[Modules] Accurate Breadcrumb Trail in Modules

It would be great if the breadcrumb trail would follow your navigation correctly when you are working in modules rather than switching to "page", "discussions", "assignments" or whatever you click on. Would it be possible to add a "modules" breadcrumb?

94 Comments
kyh802
Community Explorer

Are you kidding me? Someone posted this 5 years ago and it's still not been acted on? This is one of the most frustrating things about Canvas, and it causes students (and me) to navigate through the modules incorrectly, skipping important parts of the module, because they can't figure out how to get back to the main page of the module!

trinems
Community Member

I only just now realized how very many people have asked for this--for the past 5 years!  Canvas folks, this is imperative!

Students (users) should absolutely be able to see which module they are in when they are on a page, discussion, assignment, etc. The breadcrumb trail already shows the name of the CRN and the page or assignment.  If you add the module name, then students could see that they are still in a module (or have gone on to the next module).

Many of us have been taught that it is best practice to organize our courses by modules, but once a student is in the module, they can't tell when it has ended. They wind up missing assignments and tasks, which is interruptive and detrimental to their learning.

This seems too critical, and widely requested, to ignore. Please make this change ASAP.

adamboyce
Community Participant

This seriously needs to be addressed. It's funny that the breadcrumb actually displays the module from an external link within a module... 

MsWeathers
Community Member

Need to add a button that allows you to go back to a specific module from a page within the module instead of scrolling to find the module again.

nicole_montgome
Community Explorer

Yes, please, please fix this! I actively discourage students from using Back/Next because it can take them out of one module into another and they won't realize it!

dbastedo
Community Participant

I find that when I am in a module and navigate to one of its pages, it can be time consuming to get back to the module itself.  If I have simply looked at the page, I can get quickly back to the module by using the back button on my browser.  But if I edited the page, it is not easy to get directly back to the module.  I can navigate to other pages in the module by using the "previous" or "next" buttons near the bottom of the page, but to return back to the module, I have to click back into modules and run through my whole list again and perhaps open the module, etc..   Since "previous" and "next" must know what module I am in to be able to direct me to the next item in the module itself, another button could know that as well.  How about a third button that would take me immediately back to the module that I am working on and that the page is associated with.  It could be near the bottom, between "previous" and "next" and say "Module", or list the name of the module.  That button would easily take me back to the module to work on other pages or coordinate my edited page with the other resources in that module.   When editing modules, it would save creators much time navigating out and back into modules.

dbastedo
Community Participant

It is possible that bread crumbs are not the way to navigate from pages to modules.  Bread crumbs are fairly complex data trails which might be hard to program.  Also, a page might be associated with more than one module which might create confusion.  My suggestion is the one immediately above this comment.  Why not add a single navigation button below the page with the module name, or if it would be more simple, simply the word MODULE.  Every page is know to be within a module.  How else would the previous button, and the next button at the bottom of the page work?  There is plenty of room between these two buttons to place a third button and the coder would simply be using the code for the already placed buttons to create a third button located in the middle.  I really believe that it would be simpler and simple often moves it up the todo list and gets it done.  It sounds like people have been commenting on this for years.  Could someone at Canvas check with a coder and see if this is simple or not.  It is possible that a coder could have this done in less than an hour although Not being a coder myself, maybe not.  An informed decision would be very helpful.

kylecage0
Community Explorer

6 years later and this "idea" hasn't been addressed lol. It's such a basic thing that it's unbelievable to me that it is something that wasn't built in from the very beginning. 

w_hol
Community Participant

Have create a little script to insert breadcrumb html code on top of each Canvas page.

Screen capture about how I install Tampermonkey for Chrome, ( firefox will be the same, just search Tampermonkey for firefox )

Install the breadcrumb script by visiting this link https://github.com/clearnz/canvas-report-tools/raw/master/breadcrumb.user.js

 

Then edit each page in module, click the Get Breadcrumb Code button, insert then it will be added at the top of that page.

If change module page name or sequences later, you can still use that button to update these breadcrumbs html code in each page, it will auto seek/replace old breadcrumb html code with correct one.

breadcrumbsbreadcrumbs

MarilynDispensa
Community Member

This is essential. If i'm in a module and click on a page or any item, there is no indication of which module i'm in or what comes before or after.

Couldn't you have the module name append the title or put in breadcrumb trail..