Issue with @Mentioning - Duplicate Display Names

MinuHa

Hello! I'm a tech support officer at a university, assisting academic staff. 🙂

We've received consistent feedback regarding the use of the @mention feature. Since it only display students' Display names, teachers often encounter multiple students with the same Display name, making it difficult to identify who is who. Please refer to the attached screenshot for an example.

Is there any way for teachers to distinguish between students in such cases?

A clear 'No' would actually be appreciated, as we are currently unsure whether any solution exists. 😞

Screenshot 2025-09-26 155234.png

Chris

Hi @MinuHa,

I do think the answer right now is a "no".  There are some other areas fo Canvas, like the Assign-to boxes where this has been remedied by adding some additional information (the sis_id) below each person's name.  For discussion @ mentions though, that probably isn't as workable of a solution because students can @ mention too and they probably shouldn't see other users info or wouldn't have the meaning behind it like a teacher would. It could perhaps help a teacher, but I think Instructure would probably look for a universal solution.  This is definitely a tough one, but I hope this info helps in some way...

-Chris