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I can't believe that in four years, this still hasn't been added, regardless of "votes" or how many times it has been raised. Any faculty member knows that this feature is a critical aspect of pedagogy -- to be able to know exactly who has looked at a specific file or reading, etc. prior to class would assist us in preparation. Are any of those on the Canvas staff who work on this technology either current or past university instructors? It's hard to believe that the archaic Angel LMS had this feature, but Canvas still claims it's either too challenging or not desired enough to integrate. How hard can it actually be? If this were put to a vote again in a manner that actually reached faculty members on a broad scale (sadly, too many faculty members don't come to the community boards and engage in discussion about the LMS), it would definitely be a highly demanded feature. When will this be added, and does it just have to be based on votes? If the purpose of Canvas is to serve as an effective pedagogical tool, then the developers need to listen to faculty members who are requesting this important feature, and not have it simply be a popularity issue. PLEASE add this feature! It's been four years since it was initially put up for a vote, and nothing has been done about it. ... View more

This topic was originally posted THREE YEARS ago, and at that time, the response was that it was in some 6-month development phase (or would be considered?). Then there was a vote last year again, and here we are three years later, and this feature still hasn't been added.  If it existed more than a decade ago in ANGEL, why is it taking years for Canvas to figure out how to implement it? This feature is pedagogically critical, as many users above have explained. If Canvas truly values the input of faculty members and wishes the LMS to be helpful and functional (not merely pretty with many bells and whistles), then this feature must be prioritized. In 2018, is it truly as challenging and impossible as they claim? Or has this not been moved to the top of the priority list?  Meanwhile, I can do all sorts of cool and snazzy things with my site. Great. But as a faculty member, I need functionality -- and I consider this a basic functional element that should have been provided by the start (as other LMSs do). Especially in a time of increasing  and hybrid courses, not knowing which items our students have viewed and for how long -- in a reasonable, quick manner that doesn't take convoluted searching -- blindfolds us to the interactions critical for pedgagogical success. ... View more

To Chris Ward or anyone on Canvas who's still reading these: Please note that the "issues we're trying to solve" (as Chris asked above) is actually less relevant because this single feature (viewing access by item) would SOLVE these problems. From what I can tell, colleagues using other programs (such as Blackboard) have this feature and can't believe we don't.  This is a critical, functional, multifaceted assessment tool that faculty need to have. Being able to assess access by item to see whether students are doing the readings (or the myriad other reasons as others have posted above) should be long available by now. We're going into our third or fourth year using Canvas, I believe, and it's still not available? For Canvas merely to "consider" adding a basic feature like this isn't acceptable. It needs to be prioritized above all the other bells and whistles and zingy flashy things one can do with Canvas if one somehow has scads of unused extra hours (I don't). ... View more

Chris, I appreciate that your team "will consider" adding this feature to Canvas. I think most of us feel great frustration because we HAD this feature with Angel-- a far inferior LMS. So it's baffling that such a logical need of instructors wasn't part of the original Canvas design. Leads me to question whether actual *instructors* were involved in the planning, or only engineers who hypothesized what instructors might want? Frankly, Canvas has many features I don't need that seems like someone else thought they'd be "cool."  Meanwhile, it shouldn't take "lots of engineers" to implement a feature that was basic to the old Angel.  Indeed, Canvas does have some nice features -- but to lose what might have been one of the most critical tools of all makes me wish for Angel again. Fewer bells and whistles, more pedagogical functionality.  😞 ... View more

Linda -- precisely. And I used it all the time with Angel.  I really don't want an entire spreadsheet that I have to search and analyze. (Yes, I know how to do that, but it's not nearly as convenient.)  Instead, I want to simply click on an assignment and have it show me a chart of who in the class has accessed it and when (2 min before class starts? never?).   Having to click on each individual student and scroll through their access report is a complete PITA.  🙂 ... View more

What a great suggestion to put it with announcements, so it's right there on the main home page!  Perfect idea. ... View more

Thanks for the suggestion. I've seen that before and it looks good. But I don't want to have to go to Google forms and embed stuff. This really should be a common feature available on Canvas!  🙂 ... View more

Thank you for the image!  This is precisely the type of poll I want to be able to create. And no, I don't want to have to download an app or have my students download apps. I want to be able to create ones just like that on my computer.  Again, thanks for the image! ... View more

I just looked at that (which I hadn't found earlier) and saw the number of comments it received as well as the Canvas statement that it wasn't in their plans to initiate.  It's such an essential feature for faculty members, and I used it all the time on Angel!  Overall, I do prefer Canvas -- until I bump into one of these seemingly no-brainer issues (like polls!) that inexplicably don't exist. ... View more

I brought this up again and was told it would be added for voting on Feb. 3.  PLEASE everyone go vote on the idea!  I agree it's appalling that Canvas can't do it. I relied heavily on this feature in Angel.  And hey, if Angel could do it, and Canvas is supposed to be "better," then why is it more regressive than Angel in this feature. (Oh, and polling!!) Canvas folks, PLEASE realize how important a feature like this is for faculty in tracking student work. I don't need about 75% of  the bells and whistles you now have available (especially in this current iteration), but I need more basic faculty interaction possibilities.  I have to say I often wonder whether faculty are consulted when these things are designed at the beginning, or whether a bunch of people (perhaps more used to a student perspective) envision "what faculty might want"? Thanks for addressing this as soon as possible!  🙂 ... View more

I do NOT want to create a poll with an App that requires my students (or me!) to download apps onto their phones/devices, nor do I want to create a poll through  an app.  I don't like the ungraded survey as a workaround, nor does the discussion "like" feature meet my needs.  I've seen the suggestions for embedding something, but that still requires students to create an account or log into an external site. I try to be careful about how many places my email address is floating around in cyberspace. Polling is such a common and important feature of most courses when you want student feedback on various topics. It's absolutely bizarre that this isn't a regular part of the standard Canvas options!  I never use many of the other ones, but I would use Polls almost constantly.  PLEASE add this feature!! ... View more