Separate first and last name for registration

[mpettinger]

I would like for there to be a separate field for first name and last name for registration. We have launched a continuing education webinar series targeted to people who have taken our courses. In the analytics that we download from Canvas, first name and last name appear in the same cell in the spreadsheet. We use MailChimp for our webinar marketing and having it in this format poses an issue. 

If we had separated first and last names, it would allow us to embed the person’s name in the “to:” field that Mailchimp uses when e-mailing an individual. This reduces the likelihood that the e-mail will end up in spam filters because the recipient’s mail client sees that the sender knows the recipient’s name. Mailchimp only allows you to upload first and last names separately, so this can only be done if we have them in separate fields.

[Stef_retired]

@mpettinger In what location of Canvas do students register for the courses? Can you provide a screenshot of the registration page you're using?

I wonder if this idea conversation aligns with what you're hoping to see: Last Name, First Name listings in People and Inbo... - Canvas Community

Please let us know. Thanks!

[mpettinger]

Hi Stefanie,

Thanks for the quick reply. Here's a screenshot of what I'm talking about: it's one field to enter the student name, rather than one field for first name and one field for last name. The result in our spreadsheets is that both first name and last name appear in the same spreadsheet cell (screenshot also attached).

[Stef_retired]

@mpettinger Thanks for the quick reply! We'll move this forward for broader discussion.

[Stef_retired]

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.