Creating Discussions

Discussions are often used to promote student interaction and exchange of ideas asynchronously, especially in online and hybrid courses. Canvas Discussions can be ungraded, graded, assigned to groups, and even peer reviewed.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

Create a new discussion

1. Click on the Discussion tab in your course navigation.
   
   

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   Navigation menu on MyClasses

2. Click on the Add Discussion button.

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   The Add Discussion button on the Discussions course page.

3. Add a title and prompt to the discussion.

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   A topic title and discussion prompt are entered in text boxes. The instructor selects the section for the announcement if multiple sections are merged.

4. Choose the settings you want to apply to that discussion.

   1. By default, discussions show the student’s full name. To change what’s available, select any of the check bubbles to your liking.

   2. If you do not wish users to be able to reply to other users in the discussion, click the Disallow threaded replies checkbox.

   3. To require users to reply to the discussion before they can see any other replies, click the Participants must respond to the topic before viewing other replies checkbox.

   4. To enable a discussion podcast feed, click the Enable podcast feed checkbox. 

   5. For more information in regards to grading a discussion, please refer to our article on Discussion with Graded Checkpoints. Discussions with Graded CheckpointsPreview

   6. To allow students to like discussion replies, click the Allow liking checkbox. 

   7. To add an ungraded discussion to the student to-do list, click the Add to student to-do checkbox. Student to-do items display in the course calendar, in the student-specific List View Dashboard, and in the global and course home page to-do lists. Graded discussions automatically display in a student's to-do list. 

   8. To make the discussion a group discussion, click the This is a Group Discussion checkbox. 

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5. If needed, add an attachment.
   
   

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   Attach button to search for an attachment.

6. Select Save and Publish or Save when finished.

7. For more settings options, go back to the Discussions page and select the gear icon next to the Discussion button at the top right of the screen.
   
   

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   Setting button on the Discussions course page.

8. Here, check any boxes you desire, and hit Save Settings when finished. These settings will apply for every discussion.
   
   

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   Discussion Setting Menu

    

9. Under the View tab there are multiple settings that impact the view of students accessing discussions.

   1. The Default Thread State function refers to how students view discussion threads. By clicking the Expanded option students will see all discussion posts and comments left by other individuals in the discussion. The Collapsed option forces students to click each post and comment to open and read said media. This setting can be changed individually by students where it will affect their default view.

   2. The Default Sort Order function is used to change the display order in which the discussion posts are displayed by default. Oldest First shows the discussion posts that were created first at the top of the display order. Newest First displays the discussion posts that were created the most recently at the top of the display order.

   3. To make your discussion available on a specific date or during a specific date range using availability dates, select Manage Assign To for a pop up on the right to appear, enter the dates in the Available From and Until fields, or click the calendar icons to select dates. If you create a graded discussion, the Available From and Until dates can be set in the Assign field. Before the Available From date, students will only be able to view the discussion title. After the Until date, students can view the discussion topic and all responses but cannot add or edit any responses.

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