Dashboard to-do list that is not dependent on assignment deadlines

[weixulu]

I noticed that many students nowadays are very dependent on the dashboard. They would only start to prepare for an assignment, if it shows up on their dashboard. This is very bad for assignments that require a long time to prepare. 

Could we get a dashboard to-do list that is: 

• Organized by courses
• Completely controlled by the instructors. 
• Can be customized to show task duration, importance, etc. 

[Stefanie]

@weixulu 

Thanks for sharing all these suggestions. Unfortunately, we're not able to move a conversation forward that includes multiple different ideas, and you can learn more about the importance of singularly-focused conversation prompts in How do I create a new idea conversation in the Canvas Community?

Please search for existing ideas before creating the new ones. I was able to find this one associated with organizing the dashboard (it puts control in the hands of students and is consistent with our student-centered learning approach): Customize the View in Dashboard - Canvas Community 

Thanks again.

[weixulu]

@Stefanie 

My idea was about one single feature that is a more realistic to-do list.

Customizing the dashboard would not help. My students from a previous class did a usability research project on Canvas. They interviewed fellow students and found that students are often confused by all the deadlines and tasks. When we switched to online learning due to COVID, students increasingly reported having this issue. We can't blame our students for not being careful with the course schedule, many of them are taking 5 or 6 courses, while working for 20+ hrs. An improved to-do list would be what the students need. 

[Stefanie]

@weixulu 

Thanks for your quick response. Each of these three ideas would need to be evaluated separately: some instructors would like to see their students' to-do list organized by courses, but might not be interested in having complete control over what students see on their to-do lists; others might not be concerned about customizations that include task duration and importance, while others might want only that. That's why the one-idea-per-conversation approach in this forum is in effect; without it, neither our members nor our product teams would be able to assess support for one of the ideas but not the others.