Discussions - How do you build discussions?

Now let's see how to create discussions with these videos and Canvas Guides, which include screen shots. Keep in mind that a discussion is like a Canvas page or assignment in that you can include course content, videos, links to external resource, etc. in the instructions of the discussion.

Discussions -- overview

This video provides an overview of using discussions in Canvas.

516a - Discussions Overview Links to an external site. from Canvas LMS Links to an external site. on Vimeo Links to an external site..

Recommendations for Discussions Settings

Here are some recommendations for discussion settings that will help your students be more successful with discussions. 

General discussion settings for the entire course

Discussion settings you can set for individual discussions Links to an external site.

  • Allow threaded replies -- this allows you to see the original post followed by any replies, and it makes reading and grading discussions much easier.
  • Post first before replying -- this requires students to post their own response before they can see and respond to their classmates' posts.
  • Make discussions graded -- use this feature if you want to give points for discussions. Even if you make the discussion un-graded, you can still add it to the To Do list so students will see it there.
  • Allow students to like each other's discussion posts -- they're used to doing this in social media, so they might like it here too. 

Here are various Canvas Guides with screen shots to help you learn to use Discussions.

Creating Discussions

Managing Discussions

Grading Discussions