Did you know that the Instructure Community welcomes an average of 500 new questions in our forums monthly? This number shows that Community members are driven and committed to supporting one another through the adoption, troubleshooting, and ongoing enhancement of their use of Instructure products.
To better help you and your fellow Community members find relevant and current content, we used feedback from our 2023 Health Survey and 2024 InstructureCon survey to develop a biannual archival process which will begin on Tuesday, September 3, 2024.
Questions at least three years old and have not had a new comment or like added in the last twelve months will be marked as Archived and moved out of the main question forums.
InstructureCon Insights
During InstructureCon in July, hundreds of people stopped by the Community Lounge and provided feedback and insights to our teams. The direct feedback is important to us, and the collected responses helped shape decisions regarding this project.
To provide some context around the survey results, we want to share that 600 participants were fairly distributed with their experience and familiarity with the Instructure products and that approximately 75% have been members of the Instructure Community for 3 or more years! Additionally, over 35% of survey respondents visit the Instructure Community at least weekly.
What did we learn about Community content?
We appreciated hearing more about how you evaluate content’s quality and relevancy while exploring the Instructure Community. We can confidently note that the Publication Date and Clarity are the most significant to the 101 individuals who answered questions in this section.
How individuals evaluate content supported what was shared about how the Community Team should manage historical content. 81% of survey participants shared that content older than 3 years old should be marked as “outdated”.
Additionally, 87% of survey participants stated they were comfortable removing or deleting content older than 4 years old from the Community question forums.
These numbers greatly influenced the rollout of a new and sustainable archival policy. While the feedback we collected will primarily be set for content related to Canvas LMS, we acknowledge that special plans will need to be considered for smaller products like Commons and Catalog where the UI hasn’t experienced as many changes.
Why archive?
We acknowledge that searching the Community and the forums can feel overwhelming - whether you are an experienced or new adopter of Instructure products. It is valuable feedback we’ve heard from many of you, and as the Instructure Ed-Cosystem grows, we want to ensure that Community members can quickly identify quality answers as they browse the forums.
We have carefully considered the advantages and difficulties of archiving content from our Community. Since the Community's inception, an immeasurable amount of knowledge has been exchanged within the Community’s Question Forums and special interest groups. We recognize that some older threads may still provide valuable insights and are regarded as best practices. However, with the rapid pace of product advancements and releases, members need to trust that the solutions they find in the Community will effectively and efficiently help them achieve their goals.
What will be archived, and when?
Beginning on September 3, 2024, we will archive questions that are at least three years old and have not had a new comment or like added in the last twelve months. We believe that by maintaining the questions shared within this timeframe, you should see an improvement in the quality, accuracy, and relevancy of search results.
These items will have [Archived] added to the front of the title and be moved to a new location in the Community. This will identify outdated items, right where you search within the Community. This also allows the outdated items to be reached by direct link, but not by search engines outside of the Community.
Then, an item will be in the archive for two additional years. At that point, the item will be removed from the Community. The two-year “waiting period” should allow you to save resources to PDFs or find a more recent article as a replacement.
Our next archive will take place in March 2025.
What if I lose access to something I need?
Since 2022, customers have been able to request an archived item be restored to the forums. Starting September 3, removed content will be redirected to the Instructure Community homepage. You are welcome to ask the question again and to seek more up-to-date solutions, based on current production UI and functionality. Your peers and our Community Coaches are ready to collaborate, troubleshoot, and help you find Community resources.
