Activity Feed
- Kudoed You've Always Had The Power To Be Accessible: Introducing Accessibility Checker Notifications for dlyons. 09-27-2021 07:16 AM
- Posted Re: How to Set Up Google Analytics for Canvas on Canvas Admin Blog. 06-14-2021 12:06 PM
- Posted Re: How to Set Up Google Analytics for Canvas on Canvas Admin Blog. 05-18-2021 11:23 AM
- Posted Personal Pronouns should be editable through Canvas API without being editable in the UI on Idea Conversations. 05-18-2021 07:51 AM
- Tagged Personal Pronouns should be editable through Canvas API without being editable in the UI on Idea Conversations. 05-18-2021 07:51 AM
- Tagged Personal Pronouns should be editable through Canvas API without being editable in the UI on Idea Conversations. 05-18-2021 07:51 AM
- Tagged Personal Pronouns should be editable through Canvas API without being editable in the UI on Idea Conversations. 05-18-2021 07:51 AM
- Tagged Personal Pronouns should be editable through Canvas API without being editable in the UI on Idea Conversations. 05-18-2021 07:51 AM
- Kudoed Canvas Release: Course Templates (2021-05-15) for erinhmcmillan. 04-20-2021 06:37 AM
- Kudoed Accordion Alternative - Details tag for Shar. 02-10-2021 09:24 AM
- Got a Kudo for Course import tool: include completed courses by default. 12-08-2020 04:55 PM
- Kudoed Copy Group Settings for donaldjo. 08-05-2020 10:44 AM
- Kudoed Sync Group Sets over Blueprint for pflickin. 08-04-2020 12:18 PM
- Kudoed Delete ePortfolios when the related user is deleted for ColinMurtaugh. 05-29-2020 10:58 AM
- Kudoed Finding user account creation details for James. 05-28-2020 06:18 AM
- Kudoed Admins need "clear user's cache" for S9300807. 05-04-2020 10:34 AM
- Got a Kudo for Re: Learning Activities - Winter 2020 Update. 05-04-2020 06:20 AM
- Kudoed Re: Learning Activities - Winter 2020 Update for kldixon. 04-30-2020 07:43 AM
- Got a Kudo for Re: Ready Release Notes (2020-04-18). 04-18-2020 10:11 AM
- Posted Re: Ready Release Notes (2020-04-18) on Canvas Releases. 04-17-2020 10:53 AM
My Posts
| Post Details | Date Published | Views | Kudos |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Personal Pronouns should be editable through Canvas API without being editable in the UI Currently, in order to edit a user’s personal pron ouns via the Canvas API, both “Enable Personal Pronouns” AND “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas” have to be enabled in the Account set... |
05-18-2021 |
910 |
0 |
|
Course import tool: include completed courses by default In the 2019-04-20 release notes, one of the bug fixes was: “The Copy a Canvas Course option uses active term dates to display available courses in the drop-down list.” Recently, it came to our attent... |
05-31-2019 |
1672 |
7 |
|
Custom Javascript to replace Panopto embeds in mobile apps Hi all! I’m an Instructional Technologist / Developer in Emerson College’s Instructional Technology Group. Emerson has recently switched to using Panopto for video hosting and we’ve been working... |
06-18-2018 |
1238 |
5 |
06-14-2021
12:06 PM
@Jul_Cro Under Behavior > Site Content > All Pages, if you search for "conversations", it'll list all the pages that match that, which are formatted like "/conversations?context_id=course_XXXXXXX&user_id=XXXXXXX&user_name=First Last"
On the Canvas side, the inbox doesn't always have that URL. I think I remember that I recreated it by starting a message from inside a course instead of starting in the Inbox from the lefthand nav.
... View more
05-18-2021
11:23 AM
If this has already been addressed and I missed it, apologies for bringing it up again!
In this comment, there's a discussion of how the Analytics Terms of Service prohibit sending identifiable information. I just noticed that the URLs for the Canvas inbox can include course id and both the user id and the full name of the person you're sending a message to. Since that URL would get passed to analytics during a pageview, does that also count as information that violates the terms of service?
