Video Tutorial: Discussions Video

Instructors may use discussions for assessment and require you to post replies to discussion topics, and respond to other students' replies. Instructors may also use discussions as a way share podcasts and files with students. You can adjust how you receive notifications for new messages in discussions via your notification settings.

In a discussion, you will often be able to reply both to the Discussion directions or prompt, and to each other. The Discussion page has a variety of ways to navigate and participate in the discussion thread. Review the numbered items below.

Gear Icon – Click the gear icon to mark all messages as read or to view the rubric attached to a graded discussion.
Graded Discussion Indicator – Any topic that is graded will display a blue highlighted area at the top of the discussion, with the due date.
Description – Follow the directions in the discussion description, and respond to any prompts here.
Search box/Unread Filters – Use the search box to search for entries by keyword or author. Click the "Unread" button to view only unread messages in the topic.
Collapse/Expand All Threads –Use the buttons to collapse and expand all threads in the topic. Click the blue arrow at the top of a thread to open and close an individual thread.
Subscribe – Click the subscribe button to subscribe to all of a discussion topic's threads. Once subscribed, notifications will occur when new comments are posted to the topic. You can unsubscribe by clicking this button again.
Creating a post – Click in the long Reply box just under the directions/prompt to add a new reply to the discussion topic. The rich content editor will display.
Responding to a post – Click Reply under a post to add a reply to that particular post. The rich content editor will display.
Reply Gear Icon - In some courses students may be able to edit and delete their own posts. Look for the Options gear icon at the top right of your own posts.

Discussion Tips

The Discussion link may not be available in course’s left navigation. This just means your instructor wants to link to Discussions only through the Modules, or may not be using Discussions at all.
Some instructors may restrict your ability to create discussion topics, edit discussions replies once they are posted, or add attachments to discussion posts, so compose your replies thoughtfully and edit them before posting.
Some discussion topics will be focused discussions and other discussions will be threaded. In a focused discussion, you will only be able to respond to the discussion prompt, not to other students. In a threaded discussion, you will be able to respond to the replies other students post, as well as the initial prompt.
Even if a discussion is threaded, you may be required to post your own reply before being able to view the replies of other students.
If you are part of a group, the group will have its own discussion area and you will be able to create discussion topics and edit and delete posts there.

Please note that the rich content editor will warn you if you click away from the discussion page with an unsaved post; however, discussion posts are not automatically saved if you ignore the warning or if you have a technical issue posting to the discussion. In graded discussions students may want to write discussion posts in Word or another word processing program first so a copy of the work is saved locally in case there is a technical issue when posting the discussion. Once you are finished writing your post in Word use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD + A to select all the text. Then use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD + C to copy the text. In the rich content editor in Canvas place the cursor in the location where the text should appear. Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD + V to paste the text in the rich content editor. Then be sure to submit your post when finished.

Canvas Guides

What are Discussions for students?
How do I view Discussions as a student?
How do I reply to a Discussion as a student?
How do I edit or delete my Discussion posts?
How do I link to a YouTube video in a Discussion reply?
How do I mark Discussion posts as read or unread?
How do I manually mark my Discussion posts as read?
How do I embed an image in a Discussion reply?
How do I subscribe to a course podcast as a student?
How do I attach a file to a Discussion reply as a student?
How do I subscribe to a Discussion as a student?
What is a peer review Discussion?
How do I submit a peer review to a Discussion?
How do I know if I have a Discussion peer review to complete?
Where can I find my peers' feedback for peer reviewed discussions?