Allow Instructors to See Comments Not Sent to Whole Group

[nicole_stahl]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

We were recently notified by a student and an instructor that a student had left a comment on a group assignment, but the instructor could not see his comment in SpeedGrader. After investigating it appears that the student did not click the option to "Send Comment to the Whole Group."

The only way for the instructor to see the comment was if he went to the student's Grades page and viewed the submission details (the way that student's normally view feedback).

We were told that this was normal behavior for Canvas.

"It appears that if a student does not select the 'Send Comment to the Whole Group', it will never appear to the other students or to the teacher. That submission comment is only viewable to the student." "If the check box for share with the whole group is not checked the comment will not appear in SpeedGrader. However that is the correct functionality. If you were to check the assignment submission using moderate or click on the student then you would be able to view the submission with the comment attached. The reason for this is that it is only saved to the students submission."

Since an instructor is technically not part of any group, he/she should be able to view the student's comment even if they do not send it to the whole group. Also, a student is more likely to think that by not checking that option, it will only go to their instructor and not the rest of their group members. 

Comments from Instructure

For more information, please read through the https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-14130-canvas-production-release-notes-2018-02-17 

[Renee_Carney]

This idea has been developed and is On Canvas Beta How do I access the Canvas beta environment?

For more information, please read through the Canvas Beta Release Notes (2018-02-06) .

[cms_hickss]

You go  @nicole_stahl ‌! I remember opening this canvas ticket for you and now the fix is planned for the next Release! 

[nicole_stahl]

Thank you! I was really happy when I saw this listed on the Beta Release notes.

[RobDitto]

cms_hickss, I want to thank you for opening that ticket as well. Our institution's many Canvas Support tickets on this issue always resulted in the problematic behavior being labeled "intended functionality."  I'm glad yours led to a solution!

[Renee_Carney]

 @nicole_stahl   Thank you for submitting this idea, as well as, cms_hickss Thank You &  @RobDitto  Thank You  for your contributions. Your investment in this idea helped refine a feature which is now part of Canvas!