a page or non-graded discussion, instructors can select an option to add the item to the student’s Dashboard List view. This option allows instructors to help students remember to read a course page or participate in a non-graded discussion by a specific date.
Instructors can select the to-do date and time for the page or non-graded discussion to display in the list. If an item is differentiated by student, section, or group, the item only displays in the To Do list for students who have been assigned the item.
These options are only available for pages and discussions at the course level and are not available within pages and discussions for individual groups. Instructor cannot customize non-graded items on a per-student basis.
Announcements
Announcements functionality has not changed for the List View. Any announcements that are delayed display in the Dashboard on the delayed date.
Calendar
All non-graded items display in the Calendar for the course. However, to-do items currently cannot be edited from the Calendar.
Modules
In the Modules page, any item added to a module that contains a to-do date also displays the to-do date in the module.
Syllabus
The Syllabus displays both due date and to-do items for the course.
Community Resources
Future Enhancements
This document outlines existing functionality included in the initial release of this feature. Anonymous moderated grading will continue to receive additional feature enhancements over future releases as indicated in Release Notes. Please follow the release notes for future functionality updates.
Customer Feedback
Community feedback for non-scoring rubrics is welcome per Canvas Community Feedback Guidelines, which outlines general feedback, broken functionality, and feature enhancements.
For the Dashboard List View, feature enhancements should include the dashboard tag. Before submitting a new idea, please review all existing dashboard feature ideas.
Feature Documentation
All feature functionality will be updated in the Canvas Guides on August 4. Comments are welcome for functionality clarification. Lessons will also be updated with all future enhancements as indicated in release notes.
Known Behaviors
The following notable behaviors have been identified in the Dashboard List View. Known behaviors are being triaged by the Canvas engineering team—feature ideas do not need to be submitted regarding their functionality.
Information in this document will be updated as made available by the Canvas product team:
- List View does not currently display Peer Review assignments.
- For instructors, non-graded to-do items displayed in a course calendar cannot be edited from the Calendar.
