Canvas Themes

Ideas submitted by Community members are mapped to Themes. All Themes that have not been prioritized (selected by Instructure and the Community to deliver) can be found here.

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109 Themes in: Identified

Improve Gradebook settings options

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-05-2023 Submitted by 02-05-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 42

Theme Overview

Instructors want more options in Gradebook settings to grade more efficiently and optimize their workflows.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Instructors can remove assignments that don't count toward final grades from the Gradebook and student grade page
  • Instructors can set a "grade release date" and other grade policies at the assignment level
  • Instructors can customize Gradebook Status (Missing, Late, Excused, etc.)
  • Allow option to have the "missing" label only apply to required assignments
  • Instructors can cap grades on additional assignment attempts
  • Save instructors additional time by scaling scores automatically and calculating a class average
  • The "hide grades" functionality is improved so it's clearer when grades are hidden

Improve the inbox functionality to provide for more meaningful communication

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-05-2023 Submitted by 02-05-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 21

Theme Overview

Instructors want additional inbox functionality and settings to customize messaging among course participants.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Provide functionality that is similar to what users would expect to see in email tools, such as signatures, RCE, scheduling of messages, auto-reply, and trash folder
  • Update the interface to allow for easy access to common actions, such as archive and delete
  • Provide additional clarity around recipients, such as showing custom section names and which student an observer is connected to
  • Allow for messaging of multiple classes at one time
  • Provide better default controls and actions

Improved customization and management of sub-accounts

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-05-2023 Submitted by 02-05-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 9

Theme Overview

Sub-accounts often need different settings, permissions, themes, and feature options. This theme focuses on expanding the customizations that are available for sub-accounts.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Expanding root-level account settings to be available at the sub-account level
  • Ability to copy permissions sets between sub-accounts
  • Better sub-account theme controls
  • Better feature option customization

Improved functionality for course announcements

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-05-2023 Submitted by 02-05-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 19

Theme Overview

Instructors want additional functionality to better control content included in and user visibility of course announcement

What value could this provide to users?

  • Provide functionality to publish and unpublish announcements just as you can other course content
  • Provide additional functionality to archive and sort or filter announcements
  • Allow instructors to bulk manage course announcements
  • Provide more granular viewing of announcement by adding start and end times for visibility

Improved language and localization experience

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-05-2023 Submitted by 02-05-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 13

Theme Overview

Canvas is tricky to configure and support for multi-lingual settings and could always have more languages.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Admins can better troubleshoot issues outside of their native language by quickly switching their personal display language for a specific course
  • Eliminate quiz answer matching errors due to languages/localization
  • Better support for multi-lingual learning environments
  • Support for more languages

Improved student view functionality

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-05-2023 Submitted by 02-05-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 11

Theme Overview

Create a more true simulation of student experience by being able to support all relevant student use cases

What value could this provide to users?

  • Student preview tool will support:
    • Ability to view all modules and artifacts regardless of being published
    • View all assignments without having to remove pre-requisites or fulfill specific requirements
    • View external tool functionality (eg lockdown broswer, LTI tools)
    • View only option for specific student in order to troubleshoot individual issues based on current progress
    • Expand test student capabilities to test differentiation
    • Toggle to view mobile option (simulate app) when using preview
    • Create observer view similar to student view

Increase options for restricting student results view in quizzes

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-04-2023 Submitted by 02-04-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 4

Theme Overview

Teachers have a variety of scenarios in which they want students to be able to view their results or previous submissions

What value could this provide to users?

  • Teachers have better control of when and what results are available to students

Make account configuration and management more efficient through better default settings and controls for Admins

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-04-2023 Submitted by 02-04-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 13

Theme Overview

There are certain areas of Canvas where the lack of default controls makes management of various objects impossible or inefficient. By adding new default behaviors and controls, we can simplify the admin experience and reduce repetitive efforts.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Ability to Reorder Pronoun Options so that users can select them more efficiently
  • Add SIS IDs to default sections as part of course creation so that they can be managed with the change_sis_id.csv
  • Ability for Admin to set Student/Teacher/TA/Designers Term End dates to "whenever" so that teachers can have access indefinitely after the term ends
  • Ability to create Account Roles at the root-level without making them available at the sub-account level so that roles intended for the primary account don't clutter the sub-accounts
  • If empty course end date, then automatically use term end date so that the list of active courses is more manageable and accurate

Make the mobile app UI and UX experience better by adding new or reorganizing and improving existing features

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-04-2023 Submitted by 02-04-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 13

Theme Overview

There are certain UI/UX difficulties that can make the mobile apps difficult to use.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Reduced effort to perform specific tasks on the mobile apps.

Provide more flexible grading options

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-04-2023 Submitted by 02-04-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 58

Theme Overview

Instructors need more flexible grading options to comply with institutional or personal policies and preferences.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Instructors can apply additional exceptions and customizations to the late policy and assignment groups
  • Rubrics can be more easily formatted and support percentages in addition to fixed points
  • Admins/instructors can choose to use letter grade only or other grading schemes without points
  • Instructors have additional display, edit, create options in the Gradebook

Provide more options to provide quiz feedback to students

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-04-2023 Submitted by 02-04-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 12

Theme Overview

Teachers need better options for providing feedback to students depending on question type and at different points during a quiz.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Better feedback options help to advance student learning by helping students understand what they got right or wrong
  • Continuing education courses with requirements that students receive feedback for each answer choice

Provide students with useful quiz information at quiz time

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-04-2023 Submitted by 02-04-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 7

Theme Overview

Students need to know all the details about the quizzes they are about to take and about each attempt they make. Students need to have the right information while they are taking the quiz

What value could this provide to users?

