Likes, Helpfuls, and Stars in Canvas?

[kona]

In the feature request there was an interesting discussion started on the difference between likes, helpful, and stars, and pedagogically how you might use them differently in your course.

 @scottdennis ​ asked the question, "Just out of curiosity; if people had both likes and star ratings, how would you use them differently.  In yesterday's CanvasLIVE session, I though Jordan Dayton did a great job of explaining how he uses the 'like' and 'mark helpful' features in the community differently.  Curious to hear what others think?"

He also pondered, "I wonder if it would be more useful if we had a discussion tool in the LMS that had both 'likes' and star ratings and, maybe just the teacher, or maybe everyone, could see an aggregate rating based on the stars.  Maybe if there were up to five stars and anyone could use them to rate a given post and you could see an aggregate 'score' for the post based on all the ratings given?"

So, what does everyone think?

[kona · Accepted solution]

My thought for the differences between like,helpful, and stars is:

• like is a way to literally indicate that I like this, it was funny, but doesn't necessarily need to be helpful or add to the discussion
• helpful is a way to indicate that this was information that I find useful, something I didn't know, or somehow adds value/quality to the discussion or my understanding of topic OR this was not helpful and didn't add to the discussion (for unhelpful)
• star ratings is a way to indicate how useful something was, so a step up from helpful in that you can actually rate how useful the information was to the discussion. This is the feature I think would be to have the choice to incorporate into the student's actual grade. Kind of like a way for students to provide "peer feedback" on other student's posts.

I'm also really interested in having the option to include these things into the discussion grade somehow. I know external motivation doesn't work on everyone, but if it's used right I think it will work for a lot of students! Since we should have the *like* feature in Canvas by summer I'm planning on incorporating it into the gamification aspects of the online course I'm teaching. I haven't figured out all the details, but I'm thinking about a weekly award (badge) to the person whose post gets the most likes.

[scottdennis]

Thanks,  @kona ​!  Bookmarked and will check back in later.

[Chris_Hofer]

This is just my opinion, but I think the star ratings (as they are used here on Jive) *may* be better for documents, guides, or other "information" content in a course.  I'm not sure that I would really want to give a star rating to someone's discussion post...rating them on a scale of 1 to 5.  That might lead to some hurt feelings even if the person who posted didn't know who rated the comment.  I would agree that a "Mark as Helpful" option would be nice, though...in addition to the "Like" feature we're getting soon.

[scottdennis]

Yeah, agreed, Chris.  I can see ratings being applicable in a more structured discussion.  If another LMS that's name may or may not have been an acronym for A New Global Environment for Learning, there were discussion types including one for forensics style debate, which you probably know, is highly structured.  I can see ratings being appropriate there.

[kona]

I didn't want to mention the unmentioned LMS you're referring to Scott, but yes that type of structured discussion was what I was thinking of and how we used it before.

[GideonWilliams]

​Would quite like to see star ratings be awarded by students at the end of a course with the option of comments. If canvas courses could be displayed more like pinterest Boards then you could include star ratings and read feedback. You could even have badges/medals awarded to courses based on the pedagogical quality which I have seen in another vle that rhymes with doodle.

[sillsjo]

I think it would also be of added value if there were a way for Most Helpful or Most Liked posts to "bubble" to the top of a forum.

[G_Petruzella]

First, thanks to  @scottdennis ​ for pinging me onto this conversation, and to  @kona ​ for bringing it into this Group!

Multiple response mechanisms would be a huge win IMHO. I perpetually struggle to figure out ways for interactions with students to get beyond the one-dimensional: when there's one, single formal mechanism for a student to express a reaction, this tends to funnel the various responses into the same single channel, and encourage students to presume that, no matter the complexity of their response, it'll all end up "looking" the same.

Just as I read and evaluate student contributions on multiple (sometimes totally independent) criteria or scales, I try to encourage students to respond in similarly nuanced ways. As a student, I may simply enjoy a classmate's post; I may realize that it communicated new-to-me information; I may appreciate that it helped me figure out a procedural difficulty; the list could go on.

It's true that students can always provide written feedback that's as nuanced as they want it to be; but there's a real value to lowering the time/energy cost (which is quite high for writing!) for responding that way. Building community in online spaces is a real challenge; it's easier when there are several ways to easily/quickly signal appreciation, approval, etc. (I can't tell you how many times I've "liked" someone's comment quickly from the Inbox primarily to communicate that I'd read and appreciated the comment). Something like Kona's tripartite schema would be a way to let student interactions look and feel more 3-dimensional, so to speak, without imposing the high cost of typing up a formal written response as the only possible way to express responses.

I was going to say that the above is "my two cents", but if I'm going by word-count the way Mark Twain was paid, I think I'm up around $11.83. 😛

[scottdennis]

"Building community in online spaces is a real challenge; it's easier when there are several ways to easily/quickly signal appreciation, approval, etc"

Hear, hear.  Thank you, Gerol

[scottdennis]

I feel like I'm more the Hemingway of the forums - less words is best, can't fault a newspaper man.

