Discussion Sorting

[dm200400600]

Hi all, hopefully an easy one. A Teacher would like to setup polling via a forum using "Likes" as the voting mechanism. I thought this would be fairly easy to do but having gone into the Discussion Settings I can't find the "Sorting" option highlighted in Guides: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-view-and-sort-discussion-replies-as-an-...

In the guide below it explains: "The discussion may also be set up to sort automatically according to the number of likes".

This isn't happening and the settings option is not there? Is there something else that needs turning on? I've added a screenshot and understand that there should be a "Sort by likes" option?  

[chriscas]

Hi @dm200400600,

I can't find a way to sort by likes either.  I've used the feedback button on the bottom of that page to let the team know there may be an issue with the guide (or perhaps something is actually broken in Canvas).

-Chris

[ircroft]

This must have just happened.  I reuse my discussion assignments each year and they had the setting to "Sort by Likes".  I had a discussion on 12/15/2022 and the replies are still sorted by the number of likes as set in the discussion options.  However, the checkbox is no longer there (as provided by @dm200400600) when editing the same discussion or new discussions.  Did an update happen and this was taken out or accidentally bugged out?

The screenshot attached was posted on 11/29/2022 on: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-allow-students-to-like-replies-in-a-cou...

However, it was for announcements(?).  It looked exactly likes this in a Discussion just a month ago.

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

Hi @ircroft , the documentation you linked to is about Announcements rather than discussions.  Other teachers are remembering that sort by likes was available in discussions, but it doesn't appear to be there any longer.

The documentation about liking in discussions doesn't show the choice for sorting by likes.  How do I allow students to like replies in a discussion - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

[dm200400600]

This is odd, the link to the guide I posted no longer has a screenshot of "sort by likes" I'm sure it was there or else I wouldn't have referenced it (has this been changed?) I've also found more than one source that does appear to indicate "Sort by likes" was an option for discussions. Having never used it I'm not sure if this was just an option for Teachers or any user. 

It is odd that no one seems to know A) If this was possible with discussions in the first place B) if it was it appears to have gone.

Anyhow, here is an external guide that seems to indicate it was possible at some point to sort Discussion forum likes, it also has a screenshot of the setting: https://casitc.uncg.edu/canvas/polling/  

[Chris_Hofer]

Good morning, @dm200400600 ...

If you go to How do I view and sort discussion replies as an instructor?, do you see a three-dot kebab icon near the top right side of the page (just above the "Quick Links" button)?  If so, click on the three dots, and there is a "View History" option (at least there is for me).  You can then "View old history" to see old versions of this Guide.  (I think you need to click on the date, and the version of the Guide appears below it.)  You should be able to do this with pretty much any Guide here in the Community.

All that being said, I don't think the Guide you and I have linked to above is the correct Guide to be looking at.  Instead, I think you'd want to be looking at this Guide:

How do I allow students to like replies in a discussion?

When I view the edit history of this Guide, it appears that the "Sort by likes" check-box was removed on February 15, 2023.  I looked at past revisions as well, and "Sort by likes" was there on January 19, 2023...but then it was removed a month later.

Unless I am missing something, I'm not seeing any mention of this being removed in any of the latest Canvas Release Notes or the Canvas Deploy Notes.  🤔☹️

• Canvas Release Notes 2023-01-21 - Instructure Community
• Canvas Release Notes (2023-02-18) - Instructure Community
• Canvas Deploy Notes (2023-01-18) - Instructure Community
• Canvas Deploy Notes (2023-02-01) - Instructure Community
• Canvas Deploy Notes (2023-02-15) - Instructure Community

I'll see if I can contact somone from the Documentation Team at Instructure to see if I can find out why this was removed and not mentioned anywhere.  Stay tuned.

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

Hi Chris, you are very thorough as always!  Somehow View History is not available to me, perhaps my browser security is blocking it.  Using the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine I saw that sorting by likes was in the documentation on Jan 1 2023, and by end of February it was gone.  The feature could have been removed before the documentation was changed, sometime it takes a while esp. if it was not an intended change.  Checking Nov and Dec updates, nothing particularly affects discussions. There is a change in feedback placement in Grades, and liking might be considered feedback, but that's a stretch.  I hope the documentation team gets back to you to with information about this mystery.

[DanielLUnowsky]

Back in the Fall 2022 semester, this "sort by likes" was an option--this allowed the instructor to effectively pin their own post to the top by clicking allow likes, only grader can like, and then sort by likes. By then posting, liking, and sorting by likes, your post would then pop to the top. This was removed, and Canvas simply will not provide any explanation as to why that was removed or any option that would give the same functionality. This seems a major flaw in Canvas discussions.

[DanielLUnowsky]

There seems to be no way to sort discussions by likes or otherwise, nor is there a setting that would allow the instructor to highlight or pin a specific post (one's one summary post, for example) to the top of a discussion so all students would see that prominently. Both of these features would be invaluable. 

