Create an emoji button in the comment section of Speedgrader

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

Okay, I know it's going to get buried down here on the bottom, and it might be really silly BUT, I've mentioned this to a few other like minded teachers and they've all liked the idea.

 

In the far right part of the Speedgrader where you leave comments,

 

96521_emojibutton.jpgemojibutton.jpg

 

I want a little button next to the audio/video choice that if clicked would show: Emojis!

 

96522_emojiexamples.jpgemojiexamples.jpg

 

Think of how much typing you would save if you could just click and insert one or more than one of these bad boys/girls in a comment. It would also add the element of fun to something (feedback) that can feel stressful.

 

Not only that but, sociology professor Ben Agger at the University of Texas at Arlington, "says that the growth of emoticons says a lot about how we’re otherwise limited when communicating . “Emoticons bring the nuances of face-to-face or voice-to-voice interaction, those nuances and subtleties which are necessarily lacking when you’re interacting by way of the screen,” he says. “They attempt to make up for that alienation.”"

 

From the same BBC article "researchers are aware of emoticons’ social significance, and [they] have begun to investigate exactly how they can influence us during conversations. For example, one recent study found that using smiley face emoticons when delivering negative feedback to employees improved the chances of that feedback being accepted, so long as the feedback itself was specific. Other research found that students could be made more willing to participate in  classes when emoticons were used in  discussion groups.

52 Comments
cds
Community Novice

I just came searching for this exact idea. Emojis or stamps of various kinds in SpeedGrader would be excellent. 

cofegurl50
Community Novice

I would LOVE to see this feature in the comment section. It gets tedious having to right click to add an emoji, but having it quickly available would be great! Thank you so much for suggestion this. 

kkovarik
Community Member

It would be nice to have a few common symbols used for grading in the speedgrader.  Like a check mark, or an X.  I have been using the pencil tool for this, but when I use my computer and mouse, it is sloppy.

jsailor
Instructure
Instructure

Great news, everyone! This feature has been developed and will release to beta on Monday, March 21st and production on April 16th. Emojis will be available for instructors when providing students feedback through comments in SpeedGrader, the grade tray in Gradebook, and when responding to comments from students. Students will also have the ability to use emojis when adding a comment to their assignments or replying to feedback. Because not all users are eager to have this made available, we have made this a course level feature option, so instructors will need to ask their admin to enable at the account level in order to enable at their course level. Please watch our Canvas release notes and user guides for more details. 

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team
Status changed to: On Beta
  Comments from Instructure

 

For more information, please read through the Canvas Release Notes (2022-04-16)

KristinL
Community Team
Community Team
Status changed to: Completed
Comments from Instructure

 

For more information, please read through the Canvas Release Notes (2022-04-16) 

Nancy_Webb_CCSF
Community Champion

Hi @jsailor and @KristinL , this is a fun feature but we can't find a way to allow students/teachers to choose a skin tone.  That is very important to our diverse school.  Is there a way to choose a different color for the skin tone?

jsailor
Instructure
Instructure

Hi, @Nancy_Webb_CCSF,

Users can select their skin tone by clicking on the color button on the bottom right of the emoji tray. You can see it boxed in blue in the screenshot below. When clicked, the various skin tone options will show for selection. 

Emoji tray with skin tone selection highlightedEmoji tray with skin tone selection highlighted

 

 

Nancy_Webb_CCSF
Community Champion

Thank you @jsailor!

art_woodruff
Community Explorer

Having the smiley face in the text field so that you type over it is annoying. If we are going to have fun emoji's can we put the button not under a word I am typing? If the typing error happens on top of the emoji button, you can't fix it without clicking the button. It while typing, it disconcerting to me to have my word get lost in the smiley face every line.