Improve Student DocViewer Comment View/Accessibility

Idea created by Doug Showley on Aug 12, 2016

Comment • 23

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Students are limited to a miniature window through which to view what can be some detailed teacher comments on written assignments using the SpeedGrader CrocDoc function. To see comments teachers have written using the red pointing arrow on the document itself, students must shift the miniature window while following the yellow dotted line to the actual comment that is positioned in the far margins of the document. And they must do it all while reading what amounts to 5-point fonts. Students cannot maximize this small screen. Downloading the document as an "annotated PDF" does no good either. The "annotations" include only the red arrows, but no comments.

This idea was considered when developing our product plan for Q4 2019 and is not expected to influence development within Canvas at this time.
This idea will remain open for vote.
If this idea is in the top 10% by vote next cycle it will be reconsidered.

Read more about the feature idea process:
Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes
How does the feature idea process work in the Canvas Community?
What is the feature development process for Canvas?

23 Comments

jordan@instructure.com Aug 15, 2016 11:14 AM
Thank you for your Feature Idea submission. We wanted to call your attention to the following ideas which were submitted in different voting periods, but archived for a variety of reasons:

Download Assignment Comments and Completed Rubrics
Provide the option to download "text comments" for graded "Speed Grader" papers
Make Speedgrader Crocodoc Annotations Easier to Read for Students
Crocodoc annotations need to open in full window.

Since archived ideas can be re-submitted, your idea will be open for vote in the next voting cycle.

In the meantime, help your idea gain traction by posting a link to this idea in the comments of the other, archived idea (which will notify author and anyone who is following the idea) and share your idea to colleagues and peers as well.
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Lauren Pfister Sep 8, 2016 11:31 AM
I have to say: I was a little angry when I realized how hard it is for students to see feedback on their papers, and I am 100% convinced I have spent HOURS adding comments to the margins or in their rubrics that they have never once seen. Even though I consider myself very Canvas fluent, I had no idea they weren't seeing what I was seeing in Speedgrader. I literally had to experiment on one of their computers and then train them to follow all of the clicks to see their feedback. I have college-bound seniors, and even they didn't know what to do to get to their feedback. After a few clicks, they got the little box with their document that requires constant scrolling or a tiny font. They also have to click on the comment bubbles in their rubric to see any of that feedback as well. There are too many steps, they aren't even obvious steps, and the whole thing is silly! I really hope this idea gets some traction, and I can't believe previous postings of the same idea have gone nowhere. There have got to be other frustrated users as well!
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- crafte@easternflorida.edu @ Lauren Pfister on Sep 8, 2016 10:57 AM
  It is not only difficulty for students to find the feedback but after downloading the paper (not very intuitive either) they will need to open the file in Adobe Reader to see the instructor's comments. If they immediately click on the file after downloading, the paper will open in the browser and this view does not show the instructors comments. Printing the comments is only possible if the student clicks on 'Summarize Comments' and they set the printing properties to include markups (Adobe Reader > printing dialog box). This process needs to be greatly simplified so students can benefit from the comments.
  I am including Instructional Designers and K-12 to hopefully gather some more support for this idea. Maybe someone can offer a workaround.
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  - Doug Showley @ crafte@easternflorida.edu on Sep 8, 2016 11:57 AM
    Really appreciate your support of this issue, Elisabeth. It’s a confounding shortcoming of Canvas for sure.
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- jthoms@stanford.edu @ Lauren Pfister on Sep 12, 2016 2:34 PM
  I have heard this feedback from quite a few instructors. The thought that students are not seeing feedback that it takes so much time to craft is a pretty big deficiency.
  So big, that I actually think this idea should be expanded to a full consideration of the workflow and interface for students receiving feedback. The small window does not help, but the findability of feedback could also use work.
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Renee Carney Sep 7, 2016 9:03 AM
This idea has moved to the next stage and will be open for voting among the Canvas Community, from Wed. September 7, 2016 - Wed. December 7, 2016.
Check out this doc for additional details about how the voting process works!
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Yolanda Santiago Venegas Sep 9, 2016 1:33 PM
I teach English and like Canvas overall, yet so far I think what needs the most improvement is the the Instructor feedback part. I want to give feedback right on Canvas yet the current feedback options are limiting and a bit slow
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Erin Breaux Sep 27, 2016 7:04 PM
Please improve this feature. It is absolutely ridiculous how difficult it is for students to see feedback. Instructors should also be able to bulk download the annotated student files, not only their original documents as it now stands. In fact, as previous suggestions have pointed out--the downloaded version should also include the rubric and rubric comments if it existed for the assignment. Why is it SO difficult to have comments/feedback easily seen by students and easily archived by instructors?
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Zeyi Wang Sep 29, 2016 9:44 PM
I agree that this is the most needed improvement of Canvas.
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Sherry Rind Oct 2, 2016 5:57 PM
Instructors have been asking for years for easier student access to comments and notations made via Crocdoc. Canvas is still taking votes. When will something happen?
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Paul Kim Oct 11, 2016 12:26 PM
Is there anything we can do to help expedite this improvement process?