[dm200400600 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the detail Daniel, and everyone who has replied. This is a shame its gone.

I think there is an issue with documents changing. Maybe a case of documents not keeping up with changes. I get that, it happens, but not flagging it anywhere and relying on delving into History (good tip however) does put you on the back foot and you start to lose faith in documents you link to others for support and training. 

It should also be in release notes but I don't mind that so much in that it not being a feature I'd ever used I wouldn't have thought to check those retrospectively to see the status of the feature.

Thanks all...the "Bring back Sort by Likes!" campaign starts now, lol.

[pecchiog]

I have multiple teachers who used this functionality and are scrambling because it's gone. They had built this into the online discussion component of their exam. 

[gregtew]

Canvas killed my way of engaging students when they eliminated Sort by Likes, and I have started a campaign to bring it back. I typically have about 4,000 students a semester and with 1,000s of posts to each discussion I was able to comment on 6-10 posts - within the student's post using the edit tool - and by Liking that post and activating Sort by Lifkes, my comments on key posts kept them on the first page of posts. 

My students are now inundating Canvas using the Report a Problem feature to try and get Sort by Likes back. 

The attached file shows how I highlight and add comments within a student's post to keep my comments linked to a post. The use of color makes it very clear that I am engaged in the conversation. (I ask the students to leave highlighting and color for me.) At the bottom of the attached file there is an illustration created by a custom add-on tool we created to show how much back-and-forth engagement happens. Previously, a bunch of energy and discussion built around key posts. Now there is essentially no discussion, just a quick reply to the first available post to earn credit.

[dm200400600]

Hi Greg, 

Thanks for the comment on this issue. I'm replying as it would be great to know more about your datavis you had in the attached file. If you're able it would be great to know how this was created, the tool and mechanism for getting the data out of Canvas and displayed.

So my comment stays on topic. It seems "sort by likes" has been removed due to lack of use that i don't think is an adequate justification as surely the resource required to keep and update it must have been minimal. But regardless, after speaking with out Service Manager some time ago on an unrelated matter it seems the only realistic way to lobby for the return of this feature is to find DanielLUnowsky feature request and as as many platform users as possible to upvote it.

[Naomi]

Hello! Apologies for the confusion. The Sort by Likes option was removed in the December 20, 2022 deploy due to low usage. We're currently working on updating those notes to reflect the change. 

[gregtew]

"The Sort by Likes option was removed in the December 20, 2022 deploy due to low usage."

Sort by Likes was still an option in the Spring 2024 semester. It was critical to my teaching. Without it, there is no way to keep the most relevent/insightful posts on the first page of posts. In the new format, my current discussion has 91 pages of posts and the posts I have commented on are buried somewhere in that massive haystack. Students are not sufficiently motivated to search my name to read the few comments I offer to the class. Now almost no post ever receives more than one reply when in the past the posts I highlight with comments would generate discussions with 10, 20. 50, and sometimes 100 replies exploring ideas in depth. The loss of sort by likes is a HUGE LOSS.

[gregtew]

Sort by Likes "removed due to low usage." This is probably low usage by faculty, but there are certainly other faculty like me that relied on it 100% in VERY LARGE CLASSES. I might be one user, but I have 4,000 students a semester and the Sort by Likes tool is the only way to make Discussions useful. That's a LOT of USERS. Bring it back!!!!!

[Naomi]

Hello! Just wanted to give an update that the 12/20/2022 Deploy Notes have been updated.

[DanielLUnowsky]

Is there no way this feature can be restored or some other way added to Canvas to sort discussion posts to enable instructors to keep their posts at the top or otherwise move posts and discussion threads within a specific discussion as desired? This seems like a basic and useful function for instructors to manage discussions. 

[DanielLUnowsky]

I am fairly new to this, but I do not see anything happening on this front. What do I do next to get CANVAS to bring back this or create an similar function?

[Chris_Hofer]

@DanielLUnowsky ...

As described in the Canvas Deploy Notes (2022-12-20) - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com), sorting by likes in Discussions was removed due to low usage by users.

If you wanted to suggest this as an Idea here in the Community to be re-evaluated, then you'd want to submit that here:

Canvas Ideas and Themes - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com)

I'd also encourage you to review the Guides listed under the heading "Ideas and Themes" located at: Community - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com).

Hope this helps a bit!

[DanielLUnowsky]

I thought I already submitted this. Clearly this entire system does not allow for any direct back and forth between customers and Canvas. Very frustrating situation. I yield and will just not bother with this any longer. 

[mrijnkels]

I also used this in my classes and it makes it a pain with out it. Maybe not a lot of people use it but those who do have a good use for it and it affects their workflow & teaching. SO Intructure please, low usage does not mean  that a tool is not useful. This tool is extremely useful to those of use using it,  please reinstate it if it does not hurt anything.