Tip

If you create 1 discussion for your course, then all the students enrolled in the course will participate in the same discussion, which might be too big of a "conversation" to be successful. Instead, create a discussion for each class period, assigning the discussion to just the appropriate hour and not Everyone.

Another option is to create a group discussion. You could create groups within a class period to have discussions for smaller groups within that class. You could create groups within the course and have students in the same group who are not in the same class period.

Guides

Discussion Guides

What can I use a Discussion for?

Discussions can be used to:

Help students start thinking about an upcoming Assignment or class discussion.
Follow-up on a conversation or questions that began in a face-to-face classroom.
Check for understanding of learning targets.
Debate contradictory ideas.
Brainstorm different approaches to a problem.

Options and Settings

Discussions can be created as an assignment for grading purposes or remain ungraded (i.e., an "Introduce Yourself" or "Student Forum" or course Q&A).

When you set a discussion to 'graded' then the options for creating an assignment will appear. Consider the following quiz settings:

In the Options section of the Quiz settings:

Enable "Users must post before seeing replies."
Enable "Allow liking" as a way to motivate students read posts from others or as a way to collect votes on ideas or suggestions.

In the Course Settings, under More Options:

Disable "Let students edit or delete their own discussion posts."
Disable "Let students create discussion topics.
Disable "Let students organize their own groups."
You can also decide if it would be beneficial to "Let students attach files to discussion."

In your Discussion directions/prompt, use the Rich Text Editor to include links to websites, record or upload videos, insert content from External Apps such as Khan Academy or CK-12, etc. You can use the Content Selector to includes links to other pages in our course, modules, files, or embed an image you've uploaded.

Threaded or Focused

You can also choose to make a discussion threaded or focused. Use a Threaded Discussion for multiple posts and related comments. One or more discussion leaders post a message and multiple learners comment on it with the freedom to create any number of related discussion topics and comments (infinite layers of nesting).

Peer Review

A peer review discussion enables students to provide feedback on another student's reply to a class discussion. Peer reviews are a tool that allows communication between students and can help students master the concepts of a course and learn from each other. Peer reviews can only be added as part of a graded discussion.

Facilitating Discussions

The Return Prompt: We often want students to create initial postings in a discussion board, and then return within a set amount of time to respond to the postings of others. Getting students to remember to return to the discussion can be a challenge. One strategy is to create a calendar event in Canvas that contains a link back to the original discussion board. This calendar entry will show up on a student's To Do list, as well as in their calendar. Set the event on the date by which you would like students to return to the discussion.
As an Instructor, you have the ability to edit or delete Discussion posts within your course. This setting helps you moderate your course and remove any inappropriate or otherwise unwanted posts.
By default, you will automatically be subscribed to all discussion threads you create in your courses and be notified via email when new comments are posted to the topic. Students are automatically subscribed to a discussion once they have submitted a response.
By default, as you read new Discussion posts, Canvas will mark them as read (changing the indicators from blue to white) as you scroll down the page. However, you can manually mark each posts back to a read or unread state.
For online discussions to be successful there are certain protocols and best practices to be followed. To learn more about facilitating discussion with your students, see these guides: