The Discussion/Announcement Redesign feature option is deployed to all Canvas institutions on 20 Jul 2024.
Common New Features in Announcements and Redesign
Split Screen Thread
Besides the Inline Announcement/Discussion layout, you can choose the Slide Split view to allow you to better focus on one announcement/discussion thread at a time on the side bar.
Mention User in an Announcement or Discussion Reply
You can mention a user by the use of the “@” symbol then adding the user’s name in an announcement or discussion reply.
View Deleted Reply and Reply History
Instructors can view the name of the user who deleted a reply and the date and time the reply was deleted. More so, instructors can see the reply history within an announcement or discussion.
Other New Features in Discussions
Anonymous Discussion Topics
You can create anonymous discussions per thread. Known caveats:
Graded discussions do not support anonymous grading.
Graded discussions cannot be anonymous; student names and profile pictures must be visible to other members of the course.
You cannot de-anonymize any anonymous threads by modifying the option thereafter.
Similarly, admins and system logs cannot identify users in “full” anonymous posts.
If you want to create a graded discussion and you have added sections in the Post To field, the Graded option will be unavailable. You must remove the sections from the Post To field before selecting this option. You will be able to add sections as part of the graded discussion options.