Discussions Redesign Early Access

Katrina-Hess · ‎06-07-2021

Hello Community! We have many improvements lined up for our Discussions feature in Canvas. We are taking an iterative approach to delivering value to you as soon as possible so you will see improvements released in stages. Please look out for release timing on our Roadmap page.

Discussions Redesign

Our designers and engineers are working hard to get these first set of features out to you over the next few months.

1st Release

we're freshening up the UI to take better advantage of the space and ensure responsive views
we moved the toolbar to the top of the page
newest replies will appear on the top of page 1 instead of the bottom of the last page
you can toggle the sort order of replies from newest to oldest, oldest to newest
you can mark a post as unread/read from the reply kebab menu

2nd Release (these features are currently in Design or Development, some features might move up to 1st Release or down 3rd Release)

you can see single and multiple Due Dates in the Discussion Topic
you can navigate to Group Discussions
the Discussion Topic kebab will be complete (Add/Edit Peer Reviews, Add/Edit Rubrics, Share to Commons)
Search functionality will be complete
you can see Author, Teacher, and TA pills in the Discussion Topic and Replies
you can tag another person in a reply with @mentions
you can include a preview of the reply you are responding to in your reply
replies will be limited to 1-level deep

3rd+ Release (these features are in the Discovery phase and may change)

Anonymous Posting + Moderation
- Author
  - Author can create a graded or non-graded Discussion Topic anonymously (avatar and display name are hidden)
  - Author can enable moderation to their Discussion Topic
  - Author can assign/remove moderators (roles or individual names)
  - Author can set moderation settings:
    - All replies must be approved by a moderator
    - Moderators can add/remove other moderators
  - Author can allow anonymous replies to their Discussion Topic
  - if the Discussion Topic is a graded discussion, author can enable anonymous grading:
    - Graders cannot view student names
    - Graders cannot view each other's names
- Moderator
  - Moderator can approve or reject replies
  - Moderator can undo approved or rejected replies
  - if enabled, moderator can add/remove other moderators
- Viewer
  - If enabled, viewers of the Discussion Topic can reply anonymously (avatar and display name are hidden)
  - Viewers can report replies (Teachers and Admins will be able to see avatars and display names of reported replies)
Q&A style posts
- you will be able to up/down vote replies
- Teachers and TA's can mark a post as correct
Discussion Index page redesign
Checkpoints
- Teachers can create "checkpoints" per Discussion Topic (ie. Students must read by X date, Students must submit 1st reply by Y date, Students must submit 2nd reply by Z date)

Best, Katrina & Allison

baldwinsh · ‎08-18-2021

Many of the changes you have outlined are exciting and I am looking forward to them. However, I am concerned about the plan to have replies only one layer deep. Sometimes I or a student will make a post which is replied to and then that reply is replied to. If replies are only one layer deep, doesn't that keep a discussion from morphing into something more? Will it keep the discussion from becoming very deep? Maybe I'm not understanding what is being planned by this modification. If so, please help me to understand! Thank you!

Katrina-Hess · ‎08-19-2021

Hi @baldwinsh, next week I will elaborate on the changes to reply navigation. Stay tuned!

Best, Katrina

amy_lane1 · ‎09-02-2021

Do you have an ETA for when this will new Discussion feature will be available? Having multiple due dates for the discussions would be so helpful to students and faculty. Thank you!

Katrina-Hess · ‎09-02-2021

Hi @amy_lane1, this redesigned version of Discussions is available now behind the Discussions/Announcements Feature Preview flag. Sep 15th will be a great time to test it out since we're rolling out a lot of features in that release.

Best, Katrina

Jeff_F · ‎09-02-2021

@Katrina-Hess - I am having some hesitation with enabling this to evaluate on live courses not knowing details on potential changes to reply depth.

On a related note, I believe I read somewhere that I can enable the New Discussions feature to a course that has already started and if something goes awry - or if there is a decision to limit the depths of replies to a single reply, for example - then the instructor can then disable the feature option and revert back. Please confirm this is accurate.

