Announcement emails - subject line information

I would like to propose that the components making up the subject line of the announcement emails to be reversed, so that the course code that the announcement is relevant to shows up first before the actual subject.

 

e.g. instead of the current "Group membership clarification: MBCHB 221A/B: MBChB Part II", to change to "MBCHB 221A/B: MBChB Part II: Group membership clarification"

 

The key reasons why I believe this would be an enhancement are (there may be others):

  1. This would more clearly establish the correct context for the subject, particularly for students taking multiple courses, or staff who teach on multiple courses.
  2. This would enable students (and staff!) to more easily sort email announcements by the course codes of courses that issued the announcement, rather than having to remember the exact wording of the subject.
  3. This would make filing and retrieving announcement email messages much easier.

 

Edited 2016/03/05: I agree with Nathan Phillips' suggestion below. It would be even better if the course identifier can be put in brackets
- i.e. [MBCHB 221A/B: MBChB Part II] Group membership clarification

 

Thank you very much for your consideration!

 

Best wishes,

Angela Tsai

Professional Teaching Fellow, University of Auckland (New Zealand)

🔎 This idea has been archived. While this idea isn't open for comments, it is an important part of Instructure’s idea conversations and development process. Contributions like this are valuable as Instructure prioritizes work on new or existing features.

20 Comments
scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

Hello Angela,

Thank you for sharing this feature idea.  It will open for vote on March 2nd.

biray
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

This idea has moved to the next stage and will be open for voting among the Canvas Community, from Wed. March 2, 2016 - Wed. June 1, 2016.

Check out this doc for additional details about how the voting process works!

nphillips
Community Novice

Isn't a standard convention to put the identifier in brackets?

so, the example above would be:  [MBCHB 221A/B: MBChB Part II] Group membership clarification

This would be consistent with most listserves, google groups, etc. It would be great to maintain this convention, easier to filter, sort, and at least some will immediately know what it means.

a_tsai
Community Contributor

Dear Nathan,

Thank you for the suggestion - I agree wholeheartedly that would be a wonderful enhancement to my suggestion. I wish I had thought of it myself - but I guess I was prioritising getting the basic structure reversed for starters! Smiley Happy

I hope the Canvas team will consider your enhancement too when/if they investigate this idea further. Thanks again for your contribution and have a lovely weekend!

Best wishes,

Angela

a_tsai
Community Contributor

^ I've updated the original proposal to highlight your suggestion. Thank you once again!

RobDitto
Community Champion

Voted! Here's a related idea about improving the sender ("From" address) in email notifications:

joseph_allen
Community Champion

I would add one thought, add the name of the person sending the email in addition to the other course information.  Many of our Canvas courses have multiple instructors, or the user may not even know who the instructor is for some of our communities.  If you view the announcement in Canvas, it is well marked who wrote it, but when you get that email notification, it does not say who sent it.

a_tsai
Community Contributor

Dear Joe, thank you very much for sharing your thought. If I understand correctly, I believe your suggestion regarding enhancing sender information may seem more relevant to this previous feature idea suggestion (), or the one highlighted in  @RobDitto  's related post above (​). Perhaps your suggestion may be more suited as an enhancement to that idea?

Many of our courses have multiple instructors too, and some instructors also teach on multiple courses - i.e. from a student's perspective, they might know one instructor in more than one context. My view of 'announcements' is that these are meant to be context-focused - i.e. relevant to a specific subject/course, rather than instructor-centric (where the context may vary). A student or staff member can always find out who the sender is by viewing the actual message (my understanding is that it is normally considered common etiquette/courtesy to sign off any communication with one's name). The primary purpose of this feature request is to improve the 'subject' information field so that instructors who triage emails "on the go", or higher level Directors with oversight responsibility for multiple courses, or our students who are enrolled in multiple courses across a large institution, can easily identify the context of the announcement email notifications. Thank you again for taking the time though, have a great weekend!

Best wishes,

Angela

allison
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Hi all, this *might* be a relatively easy improvement to make. I'll touch base with our awesome engineers and let you know what I find out. I agree that listing the Course Name first in the subject line would make it easier for users to browse the notifications in their email inbox.

a_tsai
Community Contributor

Dear Allison, I was just wondering if you have any updates on this Feature Request? Many thanks! Smiley Happy Angela

a_tsai
Community Contributor

Hello, it's been more than 30 days now and I was just wondering if it would be possible to have an update please. Thank you!

a_tsai
Community Contributor

Dear Scott, I was just wondering if you have any updates on this Feature Request? It has certainly been longer than 30 days. I followed up earlier with Deactivated user on 06 May but have not received any response. Many thanks! Smiley Happy Angela

scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

Hi  @a_tsai ​,

I checked and I can confirm that this idea is still under consideration.  I know that it may seem like nothing is happening sometimes with feature ideas that are marked under consideration.  Oftentimes we will continue to gather ideas and then consider them all together when we are refactoring a major component of Canvas, such as Announcements.  This gives us more efficiency with regards to quality assurance and testing and allows the engineers to focus their attention on the same area of the code while fixing or changing multiple things.  Thank you for your patience and your diligence.

SD

a_tsai
Community Contributor

Thank you, Scott. I guess I read too much into Allison's comment below and had unrealistic expectations. Thank you for the update, much appreciated. Best, Angela

cwruck
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Hey folks,

This isn't something we're going to be able to do in the near future. We understand the convenience that this could provide, but it's outside of the scope of what we can reasonably accomplish at the moment.

a_tsai
Community Contributor

Wow, what a contrast this comment is from Allison's earlier response! :smileyshocked:

This is obviously disappointing news, but I can understand that Canvas Engineers probably have more pressing/important projects they are working on. Hopefully this feature request can be revisited in the near future.

p_smith
Community Member

Huh. How hard can it be to change the subject line around.

Renee_Carney
Community Team
Community Team
  Idea is currently in Product Radar Learn more about this stage...
Renee_Carney
Community Team
Community Team

The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

 

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team
Status changed to: Archived

Our Product Team reviewed some of our oldest feature proposals recently, and this thread was identified as one that they would not be able to include in their current or future plans. While we appreciate your proposal, we also want to be transparent about the likelihood of something like this making it to production.

We are currently focused on the Discussions Redesign as a prioritized response to customer feedback. As such, we don't currently have plans to make updates to Announcements within the next year.

Thank you for collaborating, and we hope that you submit another idea in the future!