Option to exclude Assignments from Syllabus

[gwk]

It would be good to have an option to exclude the Assignments Summary from the Syllabus page.  Many faculty wish to only have the Syllabus with a course description, lecture schedule, grading, and other policies.  Now if you have any assignments they are automatically put on the Syllabus page - this should be an option only.  Why have an Assignments page if you force a link also on the Syllabus page.  Other ideas describe how some faculty like the assignments on the Syllabus page, so it should be simply kept as an option.

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-18528-canvas-release-notes-2020-03-21 

[clarkbra]

Agreed.  This is why I make the syllabus hidden from view.  There is too much on it that shouldn't be... assignments I'm in the process of making, assignments from last term...

[Jeff_F]

I've previously written that I often wish I had a readme.txt file that details all the reasons why things are a certain way.   For example, I'd like to know why I cannot create more than one wiki page that has a left menu link.  If I had this then I could have the course Home page and also create my own version of the Syllabus page, sans links to the assignments.   Not having this means I could still create my own version of the syllabus page via a wiki, but I'd need to link to it from the Home page, for example.

[cdoherty]

Jeff, you can use the Redirect tool through Settings > Apps to add additional pages (from the Pages tool) to your course navigation. Just use the direct url in the web address bar for the desired page and choose the option to display in course navigation.

[Jeff_F]

Awesome tip!!    It seems there isn't anything preventing me from creating my own Syllabus page.  Perhaps one item as a footnote - am I correct in my memory that the redirect tool breaks when copying the course and has to be recreated?

[cdoherty]

Well, since I entered a direct url to the page, when you copy it to a new course, it will still point to a page in the old course. The system doesn't adjust a relative link, like attachments in a quiz (for example). You would need to copy the page to the new course, then edit the redirect tool to use the new url for the imported page. Or just copy the page and create a new redirect. I'm not saying it's ideal, but it's a workaround I found, since this function isn't built into Canvas.

[nsweeten]

As Christine stated above, if you manually enter a Canvas url into the Redirect tool, it will not auto-update.

The Redirect may still be useful.

Example: A colleague of mine links out to a detailed Google Doc or Sharepoint Doc. She also uses the Redirect tool to link to Program-level information that she wants to maintain in one place for every course in that series. (Canvas has some Master-course "push" features available now that would also do this, but her original solution works well.)

[nsweeten]

*More Reasons

More reasons *not* to leave assignments unpublished as a workaround to the unwanted Assignments list at the bottom of the Syllabus tool:

1. Encourage student planning. The student reminder system (To-Do list, This week's upcoming assignments, missed assignments, Calendar) is based on the due dates of published assignments.  This feature directly addresses some of the most common, global reasons why students wash-out of online courses or fail to complete higher ed. on time with optimal grades. By helping students bridge this organization-skills gap for courses, Canvas sincerely leverages technology for student success. What a shame to have to neutralize that just to limit unwanted information. 
2. Encourage teacher focus. As a teacher, designer, and manager, I've experienced repeatedly that student outcomes are most successful when the Canvas presence of a course is complete and visible on day 1. It allows students to plan ahead responsibly and teachers to focus on teaching, rather than course-building and Canvas tinkering. It is good that Canvas allows continued work behind-the-scenes without immediate student visibility until items are published, however, teachers can get overtasked with micro-managing Canvas. Teachers who are scrambling to develop material as a course is in-progress or tasked with remembering to continually publish tend to finish up exhausted, with a less effective experience all-around. 
3. Leverage technology. Teachers are like fighter pilots. They don't need more cognitive burden and time-consuming micro-management tasks that could be done better by a robot. They need technology to effectively handle data and busy work in order to free up their human creativity to teach!
4. Keep Canvas consistent. Throughout Canvas, there are settings that allow options and judgment-calls at the point of use. Suddenly, on the Syllabus tab (something every course in Higher Ed. uses) the options disappear. Page history? Nada. Settings control over the visibility of clever features? Nope.  Overview of all valuable content, including modules? Nyet. Talk about a missed opportunity. 
5. Implement effective UX Design principles. Experienced Canvas users get used to their school's course navigation choices and potentially confusing features like multiple scrolls on the right sidebar and "non-sticky course Navigation" that scrolls out of view. Unfortunately, we must design as if every course is for a first-time user. 

The Syllabus tool encourages student confusion in its current state. Average syllabus length plus the forced Assignments list at the bottom guarantees that anyone scrolling to the bottom will experience the Navigation menu disappearing from view on the left edge. There is no "Next" button at the bottom or any other reminder of the course map at this point.  (It may be painfully obvious to experienced users, but I challenge any designer to video the excruciating struggles of a first-time Canvas user--even those who are otherwise computer savvy.  You'll see people log out entirely, then return--just to make the menu reappear.) The Assignments list practically forces students to click on an assignment to get free of that Syllabus page. 

*Real life experience: I was a student in a course where, at the end of week 3, over 1/3 of the class hadn't found the actual course content in Modules but they thought they had. 1/3 of the class had clicked on Assignments and Quizzes at the bottom of the Syllabus and attempted them without even knowing there was anything else to see!   Fortunately or Unfortunately, only 1/3 of the good students followed the directions to read the Syllabus first, so only 1/3 were angry and betrayed by the experience.

[sarah-canatsey]

I think one of the big faults/gaps to the Course Summary is if an assignment has a prerequisite in a module and a student can just open it in the Course Summary. Seems that the prerequisite either needs to stay with the assignment, or the link doesn't activate till prereqs are complete, or a faculty can just disable the links. I think having the list available is a nice reference, but if the links break down the features in the module, then why have the module restrictions in the first place?

[sarah-canatsey]

What are all the ways a student could access an assignment besides the modules?

- Assignments (if enabled)

- Grades

- Course Summary

- Calendar

If access is restricted in one area (Course Summary) so students are doing the appropriate prerequisites, it seems that Canvas should also be looking into the other areas students will go to circumnavigate any Module restrictions. As I stated previously, best case would be for the link to the Assignment to be tied to any prereqs. If those aren't complete, then the link will say "Prereqs are required before this assignment is available." We need to think about the bigger system gaps and not just plug one hole in the boat. 

[dspiel]

AMEN!!!!!!