New Canvas Pages

This section will explain the feature changes for Canvas Pages function, with details and interface mock up and a video of the prototype.

I have tried to make images workable on the mobile, but they are more optimised for computers, as that's where the bulk of editing and set up work will happen.

Feature changes in Canvas Pages

List of new features for Canvas Pages function:

A new "Page collection feature" with category management feature,
Associating page with tags and categories,
Option to add comments (and replies) to pages,
Option to enable rating system (likes and rating) on pages,
Option for public search and participation,
Option to link to a "Page collection" from Modules.

You have two options for working through this page:

1) A walk through of feature 1 to 5 in Canvas pages as a video (1:40 minutes) - Note: this will open in a new window then jump to the right part of the page, or

2) you can look through the texts and images at your own pace.

1. A new "Page collection" feature

Canvas pages currently just lists pages by title, can be sorted by creation date and last edit. But this is not a nice way to display a list of available course content to students.

As such, I propose a new feature, "Page collection":

A page collection will list pages created with a certain "category" associated to it, such as "Mobile Education", "Mobile Culture", "Mobile Technology",
There will be setting for managing categories.

Mock up interface images for the page collection features:

The landing page for Canvas Pages,
Create new Page collection screen,
Page collection category management screen.

Image: New landing page for Pages in Canvas, with page collection feature, tab to switch between listing pages or listing collections.

Image: Create a new page collection modal (pop-up window) interface mock up.

Image: Managing category page for editing categories for pages.

Note: There are no nested categories or sub categories, as I believe knowledge taxonomy is a network structure, rather than a hierarchical one.

2. Associating pages with tags and categories

Page content can be tagged by keywords using the hashtag # feature that's commonly used on the web.

It can also be associated with categories, this allows categories to be used for page collections as well as filters where appropriate.

This also enables global search in Canvas by tags and categories.

Image: Options to add categories and tags to pages.

The following 3 new feature options are self-explanatory, a screen mock up does not add more to the "picture". You will see an interface mock up with all options later.

3. Option to add comments (and replies) to pages

Canvas page currently are just content pages, it has a rich content editor allowing some text editing features as well as adding and embedding multimedia content. You can also edit the HTML codes if you are that way inclined.

To add some interactivity, an option to add comments (and replies) at the bottom of the page, like we have on our Wordpress site would serve to build the online professional community.

4. Option to enable rating system (likes and rating) on pages

In the settings for a page, there will be extra options:

Enable rating system (once selected, two more options appears):
- Enable likes 👍 (once selected, two more options appears):
  - Enable likes 👍 for comments and replies,
  - Apply this to all page and comments in the same category.
- Enable rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐:
  - Apply this to all page with the same category.

I thought about being able to customise the labels but I think it could make the interface too complicated.

5. Option for public search and participation

In the settings for a page, there will be extra options:

Enable this page to come up in public search engine,
Enable public to participate (once selected, two more options appears):
- Enable public to rate or like on page,
- Enable public to comment/ reply on page.

A short video walk through of mock up interface for new page features 1-5:

This video works better on a bigger screen. The video had better quality finish but the texts are not as clear as I liked once it is uploaded to Youtube. I did attempt to resolve this without success, apologies if the texts are hard to read.

Mock up interface of a Canvas page with extra options:

This mock up only zoom into the part with new features, this will be the same for creating a new page or editing an existing page.

Image: Interface mock up, with extra options and sub-options, category and tags. (This image is best viewed on a larger screen or on a computer).

6. Option to link to a "Page collection" from Modules

This is to allow the instructor use modules to structure the course content, and link to the specific page collections relating to that module, along with any other activities, assessments or information pages.

For example, for ETEC 523, it can have these modules and items in each module:

Course information, including course essentials and assessment information;
Week 1: Front Tier Polls,
- Instructions for the poll,
- Link to each poll pages (this way we can still make use of the Canvas badges with Badgr);
Week 2: Mobile Technology,
- Instructions for Week 1,
- Mobile Technology (a page collection);
Repeat for Week 3 and Week 4;
Week 5-12: Moveable Feast, can simply have links to different content page as the launch page under this module.

💡 What else?

What other features would you like to see?

Post your ideas in the Wordpress page!

Coming up next...

The next section will go through the features for Canvas Pages function on its mobile app.

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