RE Word Count; we may have good news there is a release cycle or two.

[awilliams]

1. I agree with your classifications of Like, Helpful, Ratings (stars) as they pertain to Jive  @kona ​.

2. I agree with how you suggest ratings being used in Jive  @Chris_Hofer ​.

... Now as for how they could be used in Canvas (I should probably turn this into an idea post once it's been vetted by you all)

For all of the below, new notification items should be added.

For all of the below a tracking system will be needed so that points and/or badges can be awarded.

Likes:

1. Discussion Posts (Open for Voting: ​)

     Rationale:

          Users should be able to indicate they found some value in the post

     Details:

     - Available to all roles

2. Announcements

     Rationale:

          Students should be able to indicate to teacher they found some value in the announcement.

     Details:

     - Available to student roles

Helpful:

Discussions and Discussion Posts

     Rationale:

          Users will appreciate positive feedback on their contributions to a course.

     Details:

     - Available to all roles

Ratings (stars):

Content Pages, Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, and any item added to a module not already covered.

     Rationale:

          Teachers will benefit from feedback on course content at a per-item level as opposed to overall course feedback

     Details:

     - Available to student roles

     - Visible only to teacher/TA role and student

Mark As Correct:

* Let's not forget about this one. Reading the entire discussion is useful, but indicating the correct answer clearly at the top is also important.

Discussion Posts

     Rationale:

          Users will benefit from being able to quickly identify the correct answer to a question posed through a discussion.

     Details:

     - Available to teacher/TA role and student who posted the discussion

[G_Petruzella]

awilliams​, that's a mighty fine taxonomy you've got there. 🙂

[kona]

Wish I could like it and find it helpful X2!

[scottdennis]

Adam,

I would definitely encourage you to contribute this in the feature idea forums - either as a comment on the existing submission or on a future related submission.

[awilliams]

Allright, idea added: ​

[john_morris]

My request on distinguishing between these three kinds of "reader assessments" is to have them explained -- both briefly (mouse over) and more extensively (click through) so there is a growing consensus over usage. Eventually, the seasoned folk know these things intuitively, but this will be a constantly changing and evolving community and many of us won't have the experience of power users. Having an easily accessible "key" is essential.

[sethgurell]

I hate to be a dissenting voice, but I'm not sure star ratings (or even Like buttons) are a good idea. Canvas is already using stars to "pin" courses to the short list, and that pinning interaction is different than what is used for discussion boards. Canvas is good about looking at current web trends but this can also work against them as it can feel like a mix of paradigms within the system.

I understand wanting to give instructors the flexibility to choose multiple rating systems, but I'm concerned about having different paradigms. I wonder how students might react to one course that uses stars, and another using likes, and another using none at all. I could see students being fine with it because, after all, they are possibly using multiple social networking apps with different rating systems. I could also see some students being frustrated at not being able to interact with a discussion board in a consistent manner.

Just a few thoughts.

[kroeninm]

At some point it gets a bit confusing so I'm agreeing with you sethgurell​.  If there are overlapping mechanisms for rating, it can be confusing especially as instructors use them all in different ways .  The less overlap the better.

I'm not sure of the pedagogy for a "Like".  It adds some engagement, students may feel appreciated, the instructor can mark good posts in this way and encourage those to float to the top. 

Ratings I've had requests for in the past but they were used as a peer review tool, to encourage students to evaluate each others postings.  As there is a Discussion Peer Review option, it serves the same purpose in a much better way so would seem to be a fairly duplicated option.  BUT if I had to choose between Likes and Ratings, Ratings could be used in more varied ways. 

Correct/Answered is really the one I hear the most need for right now.  Given that threads are all on one page in discussions, instructors that use the Discussions tool in a Q&A format would love this feature!  It especially supports large enrollment classes by seeing the unanswered topics.  I love the way the Question area works in the community, I can quickly see the answered/unanswered questions along with those that are just discussions.

- Melanie

[clong]

Agreed, those stars should be changed to checks if a rating star feature was to be implemented in Canvas

[awilliams]

Yeah in my idea linked above I specifically noted that. It was indeed good feedback from sethgurell​

[scottdennis]

That is a good point about not mixing terminology.  To 'star' something in Canvas already has a meaning in one context.  I'm all for avoiding ambiguous terminology in the LMS.  As far as I can remember right now we don't currently 'rate' anything in Canvas.

[wakimsu]

Maybe "ratings" could be scored on a scale of 1-5 pandas

[G_Petruzella]

sethgurell​ and  @kroeninm ​, thanks to you both for the thoughtful voice of dissent! I appreciate it. I'm going to be giving some thought to the considerations you've raised.