Community

Hi James I'm always in awe of what you can do! Thank you for this script. It just saved me hours! ... View more

  @SuzanneGollery I wondered about this, too, a while ago - wanted the images to make the units easily scannable. I couldn't put in any image I liked - it had to be an already published emoji, and the choices there are limited in suitability. Basically, when you create the module, or a text header, or an assignment or page of any kind, you can put one of these emojis into its title - I've bookmarked the troves online for speedier reference. Go to, for example, Miscellaneous Symbols — ✔️ ❤️ ★ Unicode® Character Table  and this is useful too: Table of Unicode spaces - then paste from UT (this lets you separate the emoji further from the text, which I like) Choose your emoji(s) and click the "copy" link Return to your module, text header, whatever, and past them in, one at a time Save the module, text header, whatever. Done Attached to this post is a screenshot of how one of my course home pages looks (I choose different but neutral emojis for each so I see where I am more easily) Hope this helps     ... View more

Yes, desperately needed in this age of ever LESS prepared students! While there is no facility to do this, I've come up with a tiresome workaround. I enter an asterisk in the gradebook, which then creates a red exclamation mark on that assignment. That alerts me during grading to go to my manually made document of alerts. At least this way, I remember! No 5 stars to click on so not sure what to do here. ... View more

@James pity. I was sure you could do anything! 😊 ... View more

@James - oh man, a request feature as well? And they STILL haven't done it?? One of the reasons I am so far behind is the endless time I lose to not having this basic functionality. By the way (off topic but can't resist), I LOVE the keyword grading script you/we developed for discussions! Even the highly resistant instructional techs at my institution see that it really does help with the grading!   ... View more

@judd_curran -- Oh YES!  Let's all do that! Wisconsin is a big client of instructure too. I haven't written anything to anyone yet, owing to the massive time-waste imposed by this clunky system and my hundred-plus students with needs. So we could strategize. What about this: Use this thread to compile a list of basic things we should never have had to ask for All of us use this list to write to our Academic Senates and (I still feel) Instructure All of us check at the end of our semesters to see if anything at all has happened at either Senate level or Instructure level. Then if nothing has been done, let's all of us write to them again. And report results (or no results) back to this thread, so we keep on moving forward And do it all again at the beginning and end of each semester till something happens! I seem to have more than two cents' worth - but, oh, let's do this! Thanks Judd Curran. Great idea you had! ... View more

@kikimax thank you! I'll take your advice on this. I'm going to write to them both. I do suggest, though, that all of us write individually to these two. We should stick to the same topic (the rich text editor in email and grading comments). If we all do this, we might get their attention. Then, when we've got this, we can encourage them to deal with some other stuff that should be basic! Best to all ... View more

@VHDL2STA - I'd be glad if they'd just put in the rich text editing capacity we have for making pages and assignments, and announcements. Can it really be that difficult? I think we need to skip this going-nowhere process. The Chief Product officer for Canvas is Mitch Benson and the CEO as of last year is Steve Daly. Both have LinkedIn profiles according to Instructure's "Leadership" page: https://www.instructure.com/about/leadership. Perhaps it is time to message them directly.   ... View more

Sorry to keep on and on about this, but it really is important! Does anyone happen to know any of the developers and can they please go and ... shake them ... and then explain kindly why this should have been put right at the first query?  It is not a feature: it is a basic expectation. Meanwhile @VHDL2STA you are probably right about the different developers, but that ANY developer would not think to put RCE into an email (or grading!!!) component defies comprehension. We are not in the 1990s! ... View more

@kikimax and all - yes, I agree and feel pretty futile about it myself - and yet the potential is so clear that it's also tragic that they don't care about the people in the trenches. My own thought, every time I run into this kind of problem (and there are several) is that this was clearly NOT designed by people who have ever taught. They're working on stereotypical false memories of what they experienced as students and it never occurs to them that the more they tie our hands, the LESS good job we can do. Grrr.r.r.r.r..... ... View more

Hello All The first post in this thread is dated 2015! Normal formatting and organizing facilities in email is not something we should ever have had to ask for. Seven years later we are still struggling over this. When you think how pressed for time teachers and professors are, and how Canvas confuses us with its relentless uniformity, you are looking at a huge swathe of unnecessary stress. I ask the Canvas developers: please - don't waste any more time waiting for an upvote! Just do it! It should have been there from the beginning! PS - I suggest licensing Thunderbird!   ... View more

@yrodri9 Exactly! Teachers need this! I am forced to paste unicode emojis in for list numbers, just to give the eye some landmarks in a set of instructions! Tooo slooooow! Here's where to get them: Blue and white squares: https://emojis.wiki/keycap-0/ (scroll down to find the full set of 1-10) Black and white circles: https://unicode-table.com/en/sets/numerals/ Regards to all ... View more

@VHDL2STA I agree with you and support your idea. One of the several reasons I try not to use Canvas conversations is the lack of folders and subfolders. ... View more

@xyzGem you are absolutely right! That is the way to go but my university, at least, will probably balk at that even if it was possible. They are trying to drive me away from my email of choice because they want to integrate everything. I am now forced to check my email in three places before I can be sure I've seen it all. The Canvas inbox is also very slow. My copies of emails to the class don't appear in it for hours, or sometimes even days. It is impossible to manage.   ... View more

Thank you, this is just what I needed! Yes, an unnecessary hassle but it keeps things clean and orderly, which - since we don't have formatting in speedgrader 🙄 - is very important. ... View more

Thank you @nburruss. And to add insult to injury, I was just invited to complete a survey that claimed to value my views and then refused my input!! ... View more

Interesting consideration @nburruss. Thank you for that insight. I bet your friend has a point about the way they're thinking. Now I want to rebut it - in the friendliest way possible! I'm only a little tecchy myself, more of a reverse engineer, but I did handbuild websites before all these proprietary systems came out, and am an old hand at Wordpress (hating their new Gutenberg block editor system) and I wonder if the Canvas people are being closed-minded about this. First, they could merely allow us to input HTML. HTML is just like MS Word, but you just spell out the codes instead - transferrable skill, heck, first generation word processor users used to do that anyway! Second, it seems to me that if they already have RCE in the system, merely applying it to all input areas, instead of just some, wouldn't take up more room.  And even if it did, "room" (storage space, execution space) is cheap and infinite. Taking up more space in the system should not be a problem. Canvas already takes up vast quantities of space, and this would be a drop in the ocean. Third, even if RCE takes a prohibitive amount of space, why not provide the limited ability to add bold, italics, underline, color, and lists (including lists without markers). Five features only - surely that would not be beyond the bounds of possibility, and it would make a vast difference to our ability to teach effectively. I think all of us need to keep talking. And those of us with contacts among the tecchies that decide, need to keep talking to them too. This situation is absurd! ... View more

@dbrace,  we have to make sure it gets more attention - spread the word to all users you know! Get them to comment and vote (whether voting makes a difference or not). I agree with your characterization of a "non-answer", since text emphases make no difference on a cell. Even if they banned lists (bad idea) and columns for the cell, emphases like bold, italics, underline, color, all help. ... View more