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Graded discussions in Canvas

With graded discussions in Canvas, you can encourage students to participate actively while also providing feedback and assessment. On this page, you'll learn how to create a graded discussion, how to assess a discussion using SpeedGrader, and how to use features such as peer review and checkpoints.

What is a graded discussion?

Graded discussions are a tool that can be used to encourage active participation in your course. You can set deadlines, assign points, define grading criteria, and link the discussion to a specific assignment in the course. By making discussions gradable, you can clearly communicate expectations and provide feedback on students' contributions. This enables a more structured learning environment, even in asynchronous formats. The feature works for both individual and group-based assignments.

How to create a graded discussion

  1. Go to Discussions in the course menu.

  2. Click + Add Discussion.

  3. Enter a title and provide instructions for the students.

  4. Check the box "Graded". Here you also have the option to enable "Assign graded checkpoints". Read more about checkpoints further down on this page.

  5. If you want to make the discussion a group assignment: select "This is a group discussion" and link it to a group set in the course.

  6. If you want to use peer review, choose to assign peer reviews manually or automatically. Students will then be assigned specific posts to respond to.

  7. Adjust the remaining settings as needed.

  8. Click Save (and optionally Publish).

  9. Once the discussion is created, you can add a rubric to clarify grading criteria. Do this by clicking the three dots next to the discussion and selecting "Add rubric".

Tip! Consider checking the box "Participants must respond to the topic before viewing other replies". This helps prevent students from simply repeating others' ideas without personal reflection. Students will have to share their own views before seeing what their peers have written.

Grading a discussion in SpeedGrader

Once you have created a graded discussion in Canvas, you can use SpeedGrader to read student posts, give comments, and assign grades – all in one place. The following steps show you how:

  1. Open SpeedGrader. You can access it either via the discussion or from the Grades page.

  2. Read the student's post(s) (and any replies). Older replies are shown at the top, and newer ones are listed below. If you want to see the full discussion context, you can either:

    • Click the link "View the full discussion", or

    • Click Options in SpeedGrader and select "View replies in context".

  3. Enter the grade in the grade field. If you’re using a rubric, click "View Rubric" and assess according to the listed criteria.

  4. Provide feedback by writing a text comment. You can also upload a file or record audio/video.

  5. Save your assessment and proceed to the next student.

Learn more about grading discussions in SpeedGrader (Canvas Community).

Checkpoints in graded discussions

Checkpoints are a feature in Canvas discussions that allow you to set milestones with deadlines within a graded discussion. This feature is especially useful if you want students to participate at multiple points in time – for example, by first writing an initial post and then returning to reply to others.

A checkpoint is a specific date and time that serves as a sub-task in the discussion. It can be used to:

  • Encourage early participation

  • Differentiate between original posts and replies

  • Ensure participation is spread across multiple days

As an instructor, you can set one or more checkpoints when creating or editing the discussion. In SpeedGrader, you can then see which posts were submitted before or after each checkpoint.

Note: Checkpoints do not affect grading automatically – you are responsible for considering them when assessing or using a rubric.

Learn more about graded discussions and checkpoints (Canvas Community).

Notes about graded discussions

  • Graded discussions do not support anonymous grading.

  • In the Grades view, a graded discussion appears as a column for all students, but the grade cells are greyed out for students who were not assigned the discussion.

  • It is not possible to assign a grade to students who have not been included in the graded discussion.