Canvas Discussions Upgrade

The following message was emailed to instructors on 2/13/24

Dear Colleague,

New fixes and features are now in place to improve the functionality of Canvas’ Discussions. This update provides instructors and students with greater reliability and several new options when communicated through this tool.

Video and images

Important behind-the-scenes fixes now allow threads to contain more images and videos without generating errors.

Cleaner interface

The new interface now displays the poster’s role in the course (e.g., Teacher) and makes the Reply button more obvious.

Expanded toolbar

You can now expand or hide all replies, view all unread replies, or sort replies from newest to oldest or from oldest to newest.

View all of a student’s posts

You can now search discussions by student, which will display all posts made by that student.

Split screen

You now have the option to view posts inline or as a split screen.

@Mentions

You can now mention other users in discussions by using the @ symbol.

Quotes

You can now include quotes from previous messages in your replies.

Reporting function

You can now allow students to report posts that are inappropriate, offensive, or abusive.

Until July 2004, instructors may continue to use the previous version of Discussions. To revert to the old view, go to the desired course and select Settings > Feature Options > Discussion/Announcements Redesign, click the check mark, and select “Disabled.”