Ability to Save and Copy from Frequently Used Comments in Speedgrader/Crocodoc

Idea created by Joshua Herron on May 15, 2015

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It would be a great timesaver for writing instructors and anyone else making many of the same comments to students on assignments to save and store comments in SpeedGrader/Crocodoc as one is able to do in Turnitin's Grademark feature. This feature would help SpeedGrader really live up to its name, too.

This has been a request since August 2012: Ability to Save and Copy from Frequently Used Comments in Crocodoc : Help Center

Comments from Instructure

January 2016 update from Christi Wruck

Hey Folks!
I hope you noticed our new status. "Under Consideration". It means, we think this is a good idea and despite the fact that we can't get this done in the next 6 months, we're looking for ways to squeeze it in sometime in the future. We'll be working on some designs, will probably have questions for you at some point, and will be hoping some of you on this chain will want to participate in some user testing to make sure we're on the right track to solving this problem. Stay tuned!

46 Comments

bowmanr@uah.edu May 15, 2015 8:25 AM
Joshua Herron -
That would be a really nice feature. In ANGEL it wasn't too much of a hassle because you had all of the comments available - you just had to find them and copy them. I have not used Turnitin's Grademark, but having a list of past comments that I could click on would greatly improve my ability to grade assignments quickly.

As an extension of this request (and to make the developer think - if it gets that far) would be for the list of comments to be available to all instructors/grading assistants for that course. I teach a course where I sit down with the TA's to perform the grading across all lab sections in an attempt to make the grading uniform. so having the bank of comments available to myself and the TA's would be a tremendous help.
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Robert Jones May 15, 2015 8:47 AM
You could have it that it is linked to either the course or the user?
The question I have would be whether you as a marker might want to share these comments with either other markers on the course or to other assignments in the course?
I can see the benefit of sharing common comments across multiple assignments
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- bowmanr@uah.edu @ Robert Jones on May 15, 2015 9:17 AM
  Robert Jones
  Your comments are a good expansion on this subject. I had not thought about making comments available from one assignment to another assignment. I could use something like that in my course as well.. For me having the comments linked to the course would be fine. A more interesting approach would be to create a comment bank as an individual user that I could use when grading any assignment for any course.
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  - jordan@instructure.com @ bowmanr@uah.edu on May 15, 2015 4:24 PM
    Great discussion Ron Bowman Robert Jones and Joshua Herron. I like how this idea is developing! We will put it up for community voting on June 3rd so be sure to "bookmark" and return to this idea so you can vote it up!
    
    If any of you weren't aware, we have a redesign of Canvas Studio: Speedgrader 2.0 on our roadmap if you'd like to chime in over there. This might be a feature Christi Wruck is interested in discussing further as we get closer to Speedtrater 2.0 ;-)
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    - Christi Wruck @ jordan@instructure.com on Jun 10, 2015 12:55 PM
      In our Speedgrader 2.0 research we've heard the request for a comment bank quite often. It's a pretty big undertaking, but we're exploring the idea for inclusion in Speedgrader 2.0. It may, however, end up being more like Speedgrader 2.1. It really depends on how much we can get included in the scope for 2.0. Suffice it to say, we know this is a really important feature that could be very helpful when it comes to saving instructors time. And I LOVE saving instructors time!
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  - Alexander McCormick @ bowmanr@uah.edu on Aug 26, 2015 9:09 AM
    The last idea is definitely what I had in mind. Ideally with a facility for the user to organize comments in a way that makes sense to her/him to facilitate access (eg by course, by assignment, by comment type, or any combination of these).
    a comment bank as an individual user that I could use when grading any assignment for any course
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Kristin Lundstrum May 21, 2015 7:24 AM
Right now I have a Google Doc with common comments I make for my students. Copy + Paste has been helpful, but having them built in per-course would be wonderful.
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- Jill Nissen @ Kristin Lundstrum on Mar 29, 2016 7:40 PM
  This is how I handle it as well, but I agree with Kristin Lundstrum that it would be wonderful to have the comments built in to Canvas.
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Alexander McCormick Jun 16, 2015 10:25 AM
I agree that having a comment bank would really speed grading of student papers. I'm told BB has such a feature and really hope to see it in Canvas.
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dahlj1@charlottesvilleschools.org Jun 18, 2015 1:25 PM
This would be a great buy in factor for hesitant teachers. The simplier the tool the more likely we will get teachers to use it.
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Shane Lindsay Aug 12, 2015 2:40 AM
This is essentially the same asCreate a Canvas version of QuickMarks by Joel Mills
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- ccalderon@ewu.edu @ Shane Lindsay on Aug 24, 2015 3:39 PM
  Sadly, that one died on the vine with only 11 votes - let's keep this one alive!
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ccalderon@ewu.edu Aug 24, 2015 3:29 PM
Here's another great idea to save from the chopping block - only 13 votes needed before Tuesday! This is one of the best features of Turnitin's GradeMark. Going to reach out to my co-workers to vote this one up - let's make it happen!!
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Kelley L. Meeusen Aug 24, 2015 3:59 PM
Joshua:

