Running Discussions in Canvas

Canvas’ Discussions area allows for the creation of discussion forums. Discussions provide a space for interactive communication between two or more people; users can participate in a conversation with an entire class or group.

To create a discussion forum in Canvas:

1. Go to the Discussions area of your course.
   
   
2. Click the + Discussion button at the top of the page.
   
   
3. Give your discussion a title and enter a discussion prompt or instructions in the box below.
   
   
4. Select any additional options for the discussion board.
   
   

1. By default, discussions are created as focused discussions.
   To create a threaded discussion, click the Allow threaded replies checkbox.
2. To require users to reply to the discussion before they can see any other replies, click the Users must post before seeing replies checkbox.
3. To enable a discussion podcast feed, click the Enable podcast feed checkbox.
4. To create a graded discussion, click the Graded checkbox.
   You can assign graded discussions to everyone, individual students, course sections, or course groups.
5. To allow students to like discussion replies, click the Allow liking checkbox.
6. To make the discussion a group discussion, click the This is a Group Discussion checkbox.

Click Save & Publish to publish your discussion to students.