Over the summer I taught three sections of Introduction to Humanities (85 students) in order to get a better grasp on Canvas, knowing that I would be coaching instructors new to the Canvas environment in the fall. My favorite part of the process was frequent—sometimes daily—encounters with my friends at Canvas Chat. Left navigation bar, last icon down, circle with a question mark. That was my go-to place for immediate help. Chat with Canvas Support (Faculty). Yes. Start Chat. Yes. Autofill my contact information. Choose severity: I can’t get things done until I hear back from you. Start Chat. Hello, _____, How can I help you today?
So far, so easy. Then I had to create something myself. Articulating the question was the hardest thing. I had to type something soon or Chat would hang up (there’s more to that story later on). I quickly learned to just try to ask.
“Ummm, how do I weight my assignments?”
“What happened to SpeedGrader? It’s not where it was in the spring pilot course.”
To my great relief, 99% of the time, my Chat friend knew what I was asking. Or they said, “Do you mean, _____”
“Oh, yes, thank you!”
Once we agreed on the question, my friend proceeded to explain the answer in plain words, provide a link that I could pursue on my own, and could even access the screen I was stuck in to help me out. To summarize, Chat always gave me multiple ways to an answer. Often my friend would say, “would you like me to stay on the line while you go try it out?” just to make sure I got it right, as if my friend had all the time in the world for me. When we were both satisfied that I had my answer, the question always came, “May I help you with anything else?” Obviously I could ask more than one question per Chat room.
After solving my problem of the moment, I hit End Chat, and then another set of options became available. Download Transcript? Often I did and saved it to my growing repository. Start a new Chat? If something new popped into my mind between End Chat and this screen, I could ask away again. How cool is that?
What happens if Chat really times out—as it does in my sometimes forgetful moments when I start talking to one of the nine family members in my household and forget all about my Chat friend.
“Are you still there?”
I’m not sure how long Chat waits, but it certainly isn’t forever. The Chat session is cut off, which is completely understandable because I flaked. But here’s the most amazing thing: Shortly thereafter I begin to get emails from Canvas. “Hello, are you still having problems? How can we help you? Click to reconnect with an agent.”
To me, this is nothing short of amazing. I let it be known that I have a question; Canvas pursues until they give me every possible opportunity to seek an answer. Where else can you find this level of support? That’s why I say, “Kudos for Canvas Chat.”
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- Sandy Yang: Kudos for Canvas Chat - October 1, 2019