Order Discussion Posts from Newest to Oldest

[canvas_admin]

Currently, the discussion posts are ordered from oldest to newest.  A student/professor has to scroll or go to the last page and then scroll to get to the latest post.

Canvas REALLY needs to re-order this so that newest discussion posts appear at the top of the first page so that it is easy to find current conversations.

This topic had 100+ likes in the old community and I was really surprised not to see it on here already (I searched for this using several different search terms).   I sure hope we don't have to go through and re-idea every single feature request that had at least 30 likes and was years old with no action or response from Instructure.

[deanf]

We are using discussion for the art students to post weekly work in progress over a subject that lasts several weeks.
We are having a lot of scrolling at the moment as new work is lost right at the bottom.  If new work always appeared at the top (or having the option for teachers to sort this way) will mean we always see new work coming in.

[ksmothers]

We are using Discussions as part of our online student community/virtual student union.  We created different "rooms" for them to chat and share ideas.  No one is going to use our Discussions if they have to scroll and scroll to find what's new.  We could do this in Blackboard and now that we've moved to Canvas, I am so disappointed.  Help!

[chofer]

Hi  @ksmothers ‌...

This Feature Idea is currently in the "Product Radar" stage ... which means that Instructure is aware of the need, but it's not currently on their list of projects in development at the moment.  You can read more about this stage by going to New Ideation Stage:  Product Radar.

[ksmothers]

This is terribly disappointing.  We have over 17,000 students enrolled in our virtual student union and they've been posting in our Discussions all week (we moved to Canvas last week) but it won't last if they have to scroll and scroll and scroll to view new conversations in our General Chat "forum" or our Textbook Exchange "forum."  We did this successfully with Blackboard. 

[chofer]

I completely understand moving from one LMS to another.  We did that about three years ago when we moved from Pearson eCollege's LearningStudio to Canvas.  It's typically the case that there will be some things you could do in one LMS but not another.  Yet there are also things we couldn't do in LearningStudio that we could in Canvas.

Canvas only has a finite number of resources they can spend on certain projects...and so not everything that we would like to see can immediately be implemented...as much as we'd like them to be.  Yet sometimes Instructure will surprise us with something that didn't appear to very high on the priority list.  (I can tell you first-hand this has happened to at least one of the Feature Ideas I've submitted here in the Community.)  So, you never know.

I'd recommend following the https://community.canvaslms.com/community/answers/releases because Canvas is updated every three weeks.  And, InstCon 2017 is coming up at the end of the month, and I'm sure there will be some nifty stuff they'll be announcing then, too.

[ksmothers]

Thanks!

[kontrse]

I agree with you completely; I've come here to find out if this is a feature.  I have an open forum for questions/answers in a very large online class, and it is very frustrating not to be able to view the newest issue at the top of the forum.  

[kontrse]

This is not as much of an issue in on ground classes, as I generally don't use the discussions section except for very limited threads.  However, this is a big issue in my online classes, especially large classes.  I separate the class into groups to allow for easier navigation on graded discussions but I cannot do that with open threads like ongoing questions or issues with the class, so a question from 3 weeks ago is at the top, while one from yesterday is 50 posts down.

[thatcher_bohrma]

How long does the radar last? 2.5yrs....?

The DB in Canvas is one of the weakest links for many reasons. I used to hate the Bb DB for it's incessant clutter, but I see by comparison (we switched in FA15) that it is superior functionally. Sorting new to old optionally would be a good start to improving it.

Thanks

[scottdennis]

Hey Thatcher,

I can definitely understand your frustration with this.  You're right.  The feature idea/request has been around for a long time.  To answer your question specifically though, there isn't a set amount of time something remains in Product Radar.  The stage indicates that we are aware of the request and how much interest there is in it as measured by the number of people voting and commenting.  This is one of the factors we consider when deciding what to prioritize for development but there isn't a clear commitment that when something has been in Product Radar for a certain period it will get built.  I know that doesn't help you with the hurdles you have with using discussion forums today but I hope the background information does help you.

Thanks,

Scott

[amacleod]

Needs to be more like Facebook or Twitter SOON

[bryan_biggers]

I voted it up based on the OPTION to put newest or oldest on top. Thank you, Peyton at Instructure for going that way with it.

[adityapatile]

I was checking one of Discussion threads. I thought its an old thread and not used anymore just because I saw the post dated in 2017. After some time I realised the sort is from Old to New. 

This is a very important feature and it should be there in canvas. I hope your team will build this soon.

[victoria_richar]

I honestly think that the Discussions page should have the drag and drop/"move to" feature. My instructors are going in and creating their discussions for the course, and as expected, they start at the beginning of the course and create the discussions that will happen throughout the year. When they go to their discussion board, their first discussion is at the bottom of the page. It's just difficult to navigate.

[scottdennis]

Hi Victoria,

Just FYI; instructors can manually reorder discussions if they are pinned.  Only discussions in the Pinned Discussions section can be reordered manually. Other sections are automatically ordered by recent activity date.

[ksmothers]

Scott,

The problem, IMO, is the replies within a discussion thread.  When you have a large class posting replies within a discussion board, you have to scroll and scroll and scroll to the bottom of the replies to view any new comments.  We use discussions for our virtual student union, which has about 17,000 students able to access one discussion.  When they interact with one another in a General Chat Discussion, for instance, the old stuff dominates a discussion and becomes a hindrance.

[esommer]

I totally agree. Comments and Posts should be flexible and should have options for sorting. Instructors and managers of Canvas pages should have the discretion to decided order!

-Ellie

Eleanor K. Sommer, M.Sc.

Graduate Programs Advisor & Adjunct Lecturer

Center for Arts in Medicine

University of Florida College of the Arts

[kbeachy]

I want to be able to move the discussions the way I can modules and assignments.  I am not sure why Canvas ignored this. 

[cwoodwar1]

Yes, one should be able to sort Discussion posts in various ways, by date, by student, by # of likes.  I also think that there needs to be an ability to PIN A PARTICULAR DISCUSSION POST OR REPLY TO THE TOP!   As an instructor, I often have feedback on the discussion replies that I want all students to see, but there's no way to make my reply stand out from everyone else's.  Please add a pin to top feature on the discussion board.

[tdelillo]

Apparently there is a workaround for this particular idea - using "likes" to push the post to the top. See this discussion: Pinning discussion replies  

Also, there are numerous archived feature requests for this idea. I didn't find any newer ones, maybe it's time to bring it back  https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-1330-how-do-i-create-a-new-feature-idea