3. How do I a Create Discussion Activity>

Click on a panel title to expand or collapse it.

Each panel below describes a unique aspect of setting up a discussion activity. Instructions include screenshots.

Work your way down through the list in order. When you click a panel to expand it, the one before it collapses.

Canvas guide:

How do I create a discussion using Discussions Redesign as an instructor?

1. Create a new discussion

Click the red '+Discussion' button.
1. Enter a name into the 'Topic Title' box.
2. Enter a text description (the starter message/prompt that students will reply to) using the Rich Content Editor (RCE)
  - The RCE allows you to format text, insert images, make links to content stored within the course, make links to external content, and embed videos.
3. Specify whether to post the activity to 'All Sections' or only to a specific enrollment section.

2. Select discussion options

Select Options that match the purpose of the discussion activity and how students will interact with it. Your choices will expand or limit the subsequent options you see.

Anonymous Discussion

An instructor's name and profile picture are always included with their discussion posts. However, you can create a discussion activity in which student identities are always anonymous or one that allows students to select to be anonymous or not on each reply they post.

Select either:

Off: A student's name and profile picture is included with their replies. This is the default setting.
Full: A student's reply is anonymous.
Partial: A student's post defaults to anonymous, but they choose to share their identity by expanding the 'Reply as' menu and selecting their name.

Anonymous discussion option notes:

Graded discussions cannot be fully or partially anonymous.
Group discussions cannot be fully or partially anonymous.
Once a discussion is published that allows anonymous posts, it cannot be switched back to being non-anonymous.
A note is displayed at the top of the discussion if it is set up as fully or partially anonymous.

Users must post before seeing replies:

If selected, a student cannot see other students' replies until they contribute one of their own.
This option is typically selected for graded discussions to help ensure that students post an original contribution.

Graded:

3. Specify whether it is a group discussion

By default, new discussions are whole-class discussions.

If the discussion activity is intended for students to discuss within their designated Canvas student groups, click the 'This is a Group Discussion' box.

Students can access their group discussions from their Group's Discussion Index page or the course's Discussions Index page.
Group discussions cannot be fully or partially anonymous: i.e., students are always identified in group posts.
Group discussions can be set up as graded assignments: each student is graded individually.
Students can only post and view messages in their own group(s): i.e., students cannot read posts in groups that they are not enrolled in.
Instructors, co-teachers, and TAs can see all group discussion boards and all posts.
When creating a group discussion, indicate which Group Set the discussion activity is assigned to.
- A course can have multiple group sets: be careful to pick the correct one!
- If you imported a course that previously used group sets, you must recreate them in your current course or alter the group set that the discussions use: i.e., verify that the discussion is using a Group Set that exists in your current course!

Group discussion resources:

4. For graded discussions: Indicate how points will be handled

Enter a point value for the graded discussion activity.
Indicate how student grades should be displayed in the grade book and each student's Grades report.
- Options = Percentage, Complete/Incomplete, Points, Letter Grade, GPA Scale
Indicate which Assignment Group the discussion activity should be stored in on the Assignments page.
- See the CELT Assignment Resource site for more information about Assignment Groups.

5. Option: Enable peer review for graded discussions

The Canvas Peer Review option allows students to provide feedback on another designated student's discussion post. It can only be used in graded discussions, and the feedback is not anonymous. If using peer review in a group discussion activity, students can only review replies from others in their own group.

Students complete a peer review by leaving a comment in a peer review submission space and/or by filling in an attached grading rubric that the instructor has added to the activity.

Only the instructor or TA can actually assign a grade to a student.
Peer reviewers do not receive any credit for completing the reviews.

The Canvas Peer Review tool can create extra course management tasks for an instructor and may not work as expected. It is important to understand what this tool can and cannot do before using it. Canvas provides several Instructor Guides:

An alternative way to set up discussion peer reviews

A simpler option for generating peer review input for each student's discussion submission is to create a group discussion activity and require students to reply to each other's posts with constructive feedback. This works best if you keep groups small, i.e., to four or fewer students.

If you make this alternative peer review process a graded activity, you can assign points for a student's initial submission and/or for the quality of their peer reviews.
Providing the peer review as a graded activity also allows you to better impose time limits on the activity.

6. Assign the discussion activity to students

Create an 'Assign To' rule for the class (i.e., 'Everyone'), a specific Section, or a specific student. Create multiple Assign To rules to provide subsets of students with different availability ranges and due dates. Add date restrictions based on the purpose of the discussion activity.

For example, a 'Frequently asked questions' discussion should be available for the entirety of the course, while weekly reflection discussions should have non-overlapping availability periods to reduce the chance of students posting to the wrong week's discussion.

Each Assign To rile has three availability settings:

Available From:
- This is the earliest that a student can enter and view a discussion's directions or post to the discussion.
- Before the Available From date, students can only view the discussion's topic title; they cannot read the starter message.
- If left blank, the activity is immediately available to students as soon as it is published.
- Including Available From dates helps to ensure that students do not post to the wrong discussion activity!
Due
- A Due date option only appears if the discussion is set up as a graded activity.
- Any posts made after the Due date and time are flagged as late.
- The Due date triggers alert notifications to students and causes the activity to appear in their 'To Do' list and the course calendar.
- It is important to include Due dates!
Available Until
- Setting an 'Available Until' date and time automatically closes the discussion activity at that point. After this time, students can read existing posts but can't add replies.
- If left blank and in either the 'Pinned Discussions' or 'Discussions' group on the index page, the activity remains open: i.e., students can continue to post replies.
- You can manually close a discussion after its Due date by clicking the three dots on the right side of the discussion then selecting the 'Close for Comments' option.

+ Add
- Click the '+ Add' button to create additional 'Assign To' rules for the same activity.
- Collectively, the 'Assign To' rules identify all the students you want to participate.
  - Students can only receive a grade for an activity if it is assigned to them.
- If the availability and due dates differ by Section, add an 'Assign To' rule for each Section.
- Add an 'Assign To' rule for any student who has permission to complete the discussion at a different time (e.g., submit later than the rest of the class).
- You can specify multiple students in a single Assign To rule if they have the same date and time requirements.
- You cannot set up a rule for a group.

7. Save and Publish the discussion activity.

Click the 'Save' or the 'Save & Publish' button at the bottom of the new discussion activity template. You may have to scroll down to find it.

Students cannot see a Discussion activity until it is published.
Grade cells will not be active (i.e., able to hold a score) until the Discussion is published.
You may wish to Save but not Publish a Discussion to keep it in a draft state.
To prevent students from accessing a published Discussion early, include an 'Available From' date in the Assign To setting.
On the Discussions index page, click the clear ball icon to publish a saved discussion. The ball turns a bright green to indicate it is published.
You can unpublish an activity until a student posts in it; once a student posts, the bright green ball turns to a muted green.