Unit 3: Creating Graded Discussions
Discussions Overview
Canvas provides an integrated system for class discussions, allowing both instructors and students to start and contribute to as many discussion topics as desired. Discussions allows for interactive communication between two or more people; users can participate in a conversation with an entire class or group.
Discussions can also be created as an assignment for grading purposes (and seamlessly integrated with the Canvas Gradebook), or simply serve as a forum for topical and current events. Discussions can also be created within student groups.
Discussion topics can be a focused or threaded discussion. Focused discussions are relatively short-lived interactions, while threaded discussions allow replies within replies and may last for a longer period of time. Focused discussions only allow for two levels of nesting, the original post and subsequent replies. Threaded discussions allow for infinite levels of nesting.
Creating Discussions
As an instructor, you can create a discussion for your course. This lesson outlines a variety of options to choose from in order to customize a discussion for your course. Please watch the video below or go to the Canvas Community Page: How do I create a discussion as an instructor? Links to an external site.
Group Discussions
You can create a graded discussion for a course group by using the Group Discussion checkbox. Canvas uses group sets to assign group discussions, and each group within the group set that is assigned to the discussion is required to complete the discussion.
You will need to assign a group set as part of the discussion. You can add an existing group set, or you can create a new group set as part of the assignment and add students to groups later. However, if you create a group set with self sign-up or manual group assignments, you will not be able to use the group set until users have been added to the subgroups.
When differentiating groups in graded discussions, students can only view the discussion if they are a member of an assigned group. Otherwise the discussion does not appear in the group's discussions page. Grades cannot be assigned for students who have not been included in the graded discussion, and graded discussions that are not assigned to a student are not factored into overall grades.
You can still view the links to all groups that are in the group set (as with any other group discussion). However, if you do not select a group in the differentiated assignments list, the group does not show a differentiated due date. When Multiple Grading Periods are enabled in a course, graded discussions are also respected against closed grading periods. Please watch the video below or go to the Canvas Community Page: How do I create a group discussion in a course? Links to an external site.