Notification of student replies to comments

[AmandaSeligman]

It seems like I am missing comments that students make in reply to my comments on their assignments. I do get notifications in my inbox, but I honestly miss those a lot of the time. Is there something I can turn on within the Canvas site itself that will easily allow me to see whether there are student replies to my comments that I need to interact with? Older posts on this topic seem to advise turning on notifications, but that does not seem to be the solution I need. I need something that is more like the To-Do list.

[Jeff_F]

Hello @AmandaSeligman - it seems you already have the notification setting for 'Submission Comment - Assignment submission comment' enabled. I have this set to be a daily digest, and I disable the email notifications for discussion replies to minimize the quantity of email. That helps ensure I do not ignore the messages. Then when I receive the email there is a link to each submission comment within. To help ensure you aren't missing these, considering setting up a rule in the email system to mark these notifications as important. 

[AmandaSeligman]

Thank you for this suggestion. I'm really not looking for a solution in my email. I don't look at my email and Canvas at the same time or in the same way, so tweaking how I use the notifications really won't solve my problem. I'd like a flag somewhere within Canvas that would alert me, the same way I am alerted that there is an assignment to look at. Ideally, there would be notifications for discussion posts, assignment submissions, and comments to review all in one spot.

[Hildi_Pardo]

Hi @AmandaSeligman -- I don't think there are alerts within Canvas for comments made by students in response to your Speedgrader comments -- I often miss those and just happen to find them by accident!  I think this would be something great to submit as an Idea to Canvas.  Here's how:  https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructure-Community-Guide/How-do-I-create-a-new-idea-in-the-Ins...

[AmandaSeligman]

Thank you. I could also not figure out how to submit an idea to Instructure! I found it once upon a time and was so pleased with an almost immediate fix to the problem.

[JeffreyMeyers]

Not quite what you're asking for, but you can see student replies to grading feedback all in one place in your Canvas inbox (not your email inbox, the inbox area in the global Canvas navigation bar). You have to toggle it from "inbox" to "submission comments" to see them.

Guide on submission comments in the inbox: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Canvas-Basics-Guide/How-do-I-reply-to-submission-comments-in-the-....

Unfortunately, messages in the submission comments area do not trigger the unread message indicator on the inbox icon.

The email notifications are the only way Canvas has to alert you of unread comments on grading feedback. This is a major frustration for our faculty too.

[AmandaSeligman]

Thank you! That is better than nothing! At least it's in Canvas!