Ability to Edit Comments in the Gradebook and Respond to Discussion Directly from Gradebook

[GotCree]

Hi Canvas Community,

I'm writing to advocate for two enhancements to the Gradebook functionality that would significantly improve grading efficiency and faculty workflow.

Current Challenges:

As it stands, grading and feedback in Canvas involve several cumbersome steps that take away valuable teaching time. Specifically:

1. Comment Editing: Currently, we cannot edit comments once they are saved in the Gradebook. This means if we make a mistake, need to clarify something, or want to update feedback based on further review, we have to resort to a tedious workaround:

   • Copy the entire comment.
   • Paste it into a separate textbox for editing.
   • Delete the original comment in the Gradebook.

   This is incredibly time-consuming and prone to errors, especially with lengthy feedback. (See attached screenshot for a visual example of the comment box limitations).

2. Direct Discussion Replies: When grading discussions, we cannot directly respond to a student's post from within the Gradebook. We have to navigate separately to the discussion forum, find the specific post, and then reply. This disrupts the grading flow and makes it harder to provide contextual feedback while assessing participation. (See attached screenshot for example of having to navigate away from the Gradebook).

Proposed Solutions & Benefits:

1. Enable Comment Editing within the Gradebook: Implementing a simple edit function (like a pencil icon) would allow faculty to correct mistakes, refine feedback, and update grades efficiently, all within the Gradebook interface.

2. Allow Direct Replies to Discussions from the Gradebook: Adding a reply function within the Gradebook grading view for discussions would allow for contextual feedback without navigating away, streamlining the assessment process.

Call to Action:

I believe these enhancements would significantly improve grading efficiency and allow faculty to focus more on instruction and student interaction. I urge Canvas to consider these improvements for the benefit of both instructors and students.

Please share your thoughts and experiences below! Do you encounter these challenges? What other solutions would you suggest for improving grading workflow in Canvas?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Lisa Cree

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

Hi there, @GotCree ...

Thanks for posting this.  Unfortunately, this isn't quite the area to be submitting new ideas for enhancements to Canvas.  Instead, what you'll want to do is to go to this link:

Canvas Ideas - Instructure Community

You'll also want to review the following Guides (which are also linked on the right side of the page I just linked to):

• What is the feature development process for Instructure products?
• How do Ideas work in the Instructure Community?
• What are the guidelines for submitting a new idea?
• How do I create a new idea in the Instructure Community?

Please also keep in mind that the idea process as a whole is going through some changes right now, so you'll want to read this blog post:

• It’s Time for Your Feedback on the Future of Ideas & Themes

And finally, I'm not sure if you might be referring at all to the recent discussion checkpoints and how the SpeedGrader changed for discussion topics, but I wanted to also give you this link for your review:

• Addressing Your Feedback on Recent Discussion Checkpoints Changes

I hope all of this will be of help to you.  Sing out if you have any questions...thanks!