Hi all, is there a way to disable student comments on assignments? I find that students use the comment option to ask questions that they should be emailing me, and I'd rather them not have the option to comment.
On any Canvas course, click on the "settings" link from the course menu, then on the "Course Details" tab, at very bottom of the page click "more options" and the the last checkbox allows us to "Disable comments on announcements."
PLEASE ALSO DO THAT FOR COMMENTS ON ASSIGNMENTS.
Or... even better would be to have an option to disable comments all together and to have the option to only disable the ability to attach files to comments... It can be done for announcements, please extend that to assignments.
I'm half way through summer classes, one session just finished and the next one has just begun. I'm very tired and am growing disheartened by the lack of ability to control when, where, how, and in what format that students "submit" work. Students see multiple options to put files into Canvas so they think they are justified to use what ever they prefer. Many students tell me that they feel like I'm just being heavy-handed in trying to make them needlessly jump through hoops.
I'm responsible for all the general intro lab courses in our department - up to 28 sections total of multiple courses with a staff of up to 30 grad TAs. I want the TAs to use grading rubrics and leave feedback. I want the TAs to use the file viewer mark-up tools to show students problems with submitted work, leave suggestions for what to do differently next time, etc. That is not possible if they attach files to comment sections.
Other courses may benefit from comments on assignments and being able to attach files to comments but this is a major problem for my courses. Please help. I'd go back to Blackboard just to avoid this one particular problem if I was able. Canvas does other things so well... Please take our pleas for help to improve this important, basic functionality.
Hey, @mlehman1 ! You cannot disable submission comments. You do have two pretty good options for managing this communication piece though:
1. You can set up your notifications and have them forwarded to your email: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10029-4152719738?sr=search&searchId=02098123-9a6d-41da-a3a6-d93d450b2614&searchIndex=0 Note that you can reply to the email you receive to answer the student.
2. You can view and reply to the submission comments from your Canvas inbox: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10007-4152719688?sr=search&searchId=7d57c450-6fc7-4586-9787-5b4dbcf6edd9&searchIndex=5
I hope that helps!
I have the same question. Students use the comment box on an assignment to ask a question. The problem is, I have it forwarded it to me as an email, but it does not state the assignment. I want students to have to email me. How do you disable the comment box for students?
Since this feature is unable to be disabled, then at least can the notification of the comment be improved? Currently students can leave comments on assignments, and, as I understand it, the only notification an instructor gets of this is via an email (or text if that is an option to them). I shouldn't have to log in to my email to know what messages/comments I'm receiving in Canvas. I should be able to log in to Canvas for those notifications. I can see the comment in speedgrader you say? There is nothing speedy about going through 500+ grade entries to find a comment that may or may not be there. Same thing goes for any "flagging" that happens in the gradebook. That is just not realistic. Students are leaving these comments with the expectation they will get information back, but if the only notification to an instructor is an email where they could have the notification setting to monthly or never, then the expectation of the student will never be met.
So, if disabling is not an option, then better notification of the existence of comments needs to happen please.
I would love the option to toggle student comments to "off" since many of them use this feature as a way to argue about their grade rather than come to office hours, send an email, or calendar an appointment with me. There is zero pedagogical benefit to students' being able to leave comments.
I could have sworn that I'd posted on this thread - I think there are multiple threads/versions of this conversation going on. This is a very important issue for me, too. As others mentioned above... this is used A LOT by students to submit work in file types that I don't want them to use and/or to submit work after deadlines have passed.
If I had the option to simply disable comments on assignments/quizzes altogether then we'd avoid so much trouble for me and my students (not to mention my TAs/graders). If students can just attach anything they want to attach, in any format they wish, in a comment at any time they feel like it then there is no reason whatsoever to be able to restrict file types for assignments or to even have a deadline at all. If they can, then they do, and since they were able to then I "MUST accept the work...", "is part of the social contract" according to student conversations I've overheard in the hallway recently.
If a student is having trouble with preparing work in the file types that I have the system set to accept then they need to contact me or a TA to discuss and get help learning how to prepare their work - not just avoid by submitting whatever via a comment attachment.
If a student is in a situation in which they are going to miss a deadline for a legitimate reason then they need to discuss that with me, not just sneak it in later in a comment. I typically even go along with a bad reason for missing a deadline the first time it comes up... I've had a few in emergency rooms and hospital rooms unnecessarily stressing out about trying to finish up and submit as soon as possible after a deadline via the comments when I'd have been happy to allow more time after they left the hospital. If they had simply been unable to submit late and knew they were unable to submit late then I'm sure they would have contacted me to discuss - I was often contacted in situations like this when my institution used Blackboard because there was not really a good way to sneak in late work like this.
