Creating a Discussion Board

You can use the "Discussions" option to build a discussion board where students can view and comment to the responses of their peers to a topic. Different kinds and forms of debate can be facilitated using discussion boards, which can be organized in a variety of ways. 

Follow the step-by-step instructions below to create discussions in CANVAS.

Step 1: From the course menu, click "Discussions."

Step 2: In the top-right corner, click the "+Discussion" button.

Step 3: In the "Topic Title," give the topic a name.

Step 4: In the Rich Content Editor, type the details of your topic.

Step 5: If you want to attach a file, you can do so by selecting it from the Document icon, or by selecting one from your course files.

Step 6: In the "Post To" box, select the Section(s) and/or individual students.

Step 7: By clicking "Choose File" and finding a document you want to make available to users, you can upload Attachments.

Step 8: Select the "Options" for your discussion topic that best suit the discussion style and experience you want to provide for your students.

• Allow threaded answers, which indent user remarks as they respond to one another.
• Users must post before seeing replies - they will not be able to see other people's reactions to the prompt/conversation until they have responded.
• Allow users to subscribe to a podcast feed of the discussion by enabling podcast feed. Read the article, "How do I enable a podcast feed for a discussion in a course?" Links to an external site. for more information.
• When Graded is enabled, you can assign a grade to the Discussion.
• Make it a Group Discussion. If you do so grades assigned to members of the same group will be the same. 
• Allow people to "Like" answers from other users, similar to how they would on social networking.
• The course calendar, the student-specific List View Dashboard, and the global and course home page to-do lists all display student to-do items including graded discussions. If the discussion is not graded, remember to click the Add to student to-do checkbox so it will appear in the student to-do list.

Step 9: If you want students to exclusively interact with classmates in their own group, check the "Group Discussion" box. Create student groups Links to an external site. before allowing students to discuss within the same group.

Step 10: Set the Availability Dates for when students can participate in the discussion and respond to it.

Step 11: When you're finished, click "Save" or "Save & Publish."

Let's learn how to set other discussion features through the guides in the next page. Click "Next".