This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas
For a large university that has technical assistants and instructional designers creating content for others, it would be beneficial to be able to post anonymously and not have our name associated with the discussion forum.
I agree this feature would be helpful to have as my pharmacy students do not seem willing to post clarification questions in the discussion board because they are identified.
I think you are underestimating the need for this. As a humanities' instructor, I LOVE THIS FEATURE!
Obviously, many discussions are tied to school work and therefore need to be identifiable.
However, there are LOTS of reasons to want to be completely anonymous. You might think, "Well, if they don't want their classmates to know, then they can email you." Yes - but often they want to be anonymous to ME as well. This is a feature that Blackboard had, and I really like it.
It is best practice as an instructor to have a pinned post where students can ask questions about a concept or the course in general (often to the benefit of other students!) I have found these posts are often anonymous - which is great. Sometimes this is where the BEST comments about the content are!
Please don't underestimate the need for this feature. It may seem like nothing to you, but if a student feels more comfortable engaging in the course by posting anonymously - I'm all for it!
