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:
- In the Module Navigation of your
module, click Discussions.
- To start a discussion, click +
Discussion.
- 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.
- Select required options for the
discussion from the Options list. The options are the
following:
- Allow threaded replies to
create a threaded
discussion.
- Users must post before seeing
replies to require users
to reply to the discussion before
they can see other replies.
- Enable podcast feed to
enable a discussion podcast
feed.
- Graded to create a graded
discussion (see next
procedure).
- Allow liking to allow
students to like discussion
replies.
- Add to student to-do to add
the ungraded discussion to the
student to-do list.
- To make the discussion a group
discussion, select the This is a
Group Discussion checkbox.
- 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.
- Click Save & publish or Save.
- In the Module Navigation of your
module, click Discussions.
- To start a discussion, click +
Discussion.
- 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.
- From the Options list, select
the Graded checkbox.
- Select any other options if
required.
- Enter the number of points possible in
the Points possible field.
- Select the grading type from the Display Grade as list.
- Select the assignment group from the Assignment group list.
- If you want to require peer reviews,
select the Require Peer Reviews checkbox.
- By default, Canvas will assign your
graded discussion for everyone in your
course. You can edit this in the Assign to field if
needed.
- In the date fields, add the
following:
- Due: Set
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.
- Available
from: Set
the date and time
when the
discussion will
become
available.
- Until: Set
the date and time
when the
discussion will no
longer be
available.
- 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.
Discussion Contents
These discussions do not have to be text
based, they can be in the form of
podcasts, images, audio/video
submissions.