More editing functions

(5)

It would be very helpful to change the font size and style in Modules.  The options for adding things to a module don't allow for editing fonts and as a result it becomes difficult to visually understand priorities in a module. For example, if I want to add text to explain a set of readings, that text comes out in a larger font size than the name of the module itself.  

In general, I found that Canvas makes assumptions about my shell build.  The result is options that are quite restrictive and which try to force me to tailor my teaching pedagogy to the limited number of build options in canvas. For example, Modules assumes that I build class meetings in one of only a few ways.  To accurately get students to engage with my course as I've designed it, I had to trick some of the building blocks.  

Instead, I think the font/editing issue plus my need to "trick" the building blocks would be substantially solved if there were a "dumb" building block -- that is, something I could add to any part of Canvas that is simply an edited text box with no links to any other part of canvas.  That way I can write instructions there, provide context, etc without that box auto-populating to the syllabus, assignments, or some place else.  

11 Comments
Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

Thanks for sharing this idea,  @skweiner   and Welcome to the Canvas Community! As it moves forward for broader discussion, you might also be interested in checking out https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/6185-add-images-to-modules 

Steven_S
Community Champion

Have you tried using pages?  It is possible to add a date to pages (so it will show in the syllabus and calendar), but without dates pages do not appear outside of the pages tab.  You can insert the page into a module wherever it would be helpful without it also appearing as an assignment or quiz.  The rich text editor should allow a variety of text styles to customize your page, and some formatting can be added through html (by those more skilled than I am). 

mchaus
Community Explorer

I would like to have my module title font BIGGER than (or at the very least the same as) my "text header" font in my modules. This just seems logical in the sense of the way the module hierarchy works. Even better would be the ability to format the font for titles across the board. 

Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
Status changed to: Open
 
matthew_taylor1
Community Explorer

I'd like to see the ability to add a rich text header and footer to the Modules page as well as rich text blocks throughout the page (currently you can only add a text header).  Ideally these would allow you to add text links and images around the Modules.

I'd also like to have greater control over the appearance of the links under each module themselves so they could be displayed as a list or as cards.

We'd like to use the Modules page as a homepage for our courses but generally we don't because we can't provide information we want up front on the homepage (so extra clicks are required) and because the Modules page is so visually unappealing.

 

WesModes
Community Explorer

This is so basic, I was shocked that it wasn't a feature in Canvas.

Currently the module is a design nightmare, presenting information as one big list/outline.

A rich text block in modules would allow instructors to create a week-by-week or day-by-day schedule that can feature essential course information and present assignments and links in context. Here's an example of a course with contextual rich text blocks:

Screen Shot 2021-07-30 at 6.54.57 PM.png

And here is the approximate module in Canvas:

Screen Shot 2021-07-30 at 6.56.03 PM.png

As a course designer and technical writer, this is painful requiring students to click on another page (something few likely ever do) to see what the course session has in store rather than being on a single page. 

A rich text element would solve this issue allowing instructors to present information in context.

fischer4
Community Member

Our faculty was noticing the same thing. The Module title header text is smaller than the text header inside of a module. This sort of doesn't make much sense, as the module title would be more important. Also from the accessibility perspective, headers need to be placed in order, like H1>H2>H3, this makes it seem like in the wrong order (H2>H1..)
Not sure if it's just a CSS code change, but if someone can take a look at it, we really appreciate that.

WesModes
Community Explorer

Beyond Text Headers (which are also important), Canvas needs a basic Rich Text module element which would give the list items in a module context. 

WesModes
Community Explorer

The title of this suggestion does NOT capture the gist of what these commenters are suggesting. Instructure staff have hastily merged suggestions together that only vaguely relate to each other. This probably results in clearing their queue, but doesn't serve the Canvas community and the carefully argued community suggestion process. But unsurprisingly like any megalithic corporation that refers to its online forums as a "community," the truth is that they control what features are made available and the process for adopting them.

StaceyZurek
Community Novice

The idea I wanted to propose was to add the rich text editor to Modules to add more options for how modules are used. To only have a Heading option greatly limits the Modules. I like to add some transition text to alert students to content items and that is not doable unless Pages (which I do like) are used. But, I agree with one of the other posters that having to open a Page and drill down to content is not always desirable. Anyway, back to my point...I decided to search to see if someone had already suggested adding a rich text editor to modules and eventually landed here. I agree with @WesModes that it seems as if suggested ideas are just throw in to a large pot and not sifted and sorted very well.

Furthermore, as a new user of Canvas and a long time user of several other LMS platforms, I am really surprised that some of these suggestions are still pending as suggestions and have not been implemented. I am finding Canvas to be very rigid and limiting in how I would like to construct a course site. There are some very good suggestions for improving Modules...I hope I don't have to wait much longer for them to be implemented.

 

ProductPanda
Instructure
Instructure
Status changed to: Archived
Comments from Instructure

As part of the new Ideas & Themes process, all ideas in Idea Conversations were reviewed by the Product Team. Any Idea that was associated with an identified theme was moved to the new Idea & Themes space. Any Idea that was not part of the move is being marked as Archived. This will preserve the history of the conversations while also letting Community members know that Instructure will not explore the request at this time.