Overview
In order to provide a more modern user experience, Canvas has redesigned their Discussions and Announcements. These changes are primarily just to the look of the tools, but some functionalities will be different as well. You can learn more about the changes in Canvas’ general overview of the redesign or read more below.
As part of this redesign, Canvas will be discontinuing the current “legacy” Discussions/Announcement views in Summer 2024.
Dates of Changes for SVC
In order to minimize changes to Canvas in the middle of a quarter, SVC will be implementing the Discussion/Announcement Redesign in two phases. However, you are welcome to toggle on the redesign early- how to toggle the redesign on/off (<1 min)
- March 22, 2024- All courses in Canvas will default to having the Redesign turned on. However, if needed, instructors can toggle the feature off during spring quarter
- June 21, 2024- All courses in Canvas will only have the Redesign available; there will no longer be the ability to turn it off to go back to the classic Discussion/Announcement style
What Is Different
While the overall redesign focuses on how Discussions/Announcements looks, it comes with some changes to how the tools function and different options available. We have recorded a video overview of all the changes:
As discussed in the videos, changes include:
- Anonymous discussions options, where nobody, including instructors, can see who posted the reply
- New view options for responses, such as a sidebar
- Ability to sort responses by newest to oldest or oldest to newest
- Ability to quote and tag other respondents
- Clear indication of when a comment has been deleted
The graphic below from Canvas outlines the feature parity between the legacy discussion design and the new redesign, showing that all the original features from the legacy discussions will persist, with the addition of the new features listed.
Additionally, a highly anticipated change that is expected by the end of June 2024 is the use of “checkpoints” which will allow instructors to have multiple due dates with a discussion, such as a due date for when an initial post is due and another due date for when responses to peers need to be done. More information will be provided here once it is available from Canvas.
What to Consider
- Canvas may make more changes to the redesign in the coming months in response to community feedback. eLearning will do our best to keep this page updated as minor changes are made, and will provide email updates if any large changes occur such as timeline changes.
- As these changes go into place, the Discussion and Announcement tools will look different to students. You may get an uptick in student questions/difficulties in completing work using the tools. Be prepared to direct students to the Canvas guides listed later on this page, or to eLearning@skagit.edu.
- eLearning will do Canvas global announcements about the redesign and provide links to the guides as well.
- If you have provided students with your own instructions on how to complete work in Discussions, be sure to update them accordingly.
- It may take some time for all the guides on Canvas’ website to reflect the redesign; if you can’t find the information you are looking for, please ask eLearning@skagit.edu.
How-To Guides