Discussion Boards

Students do not have to be in the same place at the same time to interact with one another. Using a Canvas discussion board means the interactions happen over the course of days or weeks, with students participating asynchronously.

Setting up Discussions in Canvas

Discussions can be whole-class or small-group discussions. Click below to learn how to create discussion boards in Canvas: 

• Canvas Discussion Tutorials 
• How can I require students to reply to a course discussion before they see other replies? 
• How do I allow students to attach files to a course discussion? 
• How do I create a group discussion?
• How do I grade a graded discussion in SpeedGrader?

Monitoring Discussions

It's important to monitor discussions frequently for appropriate student participation and engagement. Additionally, you can join the discussion by asking questions, connecting different student posts, and providing additional resources. To learn more about best practices in discussions, we recommend this

Canvas has a couple features to help you monitor discussions:

• Check your discussion notificationsand set them to the frequency that works for you.
• Make sure you are subscribed to your discussions so you get those notifications.

Best Practices for Planning and Facilitating Online Discussions

This video from the University of Minnesota (6:38) has great tips on planning and facilitating discussion boards.

If you would like some tips about how to write effective discussion prompts, visit the following short ST. Thomas STELAR blog posts: 

• Enhance Your Online Discussions
• More Ideas about How to Enhance Your Online Discussions