Assignments Due Dates should link to the original assignment

[RACHELPANUSH]

I am having a hard time navigating and staying organized because the different content types don't link to each other.

For example: an assignment like this one should link back to the original assignment and it doesn't. I have to separately go hunt it down.

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[KristinL]

Hi @RACHELPANUSH -

I'm curious to learn more about your workflow. Where are you hoping to navigate from which starting point? When you say due dates, where are you hoping these would link?

[RACHELPANUSH]

Hi Kristin, When I go to the due date in Assignments, the link should bring me to the original assignment that is due, so that I can complete it on time. Otherwise, I have to hunt it down separately. Does that make sense?

[Ron_Bowman]

@RACHELPANUSH -

I do not follow what you are trying to do.  The link you provided took me to a login page for Berkely.

Can you post some screenshots with an explanation of what you would like to see happen?

[RACHELPANUSH]

1. Assignments: https://onlinelearning.berkeley.edu/courses/1837366/assignments

You can see all the assignments here. When you click on one, you are brought to where you need to submit it, but NOT the original assignment description, which you need in order to do it.

2. Here is where you submit it, but it's not the original assignment description (i.e. what you are supposed to do). This is not helpful UX. https://onlinelearning.berkeley.edu/courses/1837366/discussion_topics/9595050

[KristinL]

Hi @RACHELPANUSH -

Thank you for sharing the screenshots. They helped me understand quite a bit.

As a whole, Canvas is designed to be flexible so schools and instructors can customize its use and design courses in a way that they prefer. With that, I believe that your instructor is keeping most of the instructional material and directions within the outline for each Module. (It looks like you see a Return to Module 3 in the top right corner.)

While many instructors decide to place the directions in the same space as the activity is uploaded for sharing or turning in, your instructor is utilizing Discussions. I am sure that the redirect to the top of the Module and its Overview is to consolidate the information at the top of each Discussion.

Because your feedback is unique to your course, I think it would be best to have a conversation with your instructor. By sharing your insights and about your experience, I think they'll learn a lot. I wonder if it could start a larger conversation with your classmates too! Your instructor may also be able to share about their design choices and how they wanted to create the student experience for the course.

[RACHELPANUSH]

Gotcha. Maybe when you onboard instructors, you can provide them with better training on best practices for a good, intuitive UX experience.

[James]

@RACHELPANUSH,

This is a global community for Canvas users, but the onboarding of instructors is at the institutional level. This is good advice, but it needs shared with someone at your institution to have an impact on your courses. Kristin is correct that the best place to share it is with the instructor. They can either fix it themselves or pass it on to the people who design the course (some institutions don't let teachers edit the instructions).

Given that this is the second college report, whoever designed it may have omitted linking to the instructions figuring that students are already familiar with the assignment from the first report. Alternatively, a common occurrence is that instructors don't plan for the flexibility of Canvas and design for the way they use it or the way they want people to use it. This is especially evidenced by the "Return to module 3" note. If they intend for people to go through the modules page, then that's how they design the course and a link to the instructions would be unnecessary since people just saw the instructions in the modules.

This post reminds me of a problem I see in my classes. I have struggled for years with students finding the assignment because it shows up on the To Do list or on the calendar. That is there preferred starting point, so that's how they enter the assignment. I've done a lot of analysis of student performance and, generally speaking, (1) students who use the mobile app do not do as well as students who use a browser and (2) students who live by the To Do list do not do as well as  as those who go into the course.

With regards to the To Do list, students often miss extra information that needs done before the assignment is submitted and that often takes time that isn't available when you wait until the evening something is due to start working on it. The To Do list doesn't always show all that needs done . Some assignments are missing and if you're using the mobile app, then there is one To Do list for all of your classes, so assignments may get lost. Some assignments may not disappear from the To Do list unless you manually mark them off.

The assignments page is similar to the To Do list, but at least it provides more information and you're inside the course looking at it. But it's still bypassing the extra information that the instructor has provided. I get that -- students don't want to do anything that doesn't have points attached to it -- missing out that the assignment is the assessment of the learning. The learning isn't glamorous, it doesn't have points attached, it doesn't pop up on the To Do list or the assignments page, and so students often try the assignments without having looked at the content first. It doesn't go so well.

There are people who know a lot more about learning than I do. On the other hand, most instructors have not done the analysis and comparisons that I have (I have access to data that most instructors do not) and so instructors may not be aware of the issue. Even at schools where there are instructional designers that design the course for the instructor, they may not teach and so they may not know the problems. Teachers don't see Canvas the way students do and may not be aware of the difficulties students encounter. That's why feedback (in a polite way) back to the instructor is important. Most instructors would help, but they cannot if they don't know there's a problem.

For the best chance at success, you should go into the actual course and see what the instructor has provided rather than jumping in straight when the assignment is due.

In cases where there is substantial content inside Canvas (some courses only use Canvas for submission of assignments and the gradebook), I would encourage students to change their behavior to use the navigation method the instructor prefers. You're going to see that method by going into the course itself. You're likely missing out on a lot if all you do is jump to the assignments.

I agree with you about linking, though. When I provide instructions in a separate space than where the submission occurs, I provide links both directions (from the assignment to the instructions and from the instructions to the assignment). Students still often skip the instructions or don't read them carefully, but at least they cannot say the instructor didn't provide them.

[RACHELPANUSH]

James, thanks for that detailed & thoughtful reply. I'm new to this platform, but not to digital media, which is my professional industry. I will share feedback with the instructor after the course. I don't think she designed the course, but she was hired to teach it. She already admitted that she is not super familiar with Canvas. 

I have been moving through the course through the modules, so I don't miss anything, but I try to be organized and stay on top of due dates and assignments also.

Are the people responding to this post support staff for Instructure? It seems like you are all just super users of the platform, is that correct? 

Thanks, again!