My gratitude.

Katrina-Hess · ‎09-02-2021

Hi @Jeff_F, enabling the Feature Preview flag in a current course or sandbox allows Admins and Teachers to evaluate a new feature. If the new feature is missing core functionality or have critical bugs, you can simply disable the Feature Preview flag.

We are updating the reply navigation including how the threads nest. I encourage you to test out the new features after the Sep 15th release. Please provide feedback in the comments on Reply Navigation Update in Discussions Redesign.

Best, Katrina

Jeff_F · ‎09-08-2021

I've enabled the new design and I am in process of replying to students. A few notes:

I no longer have the ability to quickly see which students I've replied to. I am required to click the Replies count link to expose the responses. There is no 'Expand All' button.
Perhaps there could be a little icon to indicate a course instructor replied to the student post? Or perhaps something such as this? Include a filter for no replies.

Jeff_F · ‎09-12-2021

In the current discussions, pressing enter at the end of a sentence creates the visualization of a paragraph and there is a spacing between paragraphs. In the redesign there is no space between paragraphs. I like the spaces as it improves readability.

comparison of paragraph spacing

Jeff_F · ‎09-13-2021

After setting Discussion availability dates I noted that the Modules page nor the actual discussion itself indicated the date the Discussion was to be available. To see this one must select Discussions on the left menu.

As students can enter a discussion activity via Modules, clicking 'Next' on page bottom, or via the To-Do task list, I recommend including not only the Due date, but also the availability date.

A mock up of a possible approach - image taken from the top of a discussion page.

discussion not available until

irene_omara · ‎09-15-2021

Amazing to see Multiple Checkpoints finally getting its development - one of the most requested updates from our school!

Stewart-Space · ‎09-18-2021

I am looking forward to the anonymous posting feature!

Any timeframe for the 3rd release?

Jeff_F · ‎09-20-2021

@Katrina-Hess & the development team -

A little feedback on the redesign with the flyout panel for replies…

Instructors cannot easily identify the students they have not replied to. Each time I came to the board I felt compelled to click through each student reply to ensure I was doing a thorough job. I was compelled to do so because of #2 below.
The redesigned board is configured so the newest posts show first. The sort order is based on the initial reply and apparently all subsequent replies to that post. As configured, the sequence is continuously changing so instructors cannot assume that they have replied to a set of earlier initial replies based on the date posted and relative positioning on the board.
An 'expand all' option to reveal all posts is not a possibility as the replies are now contained separately in the flyout panel.
While entering a reply, if I were to click off the fly out elsewhere on the screen, the flyout panel disappears and the content I’ve entered is irretrievably lost.
The text box and toolbar in the fly out is much smaller. If I were to expand to Fullscreen, the text box increases in size, but does not widen more than the existing fly out. The toolbar does display more of the menu options when expanded. At Fullscreen the text box is set to wrap at about 313 characters but only displays the first 115 characters. Anything more than 115 characters or so is off the screen. Note: I use the Chrome browser.
After students reply to the discussion prompt, others can reply to that student. But then if someone wishes to post a 2nd level reply (or greater) such replies are not threaded. Instead, there is a ‘Quote’ response option. I am unsure how this works with notifications, etc.
Viewing unread replies via the list does not auto mark them ‘read’. Currently it is necessary to manually mark replies as read. However, if you instead filter for Unread you will see the full list of Unread replies. Then select ‘Go to Reply’ to see the post in context of the original post and all replies to that student post. When replies are displayed after filtering for Unread replies, they do automatically update to Read. However, the count of unread replies on the main discussions page does not appear to update to reflect you having read all discussions.

2 cents: My sense is that students and instructors are likely less apt to read as many posts and replies. This is because accessing the post requires a manual click to open the reply or replies. While one can filter for Unread, doing so means they then need to click again to view the context of the post.