There is a great product (free - that's what makes it great!) that you can use in the interim. It's called TypItIn, and it can be found here: Downloads | Wavget

It is the professional version that is free.

Check it out.
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Emanuela Pokryfki Aug 25, 2015 11:19 AM
I think that it would be very helpful and time efficient having a text box where we could place feedback.
In Moodle there was a box called "Answer for Grader" which is a text box in which a teacher can write general or commonly used answer, not visible to student, but visible to the teacher at the time of grading, and it can be copied and pasted in the comment box for providing a feedback to a student.
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ccalderon@ewu.edu Aug 25, 2015 2:48 PM
Ron Bowman, Jill Dahl, Alexander McCormick, Kristin Lundstrum, Robert Jones - Only need 2 more votes to make the cut! Any bushes that can be beat to drum up some votes...?? Mixed metaphors aside, can we tap on a couple more shoulders to get those last two votes in?
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- Alexander McCormick @ ccalderon@ewu.edu on Aug 25, 2015 4:45 PM
  Thanks Crista Calderon, I'll send something around to colleagues. Not sure any of them are registered in the community but it's worth a try.
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- Kristin Lundstrum @ ccalderon@ewu.edu on Aug 25, 2015 2:53 PM
  Hi Crista Calderon ~ I've forwarded this link to a few people in my building. They should follow through before the end of the day.
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ccalderon@ewu.edu Aug 26, 2015 8:44 AM
Yay - we did it!
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- Alexander McCormick @ ccalderon@ewu.edu on Aug 26, 2015 8:57 AM
  Thanks for your advocacy and "nudging" Crista Calderon!
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Joseph Berry Aug 27, 2015 9:30 AM
Another vote here from the University of Birmingham - this has been a major wish of our faculty
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Jane Cartwright Aug 27, 2015 11:55 AM
To take this one step further...
In Angel within the HTML editor there was an "enable macros" button. One of our instructors used macros to create comments, images, and motivational feedback for each assignment. She would have several options for each assignment depending on how well the student did that she could easily pop into the comments area when grading an assignment.
The content from these macros were stored in the personal files area of Angel.

I believe that to do something like this would require Canvas to add the HTML editor to the comments area of speedgrader with a linkage to personal files.

This was a great feature that helped our instructors to grade quickly, effectively and oftentimes motivationally offering the same quality of comment to the first student who was graded as well as the last student (even when she had 100 assignments to grade in one sitting!)
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- Tammy Searle @ Jane Cartwright on Sep 3, 2015 2:45 PM
  Thank you for your post!
  We just got Canvas this term so we are new kids on the block; but I heard this comment from 2 faculty just today. Pretty much word for word:
  "would require Canvas to add the HTML editor to the comments area .." they want to be able to insert images ---for math, comp. sci. feedback.
  
  So, I am anxious to see where this feature request goes...
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- CASSANDRA BILYEU @ Jane Cartwright on Sep 19, 2016 10:49 AM
  I would also like to see a feature in which we could use something like D2L has, where I can type in a %StudentName% and it will include their name automatically.
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Jennifer Summers Aug 28, 2015 2:09 PM
We have been asking for this for 3 years!!

