Highlight Text option when assessing Discussions

Linda.B.432

I would like to have the ability to highlight text in students' discussions when I am assessing them, so they know, readily, what was useful about their discussion post.

Is there presently a way to do this? If not, it would be great to add this (it would make my grading process much easier for online courses).

Karim.M.508

Hi @Linda.B.432

Currently, Brightspace does not offer a built-in feature to highlight text directly within student discussion posts during assessment. This functionality is available for assignment submissions through the Annotations tool, which allows for inline feedback such as highlighting, freehand drawing, and text annotations. However, this tool is not extended to the Discussions tool at this time.​

To advocate for the addition of text highlighting in discussion assessments, you can submit a feature request through Brightspace's Product Idea Exchange (PIE). This platform allows users to propose new features and improvements, which the development team reviews for potential implementation.​

In the meantime, you might consider providing detailed feedback in the comments section of the discussion assessment. While this doesn't allow for direct text highlighting, you can reference specific parts of a student's post by quoting excerpts and offering your feedback accordingly.

Regards.