[Discussions] Elevate Logging of Discussion Edits

[froye001]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

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Problem statement:

There is a blind spot in the logging of discussion events. When a discussion post is edited, there is no record of that event in Canvas Pageviews or Live Events. The only evidence that a post was edited is a timestamp in the user interface of the most recent edit. Even though an edit is essentially a submission and can have grading implications, we have no intelligence from the logs as to when it occurred, what browser or device was used, from what IP address it was made, or whether it happened behind the masquerade feature.

Proposed solution:

Elevate the editing of discussion posts to a loggable event. Each time a user clicks Done after making changes to their initial reply to a Discussion Topic, log an event that shows in Pageviews, is emitted as a Live Event, and is recorded in Canvas Data. Canvas Data should also capture the state of the content at the moment it was saved. This will allow Admins to analyze learner behavior around Discussion Topics.

User role(s):

admin

[snoori]

I agree with this! Thank you for sharing this problem and proposed solution. 

I would also like to see this. Especially with large numbers of students, it becomes very difficult to track edits to discussion posts ESPECIALLY if they have already been graded. 

In addition to the idea above I would love it if:

1. Edits to discussion posts were reflected in the gradebook and appeared new submissions.
2. Additional posts made once a student was graded would appear in the gradebook as new submissions. 

Thank you for your consideration.

[ModeratorPanda]

Comments from Instructure

With the release of the Announcements/Discussion Redesign, the Product Team has identified this idea as Completed.

For more information, please read through the Canvas Release Notes (2024-07-20).