[Speedgrader] Rich Text Editor in Speedgrader Comments

[CommunityTeam]

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas LMS

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Add the Rich Text Editor to the Comments section of Speedgrader.

"I want to recommend books, etc., or to properly format foreign words, and so on, and want to set the example, of course, of doing so properly.  Thank you"

"Instructors have told me they'd like formatting (bold, italic, colors) in the comment boxes in order to emphasize a statement without typing all caps (which seems like they're yelling at the students)."

"As an instructor in a virtual classroom I need to be able to make my communication with students richer to better get my points across.  Add rich text capabilities and allow me to make the Comment boxes larger while you are at it."

Transferred from the old Community

Originally Posted By: Joshua Shannon
Special thanks for contributions by: Teri Portman, Albert Turner

[Beth_Young]

I find myself needing to apologize for shouting at students, but CAPS LOCK IS THE ONLY OPTION I HAVE for distinguishing sections of text. If you add rich text formatting here, please include a strikethrough button along with bold, italics, underline.

[ula]

Along with the adding rich text options to the Speedgrader, add it to the "comments/model answer/correct answer explanation" option on quiz questions.  There's no way to format the question feedback comments. 

[dhulsey]

Not that I am opposed to this idea, but where would the RTE editor go in the Speedgrader? The current layout would need to be changed, I think, and I would want to see a mockup of that before getting excited about this.

[Stef_retired]

It would be very helpful if http:// and https:// text in the SpeedGrader comments were automatically converted into hyperlinks, just as they are in the Canvas Inbox. Currently when I provide students with resource links in the SpeedGrader, I have to tell them to copy and paste the text into the address bar of another tab or window.

 @dhulsey ​, for my particular use cases, I'd be happy with a limited RTE that allows for bold, italic, and of course, the aforementioned hyperlinks--for example, a list of shortcuts that allows us to use *bold* for bold in the comments field.

[dhulsey]

I agree, and the idea of keyboard shortcuts without the visual editor would be fine for my uses as well.

[mlattke]

In the K-12 realm, my teachers want this so they can put cutesy stuff in the feedback like clip art and emoticons.  That sounds like fluff, but it is one of the top things that I hear from teachers in the virtual environment.  Our other LMS lets teachers add HTML snippets and they embed all kinds of encouraging cuteness.  Giving comments that little extra oomph provides a little bit more incentive for students.

[Stef_retired]

That's a great point,  @mlattke ​. I don't teach K-12, but even in higher ed I still use keyboard emoticons. In our fully online environment they can humanize what otherwise might come across as stark text (and they can also be used to soften a blow). :smileysilly: <==See what I did there?

[Ron_Bowman]

Personally I would prefer to see a rich text editor anywhere you can type in a response.  Speed Grader is just one area. - conversation/email whatever would be a real improvement.

[Beth_Young]

Ronald, here's a link to a feature request about rich text editing in conversations: " modifiedtitle="true" title="Add rich-content editor to Conversations ​  I hope you vote for that, too!

[Ron_Bowman]

Beth -

Thanks for the information.  I had already voted for that one.  I put a comment somewhere that rich text editors should be available anywhere you can type in words.  They also need the editor to not take out html formatting that is put in by hand.  I have had html code look fine when I go back to the rich text editor (in asssignments).  After saving and viewing the page again, the html code that was there is no longer present.

Ron