Canvas needs a discussion board where within it students can start their own topics

[jamesb]

I teach Earth Sciences and have large class sizes.  Threaded discussions currently in Canvas will not work for what I do for my students participation requirement.  The reason is each "Discussion" in canvas only allows for one question/topic to be posed, and I am the only one posing it.  It doesn't allow for my students to start multiple topics each week as well that then could be easily replied to by anyone in the class.  I read somewhere that students can be given the option to start discussions, but this is not the same as a true discussion board/forum where topics can be chosen by the students, allowing them to truly guide what they are interested in within the Earth Sciences, with me as a moderator and participant.

The image below is from one of my courses last Spring at San Francisco State University.  I usually run one discussion board per module/topic and each board runs for a week.

Below is the image of the discussion board that becomes visible by clicking on the link "Forum 1 (20 points)" in the image above. You can now see some of the topics my introductory geology students chose to talk about all week that week.  My students started these topics on their own (which they cannot do in Canvas), and when you click on each of those topic links below, you will then see the "threaded discussion" on that topic that my students are guiding and participating in - again, completely on their own (with moderated guidance and participation from me at times).

There are so many learning benefits for my students (and me also!) from running participation in this way.  I do realize that not all subjects taught would benefit from this format, which may not make this a popular "fix" for some, but Earth Sciences is one of those that do need this approach, and being that this is such a tremendous learning platform that my students have told me time and time again for almost a decade that they enjoy and learn from, I would hate to go backwards in how my students learn simply because my college moved our LMS to Canvas.  This doesn't need to be something everyone is forced to use.  I only ask that it be made an option, so that those who really benefit from this format have the option to use it.

This technically is a request to add a feature.  However, truly, I see this as a feature that is sorely missing and will be a gaping hole in your LMS until it is added.  It may not be that "gaping hole" for some, but I cannot be the only one who sees the real benefit of what I do here for my students in their learning of the earth sciences.  Please fix this so that my community college students can still truly enjoy an open learning environment where they can still communicate asynchronously in a very valuable, open and thoughtful way.  Please do not force my big class sections to be stuck to either one topic per week to discuss, or a discussion thread that is so terribly messy that their enjoyment goes away and their learning goes out the window due to lack of wanting to deal with a chaotic discussion mess.

Thank-you!

[Stef_retired]

Deactivated user, I'll defer to  @jamesb ​ to explain her idea in more detail, but I believe she would like to see a graded forum in which students can create their own sub-topics and engage in discussions within the forum. The screenshot in the body of the feature idea shows an example of this.

[jamesb]

Yes, this is exactly it.  Since "Discussions" already exists in Canvas, all I am asking is to make it so that I can create a "Discussion" forum in each module and make it a graded assignment that turns on and off like other assignments can be set to do.

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

 @jamesb ​, I hope this idea will move forward; thanks for pushing it on.  Deactivated user​, allowing students to create unlimited discussions could easily lead to a huge unorganized mess of discussions.  When I first started using discussions in Canvas, it took me a while to comprehend the teacher made a post and everybody responded to it (or another post in the discussion) making a long unruly series of posts.  Unruly even with collapse/expand threaded view.  I am used to this format being an option for a limited discussion, but not required for all discussions.

I was looking at Canvas Announcements, and that's pretty much what I'd like to see in a real threaded discussion, a themed discussion where students can add a new idea, IE start a new thread, rather than posting a response to the teacher's post.  All would be related to one over-arching topic.  Such a discussion would have a description of the purpose at the top, then students (or teachers) could add threads to it with a button like the +Announcement button.  As an example I always have a "Technical Support" discussion, but having a long list of unrelated replies makes finding the right post very difficult. Seeing subjects like "Problem with Quiz on Android phone" or "Can't upload assignment file" gives another level of organization and allows students to easily reply or look for the answer.

Announcements contains posts about different topics but all related to important information students need to know.  A Tech support forum would have threads about many different technical problems, but all related to getting support.  Weekly forums might relate to the subject covered that week, but need their own set of student driven threads (or teacher driven, of course teachers could create threads too,  @fisher1  !)

If this type of threaded discussion were an option when creating a discussion, it would be very helpful!

[Renee_Carney]

Thank you for the additional information.  Per Chris Ward's response in early December, we are going to move this idea to 'radar'.  The basic functionality of 'students creating discussion threads' exists, but we recognize that it does not function in the way some of our users desire.

Be sure to follow this thread to receive updates if/when they are available

[mastersj]

This is incredibly important. And I am shocked that Canvas does not have a traditional-style discussion board setup. Every other LMS I've used (including Moodle, Blackboard, etc.) has a standard style where people create posts with a unique subject and then there are (clearly and visibly indented!) threaded responses to that subject. Discussion boards have been around for decades and this structure is standard.

For my discipline in particular, computer science, the Canvas style actually detracts from my students' learning experience. In the workplace, students will frequently use online discussion boards (example: stackoverflow- used throughout the tech world) for help and support and to keep up with rapidly changing technologies and programming languages. Using a discussion board in my online classes helps prepare them for how to use discussion boards out in the real world. The Canvas style boards no longer allows them to practice and develop this skill. This is truly disappointing.

[peeksas]

This has been on the "radar" since January of 2017. Is there a timeline for when this feature will be added? I keep using CourseSites (a free learning environment) until this feature is added. I am starting to think about my Fall classes and hoped that it would be added by then. Thank you for letting me know if you have a sense of when students will be able to add a subject line to posts made in the discussion board forums.