  • Quiz metadata is important for students to know what is expected when they open the quiz and confirm information once it is submitted.
  • Timers and warnings will help students keep within the limits of quiz-taking.

Streamline data audits through better reporting and admin tools

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-03-2023 Submitted by 02-03-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 31

Theme Overview

There are certain times that specific data needs to be pulled out of Canvas for investigative purposes or to isolate specifc objects that need attention. These efforts will expand functionality of account reports, analytics, admin tools, gradebook exports, and page views to address specific common use cases.

What value could this provide to users?

  • New columns in existing Account Reports
  • New account level reports
  • Custom reporting framework (if possible, in New Analytics)
  • More data available in Page Views
  • More data available about users and how enrollments were created
  • Expanded Admin Tools functionality

Sync user data across all flows

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-03-2023 Submitted by 02-03-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 4

Theme Overview

Improved data will improve user experience, and eliminate confusion

What value could this provide to users?

  • Single, shared identity between Canvas and Commons to eliminate sync/user assigning errors (similar but not same user)
  • Include SIS ID in more reports, such as those in New Analytics and Attendance/Roll Call
  • Display custom role names consistently to eliminate user confusion

Technical Functionality

Status: Identified
Submitted 02-03-2023 Submitted by 02-03-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 20

Theme Overview

Specialized requests for file types support, white space handling, environment variables, element handling for page load speed.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Able to support unique use cases for specialized uses of our products, such as:
  • Support environmental variables for LTI 1.3
  • Change the name of the downloaded folders
  • Adjust decimal separators in grade exports based on user settings
  • Modify the sizes of the image files they upload
  • Update page titles in the browser window to be the course nickname
  • Fix issues with the Office 365 LTI submission types
  • Support .fig and webp file types
  • Sanitizing all title inputs on submissions
  • Enable comment out tags in HTML editor
  • Allow assignment and module pages to load faster
  • Let users hide grading tabs
  • Improve link validator tool
  • Decrease load time for custom CSS/JS font types in Canvas themes
  • Make the "Use semicolons to separate fields in compatible spreadsheet exports" setting apply to the import groups functionality
  • Keep the original name of the uploaded files and enable Google doc file uploads in NQ questions

Add more options for 'message students who' to gradebook and analytics tools

Status: Identified
Submitted 01-31-2023 Submitted by 01-31-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 9

Theme Overview

There are currently gaps in the criteria available for targeting messages to students in the "Message students who" functions for gradebook and analytics. Adding more options to these tools will allow messages to get to the correct group of students so that they can respond to a call to action from their instructors. 

What value could this provide to users?

  • Message students who is available for more than 1 assignment at a time
  • Ability to send a custom message in new analytics
  • Message students who, Haven't logged in over the past week or haven't viewed the graded content

Add or improve search functionality

Status: Identified
Submitted 01-31-2023 Submitted by 01-31-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 23

Theme Overview

Make it easy to quickly find content, and to narrow the results down more effectively to find content.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Find specific things without having to page through or scroll through long collections of content.
  • Apply filters to further narrow search to expedite finding your desired content.

Allow further detailed information about resources in Canvas Commons

Status: Identified
Submitted 01-31-2023 Submitted by 01-31-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 2

Theme Overview

Detailed overview and information available for resources 

What value could this provide to users?

  • Able to contact the author of the resource directly with available contact information
  • Able to run a report showing what changes were made to the course

Bring account settings inheritance into parity with feature options and roles or permissions

Status: Identified
Submitted 01-31-2023 Submitted by 01-31-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 4

Theme Overview

There are many settings that are currently only on or off; we aim to reduce the time it takes to configure settings for sub-accounts and courses by adding a "lock/unlock" or "use default" setting for various settings. 

What value could this provide to users?

  • Overhaul the account,sub-account, and courses UI (architecture enablement)
  • Each setting now has an on/off/lock/use default setting (like our permissions)
  • UI is clear which settings have been inherited vs. overridden

Enhance assignment rules and functionality

Status: Identified
Submitted 01-31-2023 Submitted by 01-31-2023 Comments: 0 Referenced Ideas: 58

Theme Overview

Instructors need more options for assignment dates, deadlines, and rules to meet their own teaching goals, improve the student experience, and to comply with institutional policies.

What value could this provide to users?

  • Instructors have more options to encourage quality, on-time submissions, such as adding a "start by" date, making the "available date" more clear, and nudging students to submit
  • Dragging assignments on the Calendar updates the "available until" date and reflects when an assignment should be started
  • Instructors can place limits on assignment submissions, such as the length of the video or the number of files
  • Increased customization for assignment group weights by section
  • More flexible options for assignment rules that can be automatically applied to save time
  • Changes to the user interface that make it easier to parse for instructors and students