... View more
05-18-2021
07:51 AM
Currently, in order to edit a user’s personal pron ouns via the Canvas API, both “Enable Personal Pronouns” AND “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas” have to be enabled in the Account settings. Per Instructure’s Support and the documentation of the Users API , this appears to be intended behavior. This does not make logical sense and creates a significant barrier for institutions attempting to create a centralized process for supporting equity and inclusion on campus.
Account Settings that control the Personal Pronouns feature must both be enabled to edit Personal Pronouns via the API
Desired Behavior
Our institution has two systems of record for personal pronouns at the college: Banner for our students and Workday for our Faculty and Staff. Setting personal pronouns in these systems then updates the information in other systems. This ensures that users know how to change their personal pronouns and what to expect when they do so.
The desired behavior follows these steps:
User enters personal pronouns in the system of record for their role at the institution
Behind the scenes, our custom integration runs and uses the Canvas API to update pronouns in Canvas accordingly
In Canvas, “Enable Personal Pronouns” is enabled, but “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas” is not enabled
User is able to see their personal pronouns reflected in Canvas, but cannot edit those pronouns in Canvas
To make any further changes, user must go back to the system of record and make changes there
This ensures consistency across all campus systems and ensures that members of the community only need to enter information once.
Current Behavior
Currently, Canvas follows these steps for a user’s personal pronouns:
User enters personal pronouns in the system of record for their role at the institution
Behind the scenes, our custom integration runs and uses the Canvas API to update pronouns in Canvas accordingly
If “Enable Personal Pronouns” but “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas” is not enabled:
The information sends to Canvas with no error, but no changes are reflected in the Canvas user interface
If “Enable Personal Pronouns” AND “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas” are both enabled:
Pronouns selected in system of record are reflected in Canvas
Users can edit pronouns in Canvas user interface without going through the system of record
Changes made in Canvas are not reflected in any other campus system, leading to miscommunications, frustration, and harm
Current Solution
The solution proposed by Instructure’s Support is to follow these steps:
Have an admin manually check the box to “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas”
Run the Users API to import pronoun data
After the import finishes, have an admin manually UNcheck the box to “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas”
Support sums this up with the assurance that “This does not remove the pronouns that have been imported, however at this point the option to edit these is locked.”
However, while that’s accurate, this solution will not work in a real world environment.
This adds an extra burden on staff to coordinate these settings changes and the API call. It also guarantees that there will be a delay between members of the community selecting personal pronouns in the systems of record and those being reflected in Canvas, during which the chances that they will be referred to by incorrect pronouns are high. This will result in user frustration and real world harm. There is also a chance that while the API call is running, a user in the Canvas user interface may discover the option to edit pronouns in Canvas. Any changes they make there may either be lost or not update in other systems, similarly resulting in frustration and harm.
Proposed Solution
The proposed solution to this problem is simple: separate the Users API from the “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas” Account setting . If "Enable Personal Pronouns" is enabled in the Account settings, the API should be able to edit personal pronouns, regardless of whether or not “Allow users to change their pronouns in Canvas” is also enabled.
That will allow updates to run as soon as users make changes in the systems of record without any manual intervention from admins. It will ensure that members of the community are able to accurately and respectfully communicate with each other during online discussions and other class interactions without significant delays and oversight.
... View more
Labels
04-17-2020
10:27 AM
1 Kudo
We've been testing the Bulk editing of assignment dates and found some unexpected behavior. Are others able to replicate this? How would we report the bug since it's not yet a released feature? The issue is that the Bulk date editor will allow you to save an assignment with an "Available Until" date set earlier than the due date if you leave the "Available From" field blank. If you're using the regular / non-bulk way to set dates and try to do the same thing, you get an error: If you set an "Available From" date while bulk editing and try to set an "Available Until" earlier than the due date, you get an error: However, leaving the Available from blank, it goes through correctly and gives you the green "Assignment dates saved successfully" message:
... View more
03-06-2020
01:17 PM
4 Kudos
Throwing some more support behind offering the option to hide the native media recording tool! We absolutely love that we'll be able to favorite Panopto to include in the new RCE toolbar, but it would be even better for our accessibility workflows to ensure folks are going through there instead of the native tool.
