Upload an image directly to a discussion as a student

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

 

As a student, I want to be able to upload an image directly to a discussion. I can only do this today using a cludgy, two-step workaround: (1) upload the image to my personal files, then (2) use the content-picker in the discussion-response window to select the image from my files. Instructors can upload images directly to discussions. Students can upload images directly to other parts of Canvas. Seems odd that this use case requires a workaround.


transferred from the old Community
Originally posted by: Sunny Washington
Thank you especially for contributions by: T Beasley, Stefanie Sanders

Comments from Instructure

This is now completed for mobile and web.

For more information, please read through the following release notes:

Canvas Student Release Notes (iOS 6.3) 

Canvas Student Release Notes (Android 6.3) 

https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-15857-canvas-release-notes-2018-11-17 

204 Comments
laurakgibbs
Community Champion

Great,  @Jeff_F ‌! Since that was one that didn't get a group presentation, I wasn't 100% sure if it was a go or not. I am so glad that it is! I think that will DRAMATICALLY improve the engagement factor for discussions.

adam_zolkover
Community Participant

From my perspective, drag-and-drop, or something similarly simple, is essential. Many of our learners have been out of school for a while, and never used an LMS. But many have used some other kind of CMS (WordPress, Medium, etc.). Putting learners in a position where they not only have to understand the material in the course, but also gain an arcane set of Internet literacy skills creates a situation where item #2 interferes with item #1. Uploading should be transparent, so learners can concentrate on the assignment.

johnmartin
Community Champion

A not-great, but workable option, @adam_zolkover   that I've been messing with is embedding a wide-open Google Doc. Google Docs support copy/paste of images, so it's easy for students. It's not as elegant as a built-in solution though...

fvansaun
Community Participant

Hi,

I would like to add my voice to the conversation because I am really surprised that after two years this has still not been addressed. We are a design school, so sharing images is central to almost all of our courses. While I have created "Embedding Images in Discussions" PDF's and a video, which I distribute to courses where I know faculty are using the Discussion feature, in general faculty are under the impression that students are able to do things the same way they can, so I often get contacted by students or faculty that are completely frustrated or bewildered by the fact that faculty have had no success in guiding their students in embedding an image. When I explain the two step process for students I get complaints, and push back. We live in a drag and drop world, even the upload process is taxing these days, so two steps becomes tiresome very quickly.

Is there any update on the progress with this idea?

Best,

Freya

jannah_bismilla
Community Novice

This would be a great tool. thanks for the example @Kona Jones!

khirschmann1
Community Novice

How is it already August 2017 and this is still an issue?  Come on Instructure.  You already acknowledged this as the HIGHEST priority discussion feature, 2 years AGO!!!! 

momillard
Community Novice

Some potentially very good news on this long requested and awaited feature.  This feature is on the development priorities short-list for the next 6-months, so there is a good chance this is coming soon!

See related:  The Next 6 months of Canvas: Project Khaki (this is dated from late April-2017, and is part of the most recent project khaki).  See #7 on this list.  This feature references this Idea directly.

Best,

~Mark

james_wallerste
Community Novice

Why hasn't this feature been implemented yet? The FI was filed over two years ago, has 300 votes and an Oct. 2015 comment from one of the Canvas Dev staff was; "We recognize this as the highest priority Discussions request from our community and it's most definitely under consideration" and "...it might take a few DAYS to make it happen, including QA time, so it's not a massive project to implement."

Evidently, "days" was a typo and was meant to be YEARS! 

We live in a world of Facebook and Youtube. For that matter, every popular forums package since the Web became popular has had the functionality everyone here is begging for. IE: embedding images in posts. 

I am encountering this issue in a Fall 2017 class. I want all students to make an "Introducing Yourself" post with a photo of themselves embedded or other avatar. NO CAN DO! I do not want them to mess around with Flickr. After clicking "Embed Image," students see no options but to fill in a Flickr or other external URL. No built-in Canvas "Embed Image" functionality! I have that, as instructor, but not them. Embed Image" functionality needs to be TOGGLED ON for students, and should not require two years to accomplish!

steve_simpson
Community Novice

Go get 'em James!  Let's take a stroll down memory lane together.  Maybe we can do the same thing next year as well.  @scottdennis 

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scottdennis
Instructure
Instructure

If I could have one wish/feature enhancement this would take the cake.

I'm not an engineer but I can tell you that this is deceptively simple.  Several times over the years I've heard it announced that a fix is right around the corner only to have the same person come back and say that as they worked further into the issue there is actually something very big that would need to be changed in order to rectify the situation.  I still have hope, though.