Discussions: Anonymity & Privacy

Risks & Implications of Anonymity

As of May 17, 2024, Discussions allow students to post anonymously. Once anonymity is selected, even course instructors and local Canvas administrators will not be able to identify the student. As an instructor, your name and profile image will always be displayed in discussion posts and responses.

While anonymity might encourage students to share more honest opinions about controversial or vulnerable topics, there are real risks associated with the choice, making it more difficult to follow up with students who leave abusive or inappropriate comments or who otherwise share concerning information. Instead of choosing to use anonymous discussions to support honest conversation, you might choose to invest time in building relationships with and between students, establishing values and commitments that can guide your discussions, and modeling a growth mindset where people learn through trying and can change their minds.

If you’d like help thinking through the implications for choosing anonymous discussions for a particular assignment, CTE staff are available to meet with you.

Anonymous Discussion Options

The new Anonymous Discussion option allows professors to choose from three different levels of student anonymity.

This is the default option. Having it selected means the discussion will function and operate as usual with student names and profile images being attached to their posts and visible to everyone in the class.

This option allows students the choice of whether their post is anonymous or associated with their name and profile image. When they click on “Reply”, a “Replying As” option will appear with a drop down menu under it, allowing students to choose to post using the Anonymous option, which will replace their screen name with “Anonymous” followed by a randomly generated string of alphanumeric characters, or with their name and image attached.

If a student chooses anonymity, neither you nor Canvas administrators will be able to identify the student. Students who post anonymously will have the same randomly generated screen name associated with all of their posts in the Discussion.

This option means that all student names and profile images will be hidden. All student identities will be replaced with “Anonymous” followed by a string of randomly generated alphanumeric figures. Please note, graded and group discussions are not available if you are using the “Full” anonymous option.

When students post anonymously, neither you nor Canvas administrators will be able to identify the student. Students who post anonymously will have the same randomly generated screen name associated with all of their posts in the Discussion.

Fully or Partially Anonymous discussion posts also include a notification banner at the top of the page, indicating whether the discussion is Fully Anonymous or if the students have the option via Partial Anonymity.

Additional Privacy & Course Climate Considerations

In addition to enabling anonymous posting, Discussions also includes a few other features relating to privacy and course climate, including:

Report a reply

If a student is concerned that a post in the Discussion violates course agreements or expectations, they are able to report the reply. When a student makes a report, their name is not disclosed to the teacher. To report a reply select the “more options” menu to the right of the relevant response [1], and select “Report” from the drop-down menu [2].

To do so simply click on the three dots located in the top right corner of a reply (1). Then, click on the “Report” option at the bottom of the menu that appears (2). A screen will appear asking you to select a reason for the report. When you have done so, click Submit.

After a report is made, the faculty member receives an email notification with a link to the reported post, and can choose to respond to the post, delete it, or otherwise address the comment in class.

Edit History

Students have the ability to edit their posts in Discussions. If a student does make changes to a post after publishing, the instructor will be able to view the history, by selecting the option under the timestamp on the post.