About Anonymous Participation
- Discussions can be one of two participation types: standard participation, where participant usernames are visible as normal for all users; or anonymous participation, where each participants’ username and avatar is replaced with a randomized “color animal” combo such as “Purple Penguin“.
- In anonymous discussions, Admins are able to view the “real” usernames of all participants in the discussion if they choose to (see here).
- Participants in an anonymous discussion are informed of their newly assigned username upon entering the discussion for the first time.
- Once a discussion is set to anonymous participation, it cannot be reverted back to the standard participation type.
- Discussions can either be set to anonymous participation when creating a new discussion or using a template (i.e. be anonymous from the start), or be converted to anonymous participation from standard participation.
- Users have different anonymous identities in separate discussions. For example, if a user has the “Purple Penguin” identity in one anonymous discussion, they might be “Orange Cat” or “Blue Octopus” in a different anonymous discussion.
- Students can theoretically work out the identity of other participants, such as if they reveal any personally identifiable information in a comment or the discussion chat.
Tip: You may wish to remind students that as discussion Admins, teachers/educators are able to view the real usernames of all participants.
How to Anonymize a Discussion
Reminder: Once a discussion has been set to the Anonymous Participation type, it cannot be reverted back to Standard Participation.
To anonymize a new discussion:
- Navigate through the new discussion prompts as normal, selecting the appropriate settings.
- For the Participation type setting, select Anonymous Participation.
- Continue through the rest of the prompts.
To anonymize an existing discussion:
Note: Only discussion Admins can anonymize a discussion.
- Click the Settings icon in the top-right of the discussion.
- Scroll down to the Anonymous Participation section and click Change Participation Type.
- Select Anonymous Participation, then click Save.
Viewing Real Identities in Anonymous Discussions
Note: Only discussion Admins are able to view the real usernames of users in an anonymous discussion.
Admins in a discussion can toggle whether to view the anonymous or real display names for users. To do so, toggle the Show Anonymous/Account names icon in the top-right of the discussion. Regardless of this setting, other users in the discussion will continue to see anonymized names in the discussion.
Admins can also display a list of the usernames of all anonymous users in the discussion:
- Click the Settings icon.
- Scroll down to the Anonymous Participation section.
- Select List Deanonymized Users.
To download a .csv
file of anonymous names and their real counterparts, click the download icon.