add fix for new conversations toolbar appearing under rainbow bar

add utility functions

add fix for new conversations toolbar appearing under rainbow bar
remove duplicate comment
Merge pull request #131 from grahamb/discussions-top-fix

add fix for new conversations toolbar appearing under rainbow bar
Make Course form compatible with Backbone 1.0.0

In Backbone 0.9.9, the "request" event was added to Backbone.sync, so
the Collection#fetch override to trigger "request" is no longer needed.

In Backbone 1.0.0, the default updating mechanism after a fetch no
longer triggers "reset". Use the "sync" event instead.
Merge pull request #132 from va7map/canvas212-backbone_1_compat

Make Course form compatible with Backbone 1.0.0