[jamesb]

I have not heard anything regarding this addition.  I would still love this to be added!!  I developed a work-a-round as well, but am still hoping for this feature to be added soon!  Thanks for reviving this thread. 

[Renee_Carney]

The Radar idea stage has been removed from the Feature Idea Process.  You can read more about why in the blog post Adaptation: Feature Idea Process Changes.

This change will only impact the stage sort of this idea and will not change how it is voted on or how it is considered during prioritization activities.  This change will streamline the list of ideas 'open for voting', making it easier for you to see the true top voted ideas in one sort, here.

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

You know snufer‌ I think you have a great idea.  One could create a group with all the class in it, and then create a group discussion.  When students go to the group workspace, they will be able to create discussions and it will be limited to the group area.  (I was actually looking for a way to turn this feature off, because for a graded discussion it's troublesome having students create their own discussion, which won't appear in speedgrader.)  It's not a very flexible solution, but it would allow at least one place where students can freely create their own topics. 

If you wanted a separate discussion for every module, you would need a lot of groups.  It would not work for graded discussions as  @jamesb ‌ wants.  It doesn't answer all needs but it is a workaround for certain needs.

[lshulman]

Thank you for that! I too can truly use this forum feature option in Canvas (wish I could vote for this multiple times!). We are switching from Blackboard after this spring and I can see that the Blackboard discussion forum is one of the things Blackboard does BETTER than Canvas. In the meantime, I am struggling to figure out how to translate my own topic/unit based Q&A discussion assignment from Blackboard to Canvas. 
I also see that this feature request has been here for 2 1/2 years so clearly it can be slow getting ideas like this implemented in Canvas. I am not holding my breath for change any time soon (unfortunately).

[lshulman]

Can instructors currently edit or even remove student replies (e.g. when they are irrelevant to the current discussion or otherwise a distraction)? Or simply make a given reply "invisible" (unavailable) to others?

[lshulman]

Cward, it is different because student started discussions will be unassociated with each other. If they could do new subjects within a teacher started discussion on a specific topic/unit of study (=forum) then all student started discussions would be contained within a given forum. Much more organized that way.

I appreciate the video that Ben Fisher linked to: Multiple Thread Discussions in Forums

Shows the difference: how Canvas does not provide the same sort of discussion functionality that other LMS do.

[Nancy_Webb_CCSF]

Hi  @lshulman ‌ - yes you can edit or delete student replies in a discussion.  Can't hide them, though.

[admrllocke]

I agree completely!  eCollege, Blackboard and Brightspace all allow the student to start his or her individual thread on a discussion board (called a forum on Blackboard).  I'm dealing with my first discussion on Canvas and everything appears in one long string.  Fortunately it's a small class, but it's a hot mess even with so few students. With full classes in the fall it's going to be a nightmare!

[lshulman]

David,

If you set the discussions to be "threaded replies" that can help a bit. But you still have to look hard to notice the indent with replies to replies. That will also separate each set of replies with a space between the boxed replies.

- Laura Shulman

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/lshulman/<https://mail.nvcc.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=1c304ebbbd9647619d0159857a...;

~~~~~~~~~~

The more we know, the more we know, there's more to know, than we think we know!

[peeksas]

To me, I cannot understand why Universities and Colleges are choosing to use Canvas when features that are in every other Learning Platform are missing from Canvas? What bothers me more is that teachers have been frustrated for over three years about this inability for students to include a subject line in their posts which would make the discussion board much more organized and productive and yet Canvas will not add this feature to their platform. I continue to use CourseSites which is free until Canvas updates their platform to have the basic features that are needed to create a better experience for students. And the system in place at Canvas that says, "Suggest an idea, get enough up-votes, we'll see if it is worthy of consideration, then we will go into possible planning phases, and maybe five years later, the feature you want will be scheduled to be implemented in two years" is not a customer-centered approach regardless of the illusion of being customer-centered.

[jvoros]

I have been transitioned from BlackBoard to Canvas, and I find the lack of the ability to have a Discussion Forum where new Threads can be created within the Forum by students to be an utterly astonishing limitation of useful learning-focused functionality. I cannot understand why this was not built into the product in the very first place.

I teach a course that has a new topic each week (eg Big Bang Theory, Stellar Evolution, Formation of the Solar System, Origins of Life, etc) on which I ask students to find a related resource from the Web and to post it into the Weekly Discussion in a new Thread, with a useful Subject line, and a commentary on why they chose it. They also need to comment on the posting of at least two other students as to why they found those useful. In BlackBoard this is an absolute snap - it is by far the easiest way to get a look at their asynchronous interactions with an audit trail of who did what, when, and who read it and replied, etc. My call to Canvas Support tells me this very basic functionality is not possible in Canvas. <Hand-striking-forehead emoji here>

The question insistently presents itself:

Why not?

[admrllocke]

Thanks, Laura!  I have it set for threaded replies already, but until a tech support person showed me side-by-side comparisons, I couldn't tell the difference.

[jamesb]

Yup, still waiting.  It's frustrating.

[jamesb]

I agree.  It they can put the "Discussions" link to an entire forum on the left side of the screen, why can't they take that same idea and allow us to add it to each individual module?  That functionality has to be available with just a little elbow grease and instead of fixing this issue they are instead opting to have us deal with this aggravation for years on end.  There is a lot to like about Canvas, but this issue is a biggie and I'm so happy that SFSU has not moved over to them and has no plans to last I heard, as I am not sure how I would handle my large class sizes there with this LMS.  It's funny, if they would fix this, I would actually be an advocate for SFSU to change over, but not right now.  Not like this.