Anonymous Discussion Forums

[scottdennis]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

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Idea:

Instructors can create discussions that allow for posts to be made anonymously

Use Cases:

As an instructor, I want to create discussions in which participation is anonymous. This would free my students to share their thoughts without worrying about judgement / criticism by their peers or me. They'd take risks they might not otherwise.

transferred from the old Community

Originally posted by: Lynn McCarty
Thank you especially for contributions by: Rob Ditto, Allison Pyle, Renee Carney, Robert Jones

[helene_tyrrell]

This is, in my view, an essential feature for a VLE. In my experience (teaching with Blackboard, Moodle and now Canvas), students are simply not as likely to ask the questions they need to if they have no option to be anonymous. Please review! 

[rlawyer]

Would someone from Instructure please be able to comment on the status of this request? I understand that Harmonize is available, but we would rather not have to use another integration for something that should be a basic feature of a discussion forum.

[cmuir]

Also here looking for an update.  I would love this feature, particularly with the "anonymous to other students, identified to instructor" option suggested by several others. 

[c_musselman]

Please please please add an anonymous option to Discussions. This is extremely important for some of the very sensitive subjects we'll all be working with in Fall 2020. I mean, it has always been important, but now it's crucial.

[lisa_fishburn]

This has over 700 votes now. Why is this not being actioned? We are losing this feature moving from Blackboard and our academic colleagues are asking for this in their droves. Allowing anonymous discussions often encourages those who may not engage if they are named, particularly when discussing sensitive topics.

Please add this feature soon. 

[tfjackso]

An essential feature for honest feedback or discussion threads where students might feel they have a "dumb question."

[mscarter]

I just wanted to add one more voice saying that there is continued interest to allow students to have the option to post anonymously to some Discussion threads.

[kjetil_monsen]

I support this idea. There are no workarounds in Canvas. The only options are to use Forms, either Office or Google. You could also use a third party service like Piazza og Padlet, preferably integrated in Canvas.

Ketil Monsen - VID

[apinto1]

Yes it a great idea, students sometimes don't want to ask a question as they may seem dumb to other students so anonymous would help

[j_a_boggs]

With posts requesting an anonymous posting feature dating back to 2015 (and there is reference to an older forum), I would really like to hear from the Canvas team why this feature is still not available.

Anonymous posting is a standard feature on many discussion forums, including clunky Blackboard. This is not a controversial issue; those who don't want it can simply not use it. I waste a ridiculous amount of time anonymising questions that students have emailed me and posting them to the board myself. The silence from Canvas on this issue is really making me angry. This is not a free service; our institutions pay a great deal for the platform.

Why are we still not given the ability to allow anonymous posts on the forums?