Discussions are a very flexible tool that can help create group conversations within your class. They can both be graded or ungraded.  

Discussions includes graded conversations with students or ungraded discussions. This can be customised for each individual student. A student can submit their work before they see their peers work and are also able to edit and delete posts. You can subscribe to individual discussions and be notified if a new post is made.


To use ungraded discussions in Canvas, complete the following steps:


  1. In the Module Navigation of your module, click Discussions.
  2. To start a discussion, click + Discussion.
  3. Enter a topic title and information. If you want to create a section-specific discussion that is not graded, click the Post to drop-down menu. You can select one or multiple sections. To create a graded section-specific discussion, use the discussion options.
  4. Select required options for the discussion from the Options list. The options are the following:
    1. Allow threaded replies to create a threaded discussion.
    2. Users must post before seeing replies to require users to reply to the discussion before they can see other replies.
    3. Enable podcast feed to enable a discussion podcast feed.
    4. Graded to create a graded discussion (see next procedure).
    5. Allow liking to allow students to like discussion replies.
    6. Add to student to-do to add the ungraded discussion to the student to-do list.
  5. To make the discussion a group discussion, select the This is a Group Discussion checkbox.
  6. To make your discussion available on a specific date or during a specific date range using availability dates, enter the dates in the Available from and Until fields, or click the calendar icons to select dates.
  7. Click Save & publish or Save.

To use graded discussions in Canvas, complete the following steps.

  1. In the Module Navigation of your module, click Discussions.
  2. To start a discussion, click + Discussion.
  3. Enter a topic title and information. If you want to create a section-specific discussion that is not graded, click the Post to drop-down menu. You can select one or multiple sections. To create a graded section-specific discussion, use the discussion options.
  4. From the Options list, select the Graded checkbox.
  5. Select any other options if required.
  6. Enter the number of points possible in the Points possible field.
  7. Select the grading type from the Display Grade as list.
  8. Select the assignment group from the Assignment group list.
  9. If you want to require peer reviews, select the Require Peer Reviews checkbox.
  10. By default, Canvas will assign your graded discussion for everyone in your course. You can edit this in the Assign to field if needed.
  11. In the date fields, add the following:
    1. DueSet the date and time that the graded discussion is due. The due date will already be populated for you if you created a discussion shell, but you can change it if necessary.
    2. Available fromSet the date and time when the discussion will become available.
    3. UntilSet the date and time when the discussion will no longer be available.
  12. Click Save & publish or Save.

 

Pinned Discussions

Pinned Discussions can be used for information that you might always want to keep on display. These could include deadlines, special dates, notices and rubrics. For Example: you could add a rubric and pin it to make expectations clear to students and marking criteria clear to you.

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Discussion Contents

These discussions do not have to be text based, they can be in the form of podcasts, images, audio/video submissions.