... View more
07-10-2019
09:23 AM
1 Kudo
I circled back around to this after the June 22nd release broke this and some other customizations we were using. Based on @James ' comment in a recent thread on the Javascript loading issues, the code below is what I'm using now to check the box. Seems to be working, but happy to hear if there are more improvements to make! if ( /^\/courses\/\d+\/content_migrations$/ . test ( window . location . pathname ) ) { // Only define & execute the below function if user is on the "Import Content" screen function checkImportBox ( mutations , observer ) { //console.log('Begin checkImportBox'); const converter = document . getElementById ( 'converter' ) ; //console.log(converter); if ( ! converter && typeof observer === 'undefined' ) { const obs = new MutationObserver ( checkImportBox ) ; obs . observe ( document . body , { 'childList' : true } ) ; } if ( converter ) { if ( typeof observer !== 'undefined' ) { observer . disconnect ( ) ; } const importBoxObserver = new MutationObserver ( ( ) = > { //console.log(document.getElementById('chooseMigrationConverter').value) if ( document . getElementById ( 'chooseMigrationConverter' ) . value == 'course_copy_importer' ) { //console.log(document.getElementById('include_completed_courses').value) let completedBox = document . getElementById ( 'include_completed_courses' ) ; if ( ! completedBox . checked ) { completedBox . checked = true ; completedBox . click ( ) ; } } } ) ; importBoxObserver . observe ( converter , { childList : true } ) ; } } // END - checkImportBox definition checkImportBox ( ) ; }
... View more
06-03-2019
01:41 PM
Thanks for the tips (and the interesting thread)! This was the first time I've encountered Mutation Observers, so I definitely appreciate the feedback! I had noticed some inconsistencies with the box not appearing checked when switching between the different import types, but didn't have a chance to dig this deeply into it. Seems like if the user chooses "Copy a Canvas Course", then a different option, then back to "Copy a Canvas Course", then the box still appears checked and completed courses are still included. If the user selects a different option first, then goes to "Copy a Canvas Course", then the box may appear checked or not (and the list may include completed courses or not) depending on which option is selected first and whether the page is refreshed between selecting different options. Seems related to the fact that most options have a div as the first child of the converter div and everything else is a child of that div. Blackboard Vista/CE(etc) has a form as converter's child, so switching to that one then to "Copy a Canvas Course" does result in the box being checked correctly. Does the childList option for the observer only check for the direct children of the specified element? Would using the subtree option instead / in addition to be better since the checkbox is a few levels down the tree?
... View more
05-31-2019
11:38 AM
7 Kudos
In the 2019-04-20 release notes, one of the bug fixes was: “The Copy a Canvas Course option uses active term dates to display available courses in the drop-down list.” Recently, it came to our attention in Emerson College’s Instructional Technology Group, that this bug fix had the side effect of removing past courses from this drop-down list unless the “Include completed courses” box is checked. Since we’d all gotten used to past courses appearing in the list whether or not this box was checked, the change caused us to assume that the drop-down was broken. Based on the comments by chriscas, @rmurchshafer , @Chris_Hofer , and @millerjm in the release notes thread, we aren't the only ones who ignored this checkbox until now. Almost all of the times our faculty use the course copy tool, it’s to copy from a past semester to the current one. To prevent confusion due to the new functionality, we decided to force the “Include completed courses” to be box checked by default. Here’s the code I used to make this happen. I’m happy to help others get this working in their custom js files too! Edited to add: Check the comments for more efficient and concise code for this. I'm leaving the original version here for the thought process breakdown. I started by writing a helper function to do the actual work of checking the box: /* * Check the "Include completed courses" box on course import screen. * NOTE: If the checkbox ID changes in future versions of Canvas, this * code will need to be adjusted as well. */ function checkCompletedCourses ( ) { var completedBox = document . getElementById ( "include_completed_courses" ) ; if ( ( typeof completedBox !== 'undefined' ) && ( completedBox !== null ) ) { // Set the checkbox value completedBox . checked = true ; // Trigger the change event as if the box was being clicked by the user completedBox . click ( ) ; } } Inside the document ready function in our custom js code file, I already had a variable for running code only on specific pages. I added an additional regular expression to check for the Import Content page in a course. var currentCoursePath = window . location . pathname ; var importPattern = /(\/courses\/[0-9]+\/content_migrations)$/i ; Since the “Include completed courses” checkbox doesn’t exist until the “Copy a Canvas Course” option is selected, I set up a MutationObserver to monitor the div that this checkbox gets added to. if ( importPattern . test ( currentCoursePath ) ) { var importBoxObserver = new MutationObserver ( function ( mutations ) { mutations . forEach ( function ( mutation ) { checkCompletedCourses ( ) ; } ) ; } ) ; importBoxObserver . observe ( document . getElementById ( "converter" ) , { childList : true } ) ; } So far this is working for us and we’re hoping it’ll prevent extra pre-semester stress once faculty are back on campus for the Fall.