So which is better - a discussion list that involves scrolling or sets of posts that require multiple clicks to access with a new fly out panel?

valentinesking · ‎09-23-2021

One of my students/participants is saying the reply button to the main discussion forum is missing? Is that related to the due date or a hiccup?

Sky V.

Jeff_F · ‎09-23-2021

@valentinesking is an 'available from' date set on the discussion? Having that set will remove the reply button until the specified date.

valentinesking · ‎09-23-2021

Hey there @Jeff_F ,

Thank you for your reply. However, the only date specified on this discussion is the due date.

I'm asking the participant info regarding their browser because I'm not sure if anyone else is having similar trouble with replies.

Sky V.

Katrina-Hess · ‎09-23-2021

Hi @Jeff_F,

we are considering a "no replies" filter, thanks for your your use case and feedback
the paragraph spacing is a known issue and be fixed soon
the availability date is also a known issue and will be fixed soon
we are considering all the feedback we've received around the thread tray vs. scrolling/expanded replies... will update everyone here as we get further along in our discovery

Thanks @irene_omara, we'll let this user group know when we start working on Checkpoints!

Hi @Stewart-Space, we cannot speak to a timeframe for Anonymity yet but will be able to soon. We will post an update here as well as the Roadmap page as we get further along.

Hi @valentinesking, we haven't been able to replicate this issue and haven't heard other reports of the reply button missing. Any further details you can provide would help. Alternatively, the student could submit a ticket Help > Report a Problem.

SarahFoulke · ‎11-02-2021

Has this feature of multiple due dates (checkpoints) for discussion posts been implemented? I'm having trouble finding the HOW TO set this up.

talway · ‎05-19-2022

Hi @Katrina-Hess, I have a question about the @mentions. Will this trigger an email or notification to the person mentioned?

canvas_admin · ‎08-29-2022

when grading a student's discussion (see screenshot below), the "view the full discussion" link used to go directly to the student's post and I could see if the professor had replied or not. In the new re-design, it simply takes me to the top of the forum, rather than to the permalink. I know I can search for the student's name, but it was nice to be taken directly to the student's post as well as see any interaction below it rather than having to click through "reply" multiple times. I really hope this will be addressed and AT LEAST return to going to the permalink rather than the question.

discussion issue.png

Felderburg · ‎08-29-2022

Hi, my school started using Canvas this semester, and so far I really like it. However, both of my classes have used an 'introduce yourself' type discussion, and the notifications for discussions are terrible. Currently, it seems like there is no option for me to only get notified of replies to the posts I make? Is that correct? I can only get an immediate email, or summary emails, for *any* reply to a discussion, even if it's not mine? I have currently resorted to using ctrl+f to find my specific posts by my name, to see if there is an individual response.

I can see how some discussion topics might warrant this sort of thing, but I get the feeling that most of these classes' posts will be a 'reply to the topic and then a few classmates' sort of thing, and it is absolutely untenable to get an email with just dozens of posts that aren't relevant to me.

Jeff_F · ‎09-02-2022

@Felderburg - perhaps a ray of (future) sunshine, but the board that is being redesigned has an @mentions feature that enables us to tag people. This serves to send them a direct notification.

Also, there is a new Notification setting for Mentions which is defaulted to notify immediately which you can change.

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-mention-a-user-in-a-discussion-reply-in-Di...

Felderburg · ‎09-06-2022

@Jeff_F That's not a particularly useful function, though, if people don't know about it, or (more relevantly) don't think it's necessary. If I hit "reply" to someone's post, I should not have to also type "@someone" in said reply so that they get the notification. They should get a notification because I replied to them by clicking the "reply" button and responding directly to their post.

brent_scholar · ‎06-25-2023

I am not sure where things are with all of this...

With the issues with the order of the posts, why not make them all collapsable, like Blackboard?

