Canvas

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Input from existing users is a very important part of how Instructure prioritizes work on new and existing features and fixing bugs. Instructure looks at data from the support team and gets feedback from Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and from the Community directly. Learn more about starting idea conversations and the development process.

Idea Conversations reside within the Roadmap space of the Community. This space provides:

Insight into what our Product team is working on right now and a way to give the Product team timely feedback to help guide their decisions
An opportunity to share ideas about anything to do with Canvas, whether Product is focusing on that area of the application right now or not.

Note: Please do not start idea conversations in the Comments section below, as comments are periodically deleted. Instructions on how to create a new idea conversation are provided in the How do I create a new idea conversation in the Canvas Community? lesson.

Who can start an idea conversation?

Any registered user may begin an idea conversation. Anyone can create an account for free and become a registered user.

How are idea conversations moderated?

New conversations start their lives in a non-rating staging called Initial Stage: We are reviewing your idea.
Canvas Coaches and the Community Team review new submissions, generally within three days.
A new idea may be moved into Moderating status if the idea is incomplete or needs clarification from the contributor.
The Coaches and the Community team may also apply organizational tags or archive any idea with explanation.
Please allow time for the review process to occur before sharing your idea conversation link with others.
Moderators may merge duplicate idea submissions into existing closely-related conversation threads to keep discussions unified and simplify search results.

How long are idea conversations open for rating?

Idea conversations are available for rating unless we have deemed them complete or archived them for a documented reason.

How do I rate a conversation?

Rating is how you demonstrate just how important an idea conversation is to you. To rate a conversation, click the number of stars, with 1 being low and 5 being the highest importance.

Notes:

You must be logged into the Community to rate.
Your cannot rate your own idea.

How are idea conversations connected to Product priorities?

Ideas are connected to product priorities using tags. Tags provide a list of related ideas in search results.

What do the stages mean?

Initial Stage: We are reviewing your idea

New conversations start out in this non-rating stage pending review by a member of the Community Team.

Ideas in the initial stage may be merged with existing ideas that request similar feature updates.

Moderating

An idea conversation starter that is incomplete or needs clarification may be placed into Moderating status. Conversation moderators may request that the author provide clarification or complete additional actions before the conversation can be released from moderation status.

Ideas in the initial stage may be merged with existing ideas that request similar feature updates.

Open for Conversation

Ideas that are open for conversation allow any Community member to rate or comment on the idea. Idea conversations allow users to share use cases, discuss benefits, and share constructive feedback that may argue against the idea. Product teams may review open ideas when planning development roadmaps.

In Development

In Development ideas conversations are currently being worked on or will commence work within the next six months. Most of these conversations will be linked to a Product priority, which includes related idea conversations and other activities around development. If we mark a conversation as being In Development, we will comment whether the conversation might be implemented soon or whether it will be part of the long-term roadmap.

On Beta

On Beta idea conversations have features available in the Beta account of your Canvas environment. Visit How do I access the Canvas beta environment?

Archived/Not Currently Planned

Archived idea conversations include a comment and provide clear reasons for why the conversation was archived. Some ideas cannot be developed because of a technical limitation. Others do not fit with overall product direction or do not warrant the resources they would take to implement, relative to other requests.

On occasion, comments may be closed for archived idea conversations to streamline search results and

Complete

Complete ideas have features that are implemented and deployed to Canvas.

Can I resubmit an idea after it is archived?

Idea conversations that have been archived with an explanation cannot be resubmitted.

Are there any considerations for rating idea conversations?

Although all ideas are equally considered, the rating will help Instructure better prioritize to meet needs. Read the considerations below to help during the rating cycles.

Your continued support and participation in the community forums are very valuable to Canvas as a product and to the user experience. We urge you to keep sharing, commenting, and rating.

Note: Instructions for starting idea conversations are included in the How do I create a new idea conversation in the Canvas Community? lesson. Please do not start idea conversations in the Comments section below, as comments are periodically deleted.