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The Discussions function in Canvas

Two-way communication with students and between students works well with Discussions. Discussion forums can be used for different purposes, everything from graded assignments to social interactions.

The text editor in Canvas (RCE)

The text editor in Canvas is called Rich Content Editor (RCE) and is used by all functions in Canvas.

If you would like to know more about it you can read about the RCE on Canvas Community.  

Note! Always use the built-in features to import images, files and special characters. If you copy anything other than plain text into the text editor, there is a risk that it will not be saved correctly.

Communal discussion forum

In Canvas, Discussions is the place where everyone in a course room can talk and discuss in an open forum, both students and teachers. Everything that is written is visible for everyone. With discussion forums you can create a sense of community and social presence which can be hard to achieve in other parts of Canvas.

Anonymity is possible

When you create a discussion, you can choose that the participants are anonymous, both to other students and to teachers. You can also choose an intermediate step, where the students themselves can choose whether they should answer anonymously or not.

Good to know about anonymous discussions:

  • Teachers are never anonymous, it only applies to students.
  • The chosen level of anonymity is locked after the first response. You cannot de-anonymize a discussion.
  • Grades and groups are not supported in anonymous discussions.

Different purposes of discussion forums

In Canvas you can use Discussions in different ways depending on the purpose of the discussion. You can, for example, use discussion forums for assessment purposes and as a support for learning.

Graded discussions

Graded discussions can be used to encourage active participation in your course and allow students to discuss a topic according to the guidelines you, as the instructor, have set.

Read more about Graded discussions in Canvas . 

Discussions to support learning

An effective and pedagogical way to work is to have the students learn from each other through discussions, even when the discussion is not a graded assignment. You as a teacher can structure the discussion in different ways, depending on the objective of the discussion.

Read more about Discussions to support learning .

Video tutorial on how to use Discussions

Canvas has a video that goes through how discussions are created and edited. Timestamps for the information are below the video, and there is a text version of the video (community.canvaslms.com) .

Note! The video shows an older version which is missing some settings and looks slightly different.

Timestamps for information in the video

  • 00:10 - Find Discussions, search for or filter discussions.
  • 00:30 - Manage settings for all discussions.
  • 01:20 - Discussion overview, pinned, current and closed discussions.
  • 02:05 - Manage settings for individual discussions.
  • 02:20 - Icons on the overview.
  • 02:55 - Create a new discussion, add content.
  • 03:10 - Options for discussions.
  • 03:35 - Group discussion, Graded discussion.
  • 04:40 - The Details page for a discussion.

Tips for better use of discussions

  • Skim through the threads once in a while, but only answer if it is a question that is directed to you or if the discussion does not seem to get any closer to an answer. Nothing stops a student discussion faster than a teacher with the correct answer. 
  • Make participation obligatory even for non-graded discussions but with very easy requirements, for example write a question and try to help someone else. The hardest part is to get the students to start using the discussion forum.
  • Add important discussions to the To-do list, as it will remind the students that they should participate in those discussions. A graded discussion with a due date is automatically added to the To-do list.
  • Show that the discussions are a part of the course, for example by referring to answers in a discussion when someone asks you a question or by bringing up an interesting perspective from a discussion.
  • In bigger courses it can get cumbersome to have all students in one discussion. You can choose “This is a group discussion” to divide the students into smaller discussion groups. The groups will only be able to see their own discussion when they open up the discussion.
  • Give discussions appropriate names, pin important discussions and close discussions when they are no longer used. This is especially important if you are combining the different types of discussions presented on this page.

The teacher is always responsible for the discussion environment

Even if a discussion forum is not used as a graded assignment, you as a teacher still need to keep an eye on the discussion environment. It is your responsibility to keep the discussion from getting “out of control” and to put a stop to any harassments at an early stage, preferably even before they start. It can also be a good idea to remind students that the code of conduct applies to the discussion forum as well.

Canvas gives you as a teacher tools to help moderate discussions, for example by locking the comment section of certain discussion threads. These tools are explained in the video tutorial that you can find earlier on this page.