Releases Q&A: 2021-12-01 Course Settings Publish Buttons

[erinhmcmillan]

Looking to discuss this feature from the 2021-12-01 Deploy Notes? Post a reply and start a conversation!

POSTING GUIDELINES

• This topic is for feature discussion only—please share use cases, best practices, etc. regarding this feature
• Please thread replies as much as possible to keep posts organized

WHERE SHOULD I POST...?

• Idea enhancement feedback to product managers should be submitted in ideas.canvaslms.com (though linking to the idea here so others can find it is welcome)
• Bug reports should be submitted to Canvas Support—bugs will not be triaged in this thread

[kirsten_ryall]

Hi there, just checking in on whether this is available in beta environment yet. I'm not seeing it. Did I go too early perhaps? Or do I need to review my permissions?

[erinhmcmillan]

Yes, if you aren't seeing this in beta you may want to review permissions.

Thanks!

Erin

[c_carrillo1]

Update: word is that the Publish button is being replicated to Settings but is still being retained in its current position on the Home Page of the course as well.  In this case, we no longer have the objection we originally stated below.  Thank you for the clarification!

_________
It's a bad idea to move the Publish button away from the Home Page of the course.  Blackboard buries their equivalent publish function in settings where it's hard for instructors to find.  When we had Blackboard, we had to install a hack to place a link to the publish function right back at the top of the Home Page of the course where instructors could see it.  The fact that Canvas had the Publish button in a prominent location was a plus and an advantage over Blackboard. It's a shame now to see Instructure moving in the wrong direction and aping Blackboard on this one.

This decision will make publishing courses more confusing and harder for our instructors.

By the way, we don't see this in beta yet either.  

[ellen_peters]

I also wondered whether this change meant that the buttons would be removed from the Home page. But on our beta environment I see the Publish and Unpublish buttons both on the Home page and in Settings. So I hope that they simply forgot to mention in the deploy notes that a course can also be published from the Home page.

[kirsten_ryall]

Thanks @erinhmcmillan, permissions reviewed and still cannot see that publish/unpublish button in course settings.

[erinhmcmillan]

Would you please submit a support case so our teams can investigate?

Thanks,

Erin

[kirsten_ryall]

Hi Erin, I only just saw your message today. I still do not see this deploy active in beta env or production env. I have emailed support with the details as per your suggestion. I'll add the ticket # in here once I get it too.