Canvas Discussions are online forums that allow students to interact with one another, share ideas, and reflect online. As an instructor, you can create a discussion activity directly in your Canvas course. Discussions can be graded or ungraded.
To add a discussion activity in your Canvas course, click the tabs below and follow the two-step process.
Step One: Create the Discussion
In this video, you will learn how to manage and create Discussions in your Canvas course. Note: the Publish button shown on the Discussion details page in the video is now the Publish icon . To view subtitles for this video, click CC on the video player.
You may also review the Canvas guide on how to create a Discussion.
Tip: Key Settings for Discussion Activities
It's important to remember the following settings when creating discussions:
- Always click the "Allow Threaded Replies" checkbox in the settings of the discussion. Threaded replies must be activated manually for each discussion in Canvas.
- Do not check "This is a Group Discussion" in the settings unless you plan to break students out into separate group threads to discuss the same topic.
Step Two: Add the Discussion to a Module
Students can access published Discussions, Assignments, and Quizzes directly from the Canvas course menu, as well as through Modules.
If you create a Discussion from the Discussions page of your Canvas course, it is a best practice to always add the activity to a module. If you create a Discussion directly from a module, that activity is automatically added to the module and accessible to your students when published.
To add a Discussion to a Module:
- In the course navigation menu, click Modules.
- To add a Discussion to a specific Module, click Add Item (plus sign) to the right of the Module title. In this example, we are adding a discussion to the Getting Started module.
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The Add Item to Module window will appear. Click the Add drop-down menu and select Discussion.
- Select the name of the Discussion from the list that you would like to add.
- Click Add Item. In this example, we have selected the "Introduce Yourself" Discussion.
Please note that you can also create a new Discussion activity directly from within Modules by selecting [ New Topic ] from the list instead.
The Discussion has now been added to the Module.
Additional Canvas Resources
For additional articles on how to create and manage Discussions, you can explore Canvas's guides for instructors: