[Speedgrader] Rich Text Editor in Speedgrader Comments

[CommunityTeam]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

---

Add the Rich Text Editor to the Comments section of Speedgrader.

"I want to recommend books, etc., or to properly format foreign words, and so on, and want to set the example, of course, of doing so properly.  Thank you"

"Instructors have told me they'd like formatting (bold, italic, colors) in the comment boxes in order to emphasize a statement without typing all caps (which seems like they're yelling at the students)."

"As an instructor in a virtual classroom I need to be able to make my communication with students richer to better get my points across.  Add rich text capabilities and allow me to make the Comment boxes larger while you are at it."

Transferred from the old Community

Originally Posted By: Joshua Shannon
Special thanks for contributions by: Teri Portman, Albert Turner

[ellisonl15]

Including the rich content editor on the assignment feedback would be great. I often have several points to respond to and to be able to ensure some formatting would be useful. Also being able to record a video here would be nice. Really I think the the rich content editor should be available for every text box on Canvas. 

[BrookeGeorge]

I am a foreign language teacher at the junior high level. I am trying to think of ways to motivate students to read the comments I leave for them, and so thought about inserting gifs and images. I can do this, by attaching them, but they aren't viewable directly. Students have to open the attachment, which downloads to their computer, before they can open it. Would it be possible to make an embedding feature for the comments box? 

Thanks!!

an example of a meme I would use

[deval_popat]

Canvas can include emojis for the feedback in Assignment Comments

[megan_horikawa]

another foreign language teacher here who would love to be able to embed things in the comments. I could embed videos showing the correct stroke order of a character that a student is having trouble with, add clickable links etc. having Rich text formatting would help make the text more easily readable by students. 

[rnewton5]

Rich context editor for comments would be great to format comments, add visual elements, hyperlinks, and formatting feedback. Looking for ways to up vote this. Looks like it's been on the radar since 2015.

[NICOLEFIERRO]

I would like to link the pages in the course or external in order to be able to send the student right to the page/video they should review to improve. Looking for this in Speedgrader/feedback comments. An example of what I currently put in a students' feedback is below. I think it is unlikely that most students would take those web addresses and copy/past them to see what I am suggesting.

"E 👂https://ccsd.instructure.com/courses/1435598/modules/items/24236019
👂pronunciation of the letter "e"
Listen to the pronunciation of the letter E in Spanish: /e/. Its closest sound match in
English is "A" (as in "face"), but there's one big difference: The English sound "A" is
actually two vowel sounds blended together. It starts with the sound /e/, but then
moves into the sound "E". Listen to this slowed-down pronunciation of the English
sound "A": (/e/-"E"). The Spanish vowel is only the first of these two sounds: /e/.
Because of that, you might think it sounds "chopped off".
Listen to the two pronunciations of the word cheque on this page. Then record your
own pronunciation and compare it. Be sure to pronounce the final e sound with the
"chopped off" Spanish pronunciation


👀 Q/A patterns https://drive.google.com/file/d/10urnNXXE8yqYEVuT0L6FsL0enNkOxGlB/view?usp=sharing"

[melinda_benton]

Writing instructors need to show students where they need to fix italics in research citation assignments, but Canvas doesn't allow italics or bold in either comments or email. Also, we teach use of bold for headings, but we can't bold our own headings in long emails we send out. Since most every email system commercially available allows for bold and italics, could we possibly get the ability to bold and italicize in Canvas email and in Canvas comments?  Thank you!

[Semicolon1]

Folks:

Just as you've made the box in which I'm about to enter my "idea," so should you make the SpeedGrader text box editable. I always want to hyperlink, use bullets, add files, etc. As it stands, I can do none of those things.

Thanks in advance.

[mmyers3]

I am an Admin and an Instructor and I have been hearing from faculty across our institution that they would love to see the RCE in the comment feature.  This would be particularly useful given the comment library. 

• It would assist with accessibility since we could create a friendly link to an external source.
• It would provide a much more robust conversation in which pictures could be added for reference. 
• RCE would provide faculty the ability to direct students to course content that they need to refresh on based on the scores on an assignment.  
• Additionally, it would just provide the most consistent experience for users.  

[josh_langston]

I would like to reiterate the need for some text formatting in Speedgrader comments, but the thing I'm getting asked most about is clickable links.  To add links to external resources or even other course content would make feedback more effective. Maybe limited rich content options like what exist in this comment section would be something that fits into the limited space of the Speedgrader space.