I am also really feeling like there are too many different avenues for conversation that I don't have control over so students and I are actually overwhelmed. I need to be able to streamline conversation options in order to reduce confusion. Graders leave feedback in grading rubrics. That is really all I want going on in assignment submissions. It is too easy to miss a notification setting (I manage nearly 800 students, 30 TAs, in multiple courses with multiple sections each semester) and not get notifications about different comments, etc. I need students to ask questions to TAs during class, email after class.
I am able to disable student comments on announcements (which may have a place but seems very unusual to me in the first place) so I'm not sure why not be able to disable student comments on other things such as assignments/quizzes...
I also have this same question. Students use assignment comments to upload assignments in file formats I do not want. For example, RAR files instead of ZIP files. I only allow ZIPs because I can easily expand them, but to expand an RAR, I have to upload it to a web site that converts it to ZIP, and then I must download it again. Imagine if everyone did that!!! No, but they get around the disallowed file type by uploading it as a comment.
Also, they post work past the deadline as comments. One semester I had three or four students that neglected their work all semester long, and then on the last week of class uploaded a full semester’s worth of work as assignment comments, and then they emailed me to request that I accept it. Some even had the gall to say they knew what is the deadline for professors to post grades at the end of the semester and to incorrectly assume that I would wait until the last minute to accept late work. A couple of others even turned in their work AFTER THE END of the semester and asked me to do a Grade Change for them. No!!! This feature must be turned off!!! 😡 😡 😡
New bad experience with comments on assignments: I'm having TAs arguing with each other about grading in assignment comment sections (in front of students for all intents and purposes) because they were replying to notifications they were receiving through email that link up to assignment comments - didn't realize their statements were showing up in the comment section for students to see.
In addition to all the above commenters variations to submitting files in types I can't open without paying for converters, avoiding deadlines (intentionally and unintentionally)... There is a setting in the overall class settings page to disallow comments being made on Announcements so it seems like Canvas web developers should, in principle, know how to make disallowing comments and/or attachments to comments on assignments and quizzes also be options for instructors to have.
Please, please, please help us. This is just one of so many basic functionality issues with Canvas that would make such a huge improvement for instructors and students. Please make this happen. I've had so much trouble and so much more of my time taken up by Canvas than previously was needed by Blackboard. I really want to like using Canvas (and we spend a lot of student tuition money for the honor). This has been a topic since 2017 and I'm sure I voted on this as feature idea in the past so more than just this one conversation thread.
Holy crap, Canvas. Just fix the **bleep** issue!
Dear Canvas,
Copied this comment that a student left for me yesterday.
"I was previously unaware that I was still able to attach files on Canvas after the deadline had ended, I initially sent an email with the lab report included after 5pm on the 8th. My apologies for the very late submission."
Doesn't matter how many times we tell them, where in the syllabus and even on the Canvas page we post instructions for how to submit, that we don't accept email or files attached to comments for grading... the ability to do it translates into assumed permission and appears as if I've done something to allow this - so apparently I've changed my expectations for the class and just haven't revised my syllabus policies, announcements to the class, face-to-face reminders from TAs to students, etc...
Please, PLEASE, PLEASE take some sort of action on this.
We also have faculty that would like to be able to disable student comments. Their issues are the same echoed here, that students use it as an end run around the due dates. It would be nice for those faculty who wish to totally disable students' comments, or to disallow student comments after the until or due date.
We need the option to (1) disable all student comments on assignments through SpeedGrader and (2) more importantly disable file attachments in SpeedGrader comments for assignments. We're higher ed and they still try to resubmit this way when they should be resubmitting through the assignment itself.
This particular thread goes back to at least 2017 and I've been involved in this thread since 2022... I'm sure there were other threads about the same feature that go back at least that far, probably even farther. I appreciate all the time and effort that goes in to web design, figuring out different ways to sort and organize comments into themes, host online events, etc., (honestly appreciate the time and effort that goes into this) but can't a little more time be diverted to addressing our issues with basic functionality of Canvas itself - especially ones like this one that will enhance our student engagement and reduce behind the scenes administration time, effort, and frustration?
In the same boat…this needs to be disabled. Students use that section to hand in late work which they should not be able to do.
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