Discussion Board- problems - forum for students

[jcrozier2]

I am hearing a lot of complaints from students about the redesign for the discussion.  Is there a student forum for feedback?

[cheryltice]

Hi, @jcrozier2 

I empathize! One of my students expressed significant frustration with the new layout just yesterday when I Zoomed with her, particularly noting the increased number of clicks required to navigate. This design appears to be hindering participation, as students are finding it challenging to follow conversations and view responses efficiently.

I've observed a noticeable decrease in engagement in my class discussions this semester, which I believe may be attributed to these interface changes. While I understand that redesigns often aim to improve user experience, in this case, it seems to have had an unintended negative impact on student participation - at least in my experience.

I hope our feedback can be considered for future improvements. It's critical that our digital tools facilitate, rather than impede, student engagement and learning. In the current iteration of the Discussions Redesign, student participation is low for me.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Cheryl

[whitepinegmp]

As an instructor, I am profoundly frustrated by the redesign!  It is so difficult to follow the thread. I have students referring back to previous parts of the thread and I can't find what they are referring to. I long to go back to the previous design. 

AND, there is less engagement which is VERY frustrating!  How can we make sure Canvas hears us? 

[cheryltice]

I have shared the exact same issues, and they have not been addressed so far (since April). I think the best thing we can do is ask others to upvote your posts by sharing the link. Additionally, share exactly how you would rather have it work to give them direction. I've done that with some success, but it has been slow-going so far.

[TamasBalogh]

Hi all, I'd like to hear more of your feedback. What are the exact pain points you and your students face? 

[cheryltice]

Hello, Tamas,

The updated interface requires excessive navigation to find and respond to posts, which discourages student engagement.

While the previous version displayed posts and replies efficiently, students now need to navigate with extra clicks to participate, and as a result, most students find full participation in discussions too time-consuming and frustrating.

The filtering and threading features make it more challenging to find what we seek in the discussions (similar issues to @whitepinegmp .

User-selected settings don't persist when the page is refreshed.

Overall participation in discussions has decreased significantly due to the current functionality. A simplified view option, similar to the legacy discussion's user experience, would better serve educators' and students' needs.

Thank you,

Cheryl

[cmuir]

My courses use discussions in a way that very much requires being able to clearly view threads to follow conversations, and to be able to easily see previous discussions in a chronological way (oldest thread first).  When students open a discussion, they see newest threads first by default, making it difficult to follow the progression of the overall discussion; having to think to change each discussion to oldest first is an extra step they rarely remember.  And it's still very difficult for many students (and this instructor) to tell where one thread ends and the next begins - there's no clear visual cues to connect a thread or separate it from the next.

The default split-screen view also seems to cause confusion for students in navigating the flow of the discussion.  I've encouraged them all to use the inline view instead.  But then if a user (student or instructor) uses the search to find, say, posts with a key term, and clicks "go to reply" on a post they found, it pops out that side drawer that makes the split-screen view such a pain.

Like others, I saw a dramatic decrease in student engagement with discussions when I switched to the new/current interface this summer, and that has continued this fall.  Since there weren't changes to the course structure, it's really hard not to see the discussion redesign as the main culprit.  (Although of course correlation ≠ causation.)  And for the students who do participate, they're really clearly struggling to see things like "has someone else already asked this question".

[whitepinegmp]

Hi Tamas,

I am an instructor who has been using canvas for over ten years. I depend on the discussion forums for my student contact and engagement. The redesign has undermined my work considerably. I wish I could talk to someone and show you what I mean as the redesign makes things very complicated and hard to describe. But I will try. My request is that you reinstate the previous discussion forum and give teachers the option of which to use. I truly HATE the new design and it makes me want to leave canvas altogether. 

1. A student posts and I respond, often with further questions. I then mark the thread as "read" so I know I have responded. Then the student responds to my question. I go to the forum and filter for "unread" posts to find the unread ones. When I click on the new response post, the original 'read' post does not show up if the thread gets too long. To respond, I need the whole thread but it's not there. Given that I have hundreds of posts in a discussion forum, searching for the original is very labor intensive.  It used to just be there. 

2. The split screen is not helpful. It just makes things busier.

3. When I filter for "unread" posts, I see them all. When I click on one and reply and mark the thread as "read," the unread posts are gone. I have to go back to the filter and click "all" and then click "unread" again to have the unread show up again. This adds more steps. 

4. To mark something "read" I now have to go to the three dots dropdown and select "mark thread as read." I used to be able to just click a circle. 

5. This is also very frustrating and difficult for my students. They do not want to post as much. 

The whole thing is complex, labor-intensive, clunky, and flawed. I really, really miss the simplicity of the previous design. 

Please give me the option of the old design ASAP! My livelihood depends on it, and I'm not exaggerating. 

[cheryltice]

The new Canvas discussion board interface has disrupted both instructor and student workflows in ways that make it more challenging to find what we're looking for. Despite widespread concerns and ongoing issues months after phasing out classic discussions, Canvas hasn't addressed many of the persistent issues, including the things you mention. Many users would likely want to revert back to the original discussion forum if given the choice.