In theory, the Turnitin LTI allows you to use the GradeMark comment banks, but the LTI doesn't work correctly in our account so it isn't helping us yet. .
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Renee Carney Oct 16, 2015 12:41 PM
This idea is now Under Consideration. Find out more about the idea stages at What is the feature development process for Canvas?
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Christi Wruck Oct 16, 2015 1:38 PM
Hey Folks!
I hope you noticed our new status. "Under Consideration". It means, we think this is a good idea and despite the fact that we can't get this done in the next 6 months, we're looking for ways to squeeze it in sometime in the future. We'll be working on some designs, will probably have questions for you at some point, and will be hoping some of you on this chain will want to participate in some user testing to make sure we're on the right track to solving this problem. Stay tuned!
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Stefanie Sanders Nov 20, 2015 6:38 AM
I hope this will become implemented, as it will be a true time saver, eliminating a lot of repetitive tasks. While we're in the wait-and-see mode, I'll share a few ways I address this need:
- I've compiled my frequently used comments for various assignments on Sticky Notes (a Windows app) that I can then copy and paste as needed into the SpeedGrader comment box.
- The free program PhraseExpress (also for Windows) can learn your frequently used comments and prompt you to select them from a list after you type the first few words.
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- Kelley L. Meeusen @ Stefanie Sanders on Jan 7, 2016 1:52 PM
  Stephanie:
  
  I also use a free tool called TypeItIn. But how cool would it be to have that feature built in. Big thanks to Christi Wruck for cluing us in!
  
  klm
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  - Jared Stein @ Kelley L. Meeusen on May 26, 2016 5:37 PM
    I love this idea because it's motivated by a desire to increase the amount of meaningful feedback that we give to students.
    In the meantime, I'll echo support for Stefanie Sanders' suggestion that you try text expander software. These tools make it easier to call up pre-written text anywhere. Many of these rely on keyboard shortcuts or abbreviations.
    
    Stefanie Mentioned PhraseExpress; Kelly mentioned TypeItIn. I've used aText on the Mac for a while, and I've heard TypeIt4Me is good, too.
    
    There are also some built for browsers, too: I haven't used these yet, but AutoTextExpander and ProKeys are both highly rated on the Chrome app store.
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- Emily Frank @ Stefanie Sanders on Mar 16, 2017 1:48 PM
  Stefanie Sanders I like your idea of "sticky notes" and text expander software. I will have to suggest these alternatives to faculty. Thank you!
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Jessica Farris Jan 7, 2016 12:12 PM
I agree that this sounds like a wonderful feature! I love having places to store comments! I also suggested an idea for another place to store feedback. A Place to Store Sample Feedback for Essay Questions Please check it out! Thank you Jordan Dayton for sharing this idea! So innovative!
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Peter Concannon Jan 17, 2016 8:01 AM
We need to replace Crocodoc. Someone from Canvas wrote to me saying that Canvas has no power or influence over Crocodoc. At the moment, Crocodoc is useless to me, causing me to do an elaborate workaround with Turnitin. I explain the problem below:

I never use Crocodoc for a simple reason: I can't pre-make and store comments that I can drag onto a student paper. This seems an obvious measure, and one that Turnitin has supplied for years. I can provide vastly more feedback, with links to help, using the TII drag and drop.

I have tried using Turnitin within Canvas but invariably, some papers will not load properly, even though I have carefully restricted file types to those doc, docx, pdf. And, in fact, the ones TII cannot process in Canvas are usually Word documents, and they run fine if I download them and upload them into standalone TII. In student papers for which TII in Canvas won't work, I have to open the paper in Crocodoc (and I have several times contacted our Canvas staff with no resolution). I also cannot see who has viewed comments on a paper in TII running within Canvas (as opposed to standalone TII, where I can). And inside Canvas, I have to import all my Quickmarks and rubrics for each course. End result: because of these problems, chiefly the inability to drag and drop comments in Crocodoc, I have students sign up for Turnitin in standalone mode, so students have to do two log-ins, and I have to enter grades twice, once in TII and once in Canvas. More complexity, more problems.

