About the Discussions/Announcements Redesign in Canvas

• Overview
• Prepare for the upgrade
• New features
• Noteworthy interface changes
• Get help

Overview

In June 2021, Instructure announced the Discussions/Announcements Redesign, a new version of the Discussions and Announcements tools, as a course-level feature option. The Discussions/Announcements Redesign offers several new, frequently requested features (including anonymous discussion topics, @mentions, and reply version histories), and has been available for faculty to turn on in their courses since the summer of 2021. UITS has not enabled the redesign by default, however, because development work is not complete, and a number of outstanding gaps, bugs, and usability issues are still evident.

Instructure expects the work on the Discussions/Announcements Redesign to be complete by early summer of 2024 and will be enforcing the feature in all Canvas courses on July 20, 2024. After this date, the original versions of the Discussions and Announcements tools will no longer be available. This document will help you prepare for the transition to the latest versions of these tools.

Prepare for the upgrade

The interface and behavior of the Discussions/Announcements Redesign are similar to those in the original tools, so it should not take long to become comfortable with them. Here are some steps you can take to prepare for the upgrade:

• Review Canvas Release: Discussions/Announcements Redesign from Instructure. This document summarizes the major changes and new features.
• Enable the redesigned tools in a Canvas practice site. To enable the Discussions/Announcements Redesign, select Settings > Feature Options, and then set the "Discussions/Announcements Redesign" option to Enabled.
• Experiment with the redesigned Discussions tool in your practice site to familiarize yourself with the changes and new features. For detailed instructions, see Discussions Redesign in the Canvas Guides. (Documentation for features that haven't changed are found in the original Discussions guide).
  Note:

  Because development is still in progress, the appearance and behavior of the tool may change before it is enforced on July 20, 2024.
• Stay up to date on outstanding bugs, missing features, and known issues by reviewing IU's issues tracking document: Discussions Redesign: Missing Features and Known Issues.

New features

The new Discussions tool offers a number of new features. In addition to those listed below, Instructure has committed to developing a "checkpoint" feature that will allow instructors to set two due dates for a discussion, one for the initial post and a second for completing other work in the topic.

• Anonymous discussion topics: Instructors can set discussion topics to be partially anonymous (students can opt to hide or show their name and profile pictures) or fully anonymous (names and profile pictures are hidden for all student replies). Users with a teacher, TA, or designer role in the course will never be anonymous.
• Version history for edited posts: When users edit their discussion posts, instructors can view the version history for the post.
• Inline and Split Screen views: Users can choose between two views for reading replies. Inline view displays all replies on the main topic page with the option to expand or collapse nested replies. In Split Screen view, all replies to the initial post are shown in a sidebar that slides in from the right when users select the reply count link for the thread.
• Sort threads: Users can sort replies from newest to oldest or oldest to newest. Sorting is based on the most recent response in each thread.
• Role labels: Role labels appear next to or beneath names for teachers, TAs, and derivative roles. Additionally, if the topic was created by a student, the label "author" appears next to the creator's name.
• @mentions: Users can mention other users by typing @ (an at sign) and selecting the name from a list. The mentioned users will receive a notification with a link to the post containing the mention.
• Quote reply: When replying to a post, users can quote the original post in their replies.
• Report inappropriate messages: A new Report option allows users to notify the teacher when they encounter messages that are inappropriate, offensive, or abusive.

Noteworthy interface changes

• The topic Edit command has been changed from a button on the topic page to an option in the "Manage Topic Options" menu.
• The topic toolbar has been moved to the top of the discussion and announcement thread.
• Threads are sorted from newest to oldest reply. Currently, they are sorted from oldest to newest.
• Infinite nesting in discussion threads is no longer possible. Nesting of replies is now limited to three levels:
  1. Initial post to topic
  2. Reply to initial post
  3. Reply to reply
• A Groups button and menu has been added to group discussions to allow instructors to navigate to the topic in each group.
• The instructor's view of group discussions no longer includes a summary of the read and unread replies in each group.
• The controls for marking threads and individual replies as read or unread have been moved to the reply Options menu.

Get help

For help with the Discussions/Announcement Redesign, visit your campus teaching and learning centers.

Help is also available through the UITS Support Center. Fill out the "Ask for Help" form found in the Canvas Help menu, or contact your campus Support Center directly.