A Platform, Not a Panacea (Unfortunately)
Working closely with educational technology on a daily basis, the Courseware Support team has learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work for our users. A challenge we all enjoy is figuring out what Canvas can do to help our users achieve their pedagogical goals. Less enjoyable are the times when we discover that the means for reaching such goals aren’t readily available in Canvas. Usually, we can use our expertise to create a workaround; however, as with all technology, there are certain constraints in Canvas for which workarounds aren’t possible.
The good news is that Canvas has a three-week release cycle that includes new features, revisions to existing features, and fixes for certain issues, as well as a highly active user community who enthusiastically contribute feature ideas to help improve the system, and a staff dedicated for responding to these suggestions. As for working with Canvas issues as they currently exist, we recommend checking out the Known Issues area on the Canvas at Penn blog.
Workarounds Require Knowledge of What Doesn’t Work
This is the guiding principle of the Known Issues area on our blog. If something doesn’t seem possible in Canvas, please look at the list of known issues and, if you find an explanation for what’s happening and want to know if there’s a workaround if one isn’t listed, please email us at canvas@pobox.upenn.edu so we can assist you. If you don’t see an explanation, please email us so we can investigate further.
Last Updated: 24 Sep 2015