What's the easiest way you've made for students to get to the next course in a Program other than using the catalog dashboard?

[karen_bowden]

UPDATE 2/14/2024: I had my first user try to take the program from enroll in the catalog. The button at the end of each course does not work. I had to walk the user through how to find the Begin Course button in their Student Dashboard in the catalog. 😞 That's 7 steps total and more clicks than that because they have to log in.

The button *does* work for the volunteer that was enrolled manually by me to review and provide feedback before I created the Program. My guess is Canvas will only acknowledge that the user completed a course before they can continue to the next one through the catalog. After they click Begin Course in the catalog, the button works. 

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I've got a program with 5 courses that must be taken in specific order. I had to make a button on the last page of the first 4 courses that goes to the next one in the series to make it easier for them to go directly to the next course in the program. I'm interested to know how others have solved this.

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden Would you be willing to send a screenshot and how you added the button? Javascript information? We have no solution currently.

[karen_bowden]

The HTML code is below. This information was provided to me several years ago from a Canvas person. Plus, there are two posts about buttons in this community:

Creating an inviting course home page: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Instructional-Designer/Creating-an-inviting-course-home-pa...

Using the Canvas Styleguide: Buttons https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Instructional-Designer/Using-the-Canvas-Styleguide-Buttons... 

<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span><strong><a class="Button Button--success" href="[putlinkhere]" data-api-endpoint="[putlinkhere]" data-api-returntype="Page">GET STARTED</a></strong></span></h3>

Some colors may not work for you. From what I understand, it depends on which ones are in the CSS for your instance of Canvas. I suggest playing around with it in a sandbox course to see what works for you. 🙂

• "Button" is a plain button.
• "Button Button--primary" is blue.
• "Button Button--secondary" is dark gray.
• "Button Button--success" is green.
• "Button Button--warning" is orange.
• "Button Button--danger" is red.

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden Is this code on the Canvas or Catalog side? If you can show where you put it that would be greatly appreciated.

[karen_bowden]

I place it on the last page of each course in Canvas. That way they just have to click it to open the next one. The catalog only contains listings of courses.

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden Could you provide a screenshot example? On how it works for both your Catalog and Canvas side?

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden Any help would be appreciated with this.

[karen_bowden]

Hi, @jsowalsk. It doesn't affect the catalog at all. The button just seems to make it easier for students/learners to get the next course in a series (or set) instead of going back to their dashboards to find each one. This is especially useful in this case because they must be taken in a specific order the first time. 

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden Interesting so what is the impact on the program in Catalog for the analytics? Does it show completions and send a certificate of completion? How is your program set up in Catalog? Would you be able to send a picture?

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden So, what you are saying it is just a usability standpoint to have a student move from one course to another but the data is still in Catalog about whether or not a student completes a course, right?

[karen_bowden]

I can only see enrollments from the catalog side. Maybe someone else knows how to find out if a user completed a course. 

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden It would be in the analytics tab under enrollments then if there is a certificate to download that means the course is completed. 

[jsowalsk]

@karen_bowden So to confirm, this is just to be able to move from one course to another in Canvas and the completions in Catalog are separate? Right?

[karen_bowden]

Please see the update posted above in the original post. Sadly, the button only works after they click Begin Course in the catalog.