Has the multiple due dates happened yet?

rlbrown21 · ‎06-28-2023

Any updates on multiple checkpoints/due dates? Still the most requested feature on our campus.

danaleeling · ‎07-02-2023

Discussions/Announcements Redesign is still listed as a Feature Preview in Feature Options under Settings. The current roadmap makes no mention that I saw of Discussions/Announcement Redesign and the last post by an Instructure employee (former employee?) was almost two years ago on September 24, 2021. Enabling a feature preview that is still undergoing development does not seem prudent. Is work on this redesign now abandonware? The absence from the current roadmap seems to suggest that either this was delivered (but then why the "Feature preview" label?) or is no longer being worked upon. Or is this simply on a back burner while other areas are focused upon? Thanks for any clarity that can be provided!

TrinaAltman · ‎07-06-2023

@danaleeling I know at one point further work on the discussion redesign was back burnered (though it is available for admins to enable - we have it unlocked so instructors can use it if they wish, but our default is disabled). I noticed one of the prioritized themes that was announced in June included 'Improve the user experience with discussions to provide for more meaningful discourse among course participants'. I asked on that page if that work would be happening with the (classic) Discussion tool, or within the Discussion Redesign version. I haven't seen a response yet (I am hoping @TaraGoldman who posted the page can respond at some point), so I asked our CSM and he said the work should be happening in the Discussion Redesign tool. FWIW.

Trina

jsailor · ‎07-10-2023

Hi, @TrinaAltman and @danaleeling, what you've heard is correct. The team that was working on the discussion redesign was commissioned to work on the Letter Grade Only functionality that is on our current roadmap for Q3 delivery. With the voting complete and the Discussion Theme prioritized, the team will be turning back to work on discussions over the next several months. New functionality will be built within the redesign feature option. Please be on the lookout for additional information in the comments of the prioritized theme.

dbrace · ‎07-11-2023

Thank you for that update, @jsailor.

My institution has not enabled the discussion redesign yet (I played around with it a little bit when it was originally announced in beta) because there had not been much of any update on it.

Please (I understand that prioritizing projects is something that Instructure as a whole has been working on) try to encourage leadership to be more transparent ahead-of-time when a project is put on the back-burner.

Muddhatter · ‎07-27-2023

Is there any chance we will gain the ability to mass/bulk delete discussion threads? It is extremely tedious to do each thread one at a time.

I apologize if this has already been mentioned, I checked first and didn't see it anywhere, but admit I was quick scanning as I read.

Thank you in advance.

(fixed a typo)

rlbrown21 · ‎07-28-2023

@Muddhatter - really curious as to why you are deleting all the posts. When we copy a course the posts do not remain. And you could also close the discussion, then duplicate it. Duplicating the discussion should remove all posts as well. You could even just delete the original one after duplicating it.

Muddhatter · ‎07-28-2023

In my class where we explore contemporary rhetoric, students are often responsible for creating the discussion thread with a news story that was current at a particular moment in time, and when I copy the course it does keep those opening posts on the copied course. It becomes quite cluttered quickly and cleaning them up one at a time is tedious.

Other forums do offer a way of doing bulk deleting, and it seems like such a feature would be handy here as well.

Is there a reason we shouldn't be able to do this?

DrAJP · ‎11-06-2023

Hi @jsailor

How do I access / enable the Letter Grade Only functionality, please?

Thanks!

jsailor · ‎11-06-2023

Hi, @DrAJP,

You can see the instructions for turning this setting on here for the admin and here for the instructor in an individual course. Please note that this is actually called "Restrict View of Quantitative Data" as the "letter grade" is whatever is set in the grading scheme, which may not actually be set to specify letter grades.

DrAJP · ‎11-06-2023

Thank you, @jsailor.

DavidSchlater · ‎11-07-2023

I'm testing in Beta, and I see a "view split screen" button, but it does not do anything as far as I can tell. Do others have this same experience? The button gives me access to expand threads, which works, but I do not see any split-screen view that I can identify...

Jeff_F · ‎11-09-2023

@DavidSchlater after selecting the view split screen button then click a view replies link under one of the initial replies. That will open the split screen view.