So, if Crocodoc would at least let me drag and drop comments, it would become more useful, perhaps enough so that I would be able to drop standalone Turnitin. At the moment, Crocodoc is really not even what I would call functional for me.

Since Canvas says it has no power or influence over Crocodoc, Canvas needs to build its own system to replace Crocodoc, adding what seems like a self-evident feature of dragging and dropping stored comments.
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Jill Nissen Mar 29, 2016 7:49 PM
Once this is implemented, it would also be nice if we could see for a course/section how often we have used a particular comment, e.g. how often am I referring students to the tutoring center or the Purdue OWL website for APA citations?
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johnpj Mar 31, 2016 9:32 AM
Those interested in commenting functionality may also be interested in: Import Grade Comments
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jonathan.cowan@sno.wednet.edu Sep 16, 2016 8:40 AM
Here's a little mock up I did of what the UI could maybe look like?
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- Alexander McCormick @ jonathan.cowan@sno.wednet.edu on Sep 18, 2016 1:01 PM
  Thanks Jonathan. I assume the idea is that one would scroll through a comments box and drag the selected item into "Assignment Comments." Quick reactions:
  If the box shows only one line per banked comment, this may not provide enough information to identify the comment. If you stick with this design you may need a preview area or a popup that displays the full comment.
  Folks with a large comment bank will probably want to be able to organize their comments in some way, so what you may need is first a "comment type" or "comment topic" box that will then zero in on the relevant subset.
  For my purposes, I want the ability to attach comments to a particular section of a paper that I'm grading in Speedgrader/Crocodoc, and not as an overall comment attached to the assignment as envisioned here. But the proposed design may work OK for other users.
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  - jonathan.cowan@sno.wednet.edu @ Alexander McCormick on Sep 19, 2016 8:03 AM
    Hey Alex,
    I don't work for Canvas or anything. That was just an imaginary mock up of how I'd envision using it. I agree, if not enough of a given comment were showing, that would be less than ideal. And having custom ways to organize comments on the back end would be really helpful, I agree. As for comments within speedgrader, I look at those as one form of feedback, that can do some good things, but certainly can't replace embedded comments within a document. I rely on feedback embedded in Word Online documents in my class, for example. Thanks for the props on the idea and insightful follow up ideas!
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    - Alexander McCormick @ jonathan.cowan@sno.wednet.edu on Oct 7, 2016 9:27 AM
      Thanks Jonathan, I realized that shortly after I posted. But hopefully my comments may help if it gets to the design phase. I also rely on embedded comments, which I generally do in Speedgrader/Crocodoc (I'm not sure which is which but I think it's the latter). I assume any facility for this in Canvas will be limited to activity that goes on inside the Canvas environment. (Maybe there's a way to do this with Word Online. I'm still a rookie with Canvas.)
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Jeff Miller Oct 6, 2016 4:18 PM
Yes - I would love to see this implemented!
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Ann Blackman Dec 9, 2016 9:20 AM
Are there any updates on this project? I am SO anxious to have a feature like this. Thanks in advance.
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Allison Venuto Dec 9, 2016 5:18 PM
I would love a frequent comment section.
Currently, I've created a section at the bottom of the rubric (no points) where I can click on the comment I want.
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Renee Carney Feb 10, 2017 12:57 PM
This idea was moved from Under Consideration stage (no longer in use) to the Product Radar stage.
This change was made as part of a feature idea process evolution. Find more information, and contribute insights, by joining Focus Group: DRAFT Feature Idea Space.
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Emily Frank Mar 16, 2017 1:46 PM
I could see this feature getting lots of use at our college. Faculty use SpeedGrader all the time and often reuse the same comments over and over. Faculty love SpeedGrader but this feature would make them use it and love it even more.
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Patrick Bailey Apr 17, 2017 3:05 PM
There's a January 2016 comment informing us to "stay tuned." Is there an update regarding this feature?
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Sterling Worrell Jun 12, 2017 11:45 AM
Great idea. I used to use "auto Text Expander" for this but it quit working on Chrome. To have this functionality in Canvas would be nice.
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Ability to Save and Copy from Frequently Used Comments in Speedgrader/Crocodoc

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