blue dots

[mary_bruce]

what does the blue dot beside an announcement mean?

[valentinesking · Accepted solution]

Mary,

The blue dots to the left of the Announcement is an "not read" indicator; meaning that you have not clicked on the announcement to view it (if you read an announcement as a instructor that is delayed, the blue dot will remain until it is published/posted and you access it again).

[bneporadny]

Hi mary,

Normally in Canvas a blue dot appears next to something that is unread. So that you can easily tell what announcements you haven't seen/read yet.  

[skinne]

Although I know Sky and Brian are right, this feature has been buggy, at least for me and a few instructors I know. So if the dot is still appearing next to discussions or announcements that you've read, it may be a glitch.

[ann_mirabito]

I agree, the color changes from blue to white when I log back in to the DB. Seems glitchy.

[SameerThomas]

I agree. In Student View, some Announcements have been marked as read, but others perpetually have a blue dot next to them, regardless of how many times I click on them.

[richard-jerz]

I have recently encountered this problem and have made a post elsewhere.  I will do a quick reply here.

Typically, the absence of color should imply an "absence of activity."  Items not read should be white, not blue.  Furthermore, I would argue that the system should not be changing the color because only the student knows if they have really read something.  So an Announcement (or discussion post) should have a white dot that only the student can change to blue, meaning that the student believes they have read the post.

I was equally confused with Canvas' behavior as Mary.  At least now I understand this (faulty) logic.