Paul Kim, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer & Assistant Dean
Stanford University Graduate School of Education
520 Galvez Mall #3001
Stanford, CA 94305
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Johan Graus Dec 7, 2016 9:08 AM
I really find it quite difficult to understand why this issue has not been resolved yet. We spend so much time giving feedback on students' work expecting them to use it when revising their assignments, but what's the use if (1) it's difficult to find the annotations to start with; (2) once they have located it, they're unable to read it because it's in a miniature window; (3) the work-around (downloading an annotated PDF) is not very user-friendly and often does not even display correctly on many devices.

Come on, Canvas. This shouldn't be so difficult! And pointing to Crocodoc is a bit of a cop-out. You're responsible for your product regardless of whether you use third-party technology.
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Doug Showley Dec 7, 2016 10:29 AM
I agree with Johan Graus's point above. @Chrisi Wruck, could you please assure us that Canvas is demanding that CrocDoc improve such a deficient feature, especially considering the number of users who took the time to Vote Up and the many who so convincingly commented here on why it's a fix that must be made?
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Susan Nugent Jun 5, 2017 12:49 PM
Christi Wruck Can you give us an update on this feature request since the new Doc Viewer tools have been announced? Will there be future updates that improves the student experience?
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- cwruck @ Susan Nugent on Sep 8, 2017 4:07 PM
  Yes Susan Nugent! We are working on that right now, actually! The Submission Details page will soon get a light upgrade that will make it much easier for students to immediately see feedback.
  We're also going to be debuting a feature soon that highlights instructor feedback on the dashboard a bit more.
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Joel Shaver Jun 6, 2017 3:42 PM
This discussion has a lot in common with Making feedback more visible to students, which has been an ongoing discussion about the SpeedGrader window. I would definitely like to know whether the student view and the instructor view will be more similar in Doc Viewer.
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Renee Carney Sep 11, 2017 4:46 PM
Doug Showley
Your idea is very specific to the layout and fonts that were used in Crocodoc. Have you had a chance to explore the new DocViewer to see if your concerns were addressed? How do I view annotation feedback comments from my instructor directly in my assignment submission?
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- Doug Showley @ Renee Carney on Sep 16, 2017 7:14 AM
  I just recently used the new comment features in CrocDoc. They are MUCH improved, both from my and the student's perspective. Thank you!
  
  Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
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Joel Shaver Oct 23, 2017 3:59 PM
The full-screen option helps a lot! But it's still pretty hard to actually find the feedback in the first place (even possibly with the guidance you linked, Renee. It's hard to find the "view feedback" link and fullscreen links on even a medium-small standard (1280x1024) monitor, as you can see in these screen shots:

You'd have to know to scroll right in the iframe to see the View Feedback button here

Too many scrollbars, and no obvious fullscreen option. Most of my students would just close this and back away.
Thanks for the improvements! Keep 'em coming!
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- Erin Hallmark @ Joel Shaver on Jan 23, 2018 5:22 PM
  Hey, Joel!
  Our product team hasn't forgotten about this idea and are trying to prioritize it as quickly as they can. Since you've left this comment, our team has made small changes to try and improve the current experience; the View Feedback button is also more prominently placed so that students can find it regardless of their browser size, and DocViewer itself just got some additional updates that may help them, too. Just wanted to let you know!
  Thanks,
  Erin
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  - Joel Shaver @ Erin Hallmark on Sep 6, 2018 3:50 PM
    Hi Erin,
    I finally got a chance to check out the improvements. It definitely looks like it works a bit better. I like how the link position is adjusted when the window is resized. On a large screen, the link can look a bit lost:
    
    I still wish students didn't have to make the extra click, and that they got something that just looked like the SpeedGrader as soon as they clicked the assignment in their gradebook. As it is, when they click the assignment name, they get a title, a grade, a time of submission, and instructor comments on the far right side. There is a lot of empty white space. When they click "View Feedback," they get a preview of their file surrounded by a lot of unnecessary gray space. What prevents the white space from being replaced by a Doc Viewer view? Why the extra click? Also, from the point of view of Instructure, why maintain two separate interfaces for viewing and leaving feedback when the SpeedGrader view is far superior and would work great as is for students?
    
    Anyway, thanks again for keeping this updated.
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Renee Carney Sep 5, 2018 12:46 PM
The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process. You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities. This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.
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Naomi Pariseault Jan 11, 2019 3:16 PM
I do hope that a better experience is implemented for students to view document mark-ups and comments. The instructor/TA view is effective when adding comments/annotations using the DocViewer mark-up options. The student experience should be parallel and as seamless. It's so hard when students have to side-scroll left and right to match up what they wrote in their assignment to the comment on the right-hand side. It would be great to have a true full-screen view or a pop-out window option.
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