Format of Discussion Board

[traciebosket]

Hello,

We are piloting Canvas with some instructors. The #1 feedback for improvement of the discussion board. Currently we have it set up that a topic is created and people can only reply directly to the topic. It is just a long list of comments. It is very difficult to find individual posts especially when it is a long post. We really need an organized method (maybe is it a setting thing?). But this is the concept...

Then you can search for each individual posts on the Topic. Does anyone know how to do that? Or is this for a feature request?

[kona · Accepted solution]

traciebosket​, unfortunately, no, you aren't missing a setting in Discussions that will make the different posts more prominent. There is a feature idea for something similar that might be what you are wanting - This feature has already been voted on and commented on by Instructure that "We are focused on some other features right now so I don't expect to make any significant enhancements to discussions during the next six months." My recommendation is to comment on why this idea would be so helpful and follow it so you'll be alerted to any updates.

As a side note, I'm not sure how well it works, but there's at least one person who has figured out an interesting work around for this issue - Canvas Discussion Visual Separation » jinsungpsu

[ljp1]

My impression was that Canvas did not support CSS.

[kona]

 @ljp1 , I'm not an expert in this area, but I did a quick search in the Community and it looks like at least in some capacity CSS can be used in Canvas - Improve Threaded Discussions with CSS & https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10862-4214724282?sr=search&searchId=69d494b9-d25f-40ae-b4fc... 

[abunag]

While I can't help you with making each post more distinctive, have you tried the "allow threaded replies" option?  This allows a user to either respond to the initial discussion prompt, or to posts by other individuals.

Here's a screenshot of a threaded replies discussion:

[Andrea51]

Where is this setting for "allowing threaded replies"?  Thank you.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hi @Andrea51 ...

The check-box for "Allow threaded replies" is detailed in the section "Add Discussion Options" within this Guide: How do I create a discussion as an instructor? - Instructure Community (canvaslms.com).

[traciebosket]

Thank you so much  @kona ​ and  @abunag ​ . I am going to look through your "Canvas Discussion Visual Separation" page.

[Andrea51]

This would be very helpful. I currently can't read anything and follow a discussion so I just go to SpeedGrader and try to read what the students have posted. This completely takes away from having a threaded discussion on a topic. I hope this will get corrected soon.