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Greetings Canvas Studio community, My institution, the University of St. Francis, in Joliet, has been using-- indeed we championed-- Canvas Studio ever since it first came out of the cradle as "Arc Video."  Of enormous import to our instructors, especially those in the college of nursing, was the ability for students to upload videos to assignments with comments enabled so that instructors could, privately to the student, reinforce or remediate performance with specific "bubble" comments at critical points on the timeline.  Over the years, scores if not hundreds of nursing students have uploaded physical assessment videos and received feedback in a convenient way that made grading available and easy for instructors.   As of the Canvas Studio Release reported on June 28, 2021, that capability has been turned off by Canvas.  There is no reasonable explanation for this.  The ability to "allow comments" has now been converted the jargon of "display media tabs."   When I reported this as a problem to Canvas it got escalated to Level 2 and their personnel notified me that the ability to "display media tabs" was still retained in IOS device submissions (iPhones) and that "this has been escalated to our mobile engineers so that they can take a look at this."  I presume, then, that the ability for nursing and other students to submit videos from their iPhones to Canvas assignments has now, also, been put at risk.  Imagine, from students cell phones-- one of the most convenient and practical solutions students have had for handling video in the context of assignment submissions may be terminated.   Why?   I myself teach video production:  editing and documentary-making.  The ability to create a Canvas assignment that prompts the student to submit a rough cut to an assignment for grading and evaluation has been extremely valuable for both myself and students.  No hoops to jump through, as there would be with sharing the video in the Studio environment.   I argue that the decision to eliminate comments, "media tabs," in student assignment submissions is ill-conceived and should be reversed immediately.  It is wrong-headed, or at least wrongly informed.  Or worse, it was cavalier and not informed by any evidence whatsoever.   Canvas Studio remains a useful tool at USF for so many reasons as I'm sure it is for other institutions that have embraced and adopted it, for quizzing, annotations, and assessment (even with assignments turned off).  But this is a step backward that now invites competitive scrutiny of other applications.   Bring back comments to video assignment submissions in Canvas Studio.  Reinstate! Glen Gummess, Ed.D. Educational Technologist University of St. Francis Joliet, IL. 60435 ... View more

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas   We have nursing courses where students are required to video record clinical activities, sometimes lasting up to a half-hour, which they upload to Arc-enabled assignments.  The instructor reviews these video with comments on the timeline, a critical feedback feature!  Some students use iPhones, but they cannot upload their work to their Arc collections from their iPhones.  But Android 5.7 users can.   Nothing could be more persuasive to get this done without delay than the release notes of January 23, which state: " In this Canvas by Instructure update, the (Android 5.7) app supports Arc assignment submissions for students"  (parenthetical is mine).     This would be of immense value to students who rely on their iPhones but are challenged by the transfer of those videos to their iMacs, whose tools are less than user-friendly.  FYI, we already recommend that students compress the videos on their iPhones before uploading, as the default sizes in HD are usually way too large to handle over "home internet connection" speeds.     The ability for iPhone users to upload their videos to their Arc collections on the same footing as their Android 5.7 peers is absolutely essential.  It needs to happen, now, with all due respect.     Glen Gummess, Academic Technology University of St. Francis, Joliet   Comments from Instructure   For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-8953-canvas-by-instructure-release-notes-ios-317 . ... View more

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas     Idea open for vote Wed. October 5, 2016 - Wed. January 4, 2017  Learn more about voting...   Hello Canvas,   I feel there needs to be a "Send Message" button from the view that shows the individual grades of a given student.  The navigation at this time makes it awkward to alert a student when s/he is falling behind in grades.  For example, in selecting an individual student from People, I have the option to send the student a message, view the student's grades, or select a number of options.  Let's say I want to look at that student's grades.  I get the individual grades view for that student, but there is no backward link (in the breadcrumb trail) to view the student information that includes the "Send Message" button.  I could use the browser's back arrow but that's awkward to me, and not as reliable as an internal navigation tool.   But why navigate at all from a student's individual grades page when a "Send Message" button could be made available right then and there?  Below is a screen shot that illustrates the change I am offering.  The annotation, drawn, shows the prompt that would motivate the instructor to contact the student.  She is clearly getting into D territory and needs a motivational boost from me.  So, I could, if this change were implemented, send her a message from that page.   That would be slick, wouldn't it?     Comments from Instructure   For more information, please read through the  Canvas Production Release Notes (2017-01-28)   ... View more