Hide Grade Detail Tray in Canvas Teacher App for iPad Pro

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There is a terrible bug in Canvas Teacher App for iPad Pro which makes it unusable for grading assignments. The bug should be really easy to fix. Please fix it ASAP.

The bug is as follows. When you grade an assignment with Canvas Teacher App for iPad Pro 12.9", it is IMPOSSIBLE to remove or minimize the "grade detail tray". (The left edge of the grade detail tray cannot be dragged to resize/minimize the grade detail tray.) As a consequence, almost half of the screen is taken up by a blank column. Please see this photo:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o5hTbeWQp2POCzuFFKpcQlsUteiSRzvl/view

So, even though I'm working on a roomy 12.9" tablet on which the assignment could be displayed at full size, the assignment is instead displayed at around 60% of full size and is usually illegible (especially for handwritten submissions).

This is an obvious bug and/or UI design oversight. Please fix it ASAP.

8 Comments
CanvasDocTeam
Community Team
Community Team
Status changed to: Open
 
alisondiefender
Community Member

This is something we have encountered as well, and I do agree that it needs adjustment. Losing prime screen real estate, especially on a tablet and especially while grading is problematic for users. This is not expected behavior design-wise, and could be frustrating for those getting larger devices specifically to complete grading with too.

If there for accessibility to grading annotations etc, I understand; perhaps, could the design include a dropdown or icon option for electing to collapse this by default empty sidebar in that case?

It does not collapse even with changing device orientation, so there is zero way to flex one's approach without using a smaller tablet/device. 

mabd
Community Member

As it stands now,  the 12.9-inch iPad Pro intentionally has a non-collapsible comment side bar which in portrait mode takes up at least 1/3 of the screen width leading to a paper size that is actually SMALLER than it is on a 9.7-inch iPad with the collapsible comment sidebar.   This is really silly. 

I've read forum posts by teachers who went out and bought the larger iPad (for over $1000) so they could grade papers that are closer to actual size, only to end up having LESS space than a cheap sub-$300 iPad and they're frustrated.  Apparently this is a choice by the Mobile Engineering Team (according to L2 Support) because the large iPad is "big enough" not to need a collapsible bar.    Who does this benefit? Why not?  Those of us with old eyes need all the size we can get.

Try grading hundreds of papers a week and your squinting eyes will wish that you had a larger view of the papers.  The large screen is the same size as an 8x11 sheet of paper, so why not take advantage of that?

Please allow the iPad 12.9-inch to have collapsible comment sidebar in portrait mode (at least) or both portrait and landscape (better) so those of us with a 12.9" iPad don't unnecessarily have a worse experience than a 9.7" iPad 

RobertBickers
Community Member

This is really important to me. It's the best tool available and a great selling point for Canvas - if it works. To say I was disappointed when I found this out is an understatement. It seems to me that using the same basic functionality code across sizes / resolutions of the same device would be easier than coding the difference in based on size.

mabd
Community Member

I was told by L2 support that the Mobile Engineering Team thought the screen was too big to necessitate a full screen view, so they're intentionally blocking the comment bar from minimizing even though it's in the code already.   How does this improve the user experience?  So arbitrary.  They really don't know their customer base.  Do they really think allowing the document to go full screen will lead to a less desirable user experience?

It's a "PRO" device.  It's supposed to do more than a normal iPad. Let us use the full 12.9-inch screen to view documents at full size.  It's what teachers want.  I can't imagine any teacher buying an oversized iPad and saying, whoa...this view is too big, they should make it more cramped and force me to have to pinch in to everything in order to grade it.  Clearly these people have never graded math or calculus papers. 

At the very least include a setting or toggle to put the choice in the end-user's hands.   This way if there is such a person who doesn't want the extra screen space on their PRO device, they can lock the comment bar in the fixed position.  

RMBuck
Community Explorer

It's been nearly five months since we learned that the Mobile Engineering Team is intentionally blocking the comment bar from minimizing in Ipad Pro 12.9. Any update on when this will be addressed?

aliw
Community Member

I have an iPad pro and am experiencing the same issue when grading in Canvas. One of the reasons I upgraded to the iPad pro was to have more screen real estate when grading--not less. Canvas, is there a fix for this issue? Please listen to your users.

ProductPanda
Instructure
Instructure
Status changed to: Archived
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