... View more
07-31-2018
12:52 PM
Thanks for the heads up re: feature request! It looks like there may have been some changes to make it work, but we need to do more testing.
... View more
06-18-2018
08:50 AM
5 Kudos
Hi all! I’m an Instructional Technologist / Developer in Emerson College’s Instructional Technology Group. Emerson has recently switched to using Panopto for video hosting and we’ve been working through some growing pains. We’ve heard from our reps for both Panopto and Canvas that we’re not the only school having the below problem, so I wanted to share the workaround we’re using. The problem, as reported by our users, occurs on iOS versions of the Canvas Student and Canvas Teacher apps on pages that contain embedded Panopto videos requiring login to access. On Android versions of the Canvas apps, users were offered the chance to login and watch the embedded videos. On iOS, however, users encountered a frame with the text “Server Error” and “404 - File or directory not found.” Since our online courses are taught solely through Canvas and all have embedded Panopto videos on the front page, this was not the kind of first impression we wanted online learners to have of their courses. We’re still working with Canvas and Panopto to find a solution, but in the meantime I wrote some custom Javascript and CSS for the Canvas mobile apps to improve the user experience. To keep the learning experience consistent across devices, the custom JS works for both iOS and Android versions of the Canvas apps. First, the Javascript checks to see if there’s an iframe on the page with a source URL matching our Panopto URL (ie, https://emerson.hosted.panopto.com/ ). Then, if it finds one or more matching iframes, it creates and adds a paragraph to the top of the page that encourages users to view the course in a browser instead: “Warning: Some video content on this page is not supported in Canvas mobile apps. For the best experience, please access this course via a browser.” Android app view of the new warning message. iOS app view of the new warning message. Finally, the script replaces each matching iframe with just a plain link to the video that opens as an External Tool. Android and iOS users both see the same "Watch video" link; user experience is kept consistent. Clicking "Watch video" opens the video for playback while keeping some Canvas navigation options to return to course content. The result is a much cleaner interface and user experience, which we’re considering keeping even when the original error gets resolved. In theory this code could be adapted to replace any other iframes that don’t display properly in mobile by changing the source it’s checking for. So far we’ve only gotten reports of issues with Panopto, but that might change as more teachers and students start to use the apps. I've shared a version of the code we’re using on GitHub. It's been edited to be a bit more generalized and is pure Javascript, so no need to load in jQuery. Canvas mobile - Custom embed user experience · GitHub If you aren’t already using custom mobile JS and CSS files, you can upload these two as-is* using these instructions: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10862-4214724282 If you are already using a custom CSS file for mobile, just update that file with the code from this CSS file. If you’re already using a custom js file for mobile, you can copy to your file the two functions: function replaceEmbed(frame,linkText) { … } and function customEmbedUX() { … } * Then, just call customEmbedUX() from within whatever document ready type function you’re using. If you use it, please keep some form of attribution with it. If you have suggestions for improvement, I’d love to hear them! * Edited to add: One minor edit is needed in the code to make it work for you. In the customEmbedUX() function, change the Emerson URL to your Panopto URL.
... View more
07-13-2017
08:26 AM
13 Kudos
Are the new icons pretty set in stone at this point or is there still a possibility of changes? Specifically, the "Published" icon looks too much like what I'd expect an "Upload" button to look like. In fact, it looks way too much like the current Upload icon. Here's some screenshots from the Files tab to illustrate this. The current icons: The new icons: The new "Unpublished" icon (or new new icon, since I see it's changed from the down arrow cloud it was originally) makes sense, but it doesn't read as a set with the new "Published" icon. Edited to clarify: I like the new Unpublished icon and would like to see the new Published icon be the one changed to match it as a set.
... View more
