Interface Modifications:
This feature enhances the Canvas experience within Discussions. For individual discussion topics, the interface has been expanded for maximum space and to ensure responsive views. The following modifications have been made to individual topics:
- The toolbar has been moved to the top of the discussion and announcement thread.
- Newest replies display at the top of the first page instead of the bottom of the last page.
- Users can sort replies from newest to oldest, or oldest to newest.
- Users can also quickly move to the top of the discussion at any time.
Additional Functionality:
Role Labels
Discussion threads display a label for users with TA roles and Teacher (Instructor) roles. This feature helps students more quickly identify users with instructor-based roles in the course. Threads also include a label indicating the discussion or announcement author.
Reply Sidebar
A discussion reply can support up to one additional reply per student. When a reply includes additional replies (students commenting on other students' posts), the number of replies is displayed, as well as the number of unread replies (specific to the user viewing the reply). All replies are nested together and displayed in a sidebar on the right side of the screen.
Mentions
Users can mention other users in discussion replies by using the @ symbol. All available users in the course display in the drop-down menu.
Quotes
Users can quote other replies as part of their discussion reply. This only available by clicking the "Quote" button when replying to a reply.
Reply Reporting
Within individual discussions, replies can be reported by students and teachers. Teachers can choose to enable reporting in the Discussions Settings menu. Once enabled, all users can report replies by clicking the Settings menu (the three dots in the top right corner) for the reply and clicking the Report button. When a reply is reported by a user, the user must indicate why the reply is being reported (inappropriate, offensive and/or abusive, or Other). Reporting a reply cannot be undone. Once a reply has been reported, the Settings menu for the discussion will display to other users as Reported and cannot be selected again.
To be notified of reported replies, teachers can enable the Discussions Reported Reply notification in their account- or course-level notifications page. Email notifications include a direct link to the reply that has been reported.
Reporting a reply does not hide the reply; all replies are still visible to all users. However, teachers can choose to edit or delete the reported reply.
Note: Once a reply is reported, it will always display as Reported and cannot be cleared by teachers.
Anonymous Discussions
Discussions allow teachers to create anonymous discussions. This option displays when creating a new discussion for a course. By default this option is set to off.
When anonymity is turned on for a discussion, grading and groups are not supported.
When an anonymous discussion exists in the course, the Discussions page indicates anonymous discussions before a student opens the discussion.
Users with a teacher, TA, or designer role in the course will never be anonymous. However, student names and profile pictures are hidden from other course members, including teachers.
Feature Parity:
The following functionality has been included for parity with classic Discussions:
- Users must post before seeing replies
- Reply posts can be marked as read or unread
- Discussion time stamp edit display
- Multiple Due Dates (addition: individual student names are displayed instead of the total number of students)
- Available From and Until Dates
- Previous/Next buttons for Modules
- Group Discussions
- Peer Review
- Add to student to-do list