🗳️ You voted, we got to work, and course- and term-based messaging is here (with a bonus)!

[teryn_odom]

Based on the Ideas and Themes voting from October 2023, you all expressed the need for course- and term-based messaging above all else. As discussed this past May 2024, we did a lot of discovery and design work around the best way to address and came up with a V1 and V2 of this functionality. V1 just launched this week and provides the basic functionality based on the current Impact Dashboard user interface (as discussed below). V2 designs are done and will leverage the updated user interface (of which you will get a sneak peek below) and will be forthcoming soon!

We know that as an Impact Admin, you often need to send important messages to specific groups of students or instructors based on your organizational structure, enrollment status, and/or academic calendar. Whether it’s academic calendar reminders, updates on course materials, or notifications about upcoming exams, Course-Based Messaging allows you to precisely target Canvas users by the courses they are participating in.

What’s New and Improved:

1. Deeper integration with Canvas:
• Impact now pulls a list of courses directly from Canvas, so you can easily select them when building custom user groups. The integration ensures the accuracy of course enrollment data, improving the precision of your targeted messages.
2. New Course, Term, and Sub-Account Options for Custom User Group Conditions:
• You can now create custom user groups based on one or more extended conditions via a multi-select dropdown menu with all of your institutions’ courses, terms, and sub-accounts as they appear in Canvas.
3. More OOTB User Groups:
• All of your institution’s courses, terms, and sub-accounts were brought in as OOTB User Groups to be used for targeting of Impact Campaigns, Messages, and/or Walkthroughs as well without having to create a Custom User Group.
4. New Field and Filtering by Canvas Course/Term/Sub-Account IDs:
• In addition to keyword search, admins can search and filter courses, terms, and sub-accounts by their Canvas IDs, simplifying the selection process.
5. Enhanced Support Article Visibility:
• When assigned to specific courses, terms, and/or sub-accounts, support articles are shown to users based on new, applied conditions.

What’s Next:

• Updating “Type” to specify “Course,” “Term,” or “Sub-Account” instead of “General”
• Restricting message placement by courses, terms, and sub-accounts
• Same functionality added to the new Inline Editor with improved design for targeting

Screenshot of new Inline Editor design with updated targeting via Target User Groups

• Improved user interface and user experience when selecting courses similar to what exists in Canvas

Screenshot of V2's modal design to select course(s) for targeting

• Improved user interface and user experience when selecting terms

Screenshot of V2's modal design to select term(s) for targeting

• Improved user interface and user experience retaining sub-account hierarchy when selecting sub-accounts (similar to existing sub-account selector in Impact)

Screenshot of V2's modal design to select sub-account(s) for targeting

• Improved filtering based on courses, terms, and sub-accounts inside of Insights

Here are some common use cases where you may want to leverage this new functionality:

• Registration deadlines
• Financial aid deadlines
• Term start and end dates
• Onboarding
• Publishing/unpublishing courses
• Course/instructor changes
• Group-specific events
• Course materials
• New technology and/or software updates
• End-of-course or end-of-term wrap-up
• Program-specific announcements
• Accreditation or compliance updates
• Instructor training and/or resources
• Graduation requirements and reminders
• Course evaluations
• New course offerings

With the introduction of Course-, Term-, and Sub-Account-Based Messaging, we’re making it easier than ever for you to communicate effectively with specific groups inside of Canvas, so that the right people get the right information where they are when they need it. By providing you with the ability to send personal, highly targeted messages, we’re helping to ensure that students and instructors stay informed, engaged, and supported throughout their academic journey.

We’re excited to see/hear how you will use this new feature to enhance communication, improve engagement, and ensure success, so don’t forget to share comments below this post (and bonus points for screenshots of some of your course-, term-, and/or sub-account-based Impact messaging)! Stay tuned for more updates here on the Product Blog as we continue to innovate!