[Discussions] Add "Reply" Function to Speedgrader

[jrs294]

Idea is currently in development

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Grading and replying to forum posts would be more efficient if both could be done from Speedgrader, instead of grading in Speedgrader and moving back to the Discussion (and finding the student's post) to reply. It seems to me that all we'd need would be to add "Reply" buttons to the student's posts as they're displayed in Speedgrader.

[Stef_retired]

Thanks for sharing this idea,  @jrs294 ; it's moving forward for community consideration. You might be interested in checking out this idea that seeks to address discussion grading from a different direction: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/2700-grading-discussion-in-the-discussion-stream 

[jrs294]

Hi Stefanie,

Thanks for the link! Our old system at Texas State, TRACS, allowed that kind of grading within forum threads. I found it to be decent! But I teach at another school that allows you to reply from the forum grading tool (which is what I'm suggesting) and I find it a lot more efficient. Could be a different strokes for different folks thing; I think adding both couldn't hurt!

[mwolfenstein]

I'm curious which of the two proposed solutions for grading and commenting in discussions users think would make for a better experience. Both of them present unique design and development challenges since currently there is no interface for grading on any type of assignment page and there is no interface on the SpeedGrader page for pushing content back to a discussion. Either way, I think this is an essential user need that should be met one way or the other. One additional consideration I would like to float for the community is that the upcoming addition of milestone due dates in the Discussions Redesign might make for a very different relationship with graded discussions in some instances. Consider the idea that you might want a single ongoing discussion spanning multiple weeks rather than simply using milestones for a post once and reply twice style discussion. What does a long form discussion do to your needs in relation to grading?

[georgieziff]

And it would be helpful to allow instructors to designate that discussion board responses "need grading" after x many responses, like Blackboard allows us to do. In Canvas, ALL responses show needing grading, regardless of whether they have met the grading criteria. PLEASE update this. 

[ModeratorPanda]

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