Add a Discussion

Typically, an instructor will post a prompt, which can be in text or multimedia format, and students reply to that prompt and to one another.

The easiest way to build a basic, points-based discussion in Canvas is to:

1. navigate to the appropriate module on your home page
2. click the plus icon on the right side of the module title bar
3. select Discussion from the drop-down menu at the top of the window that pops up
4. Click [New Topic]
5. name the discussion topic
6. choose whether or how far you’d like this discussion to be indented from the left side within the module on the home page.
7. Click on the name of the Discussion topic you’ve just built to edit it
8. Click the Edit button
9. enter the discussion prompt
10. check the boxes labeled:
    • “allow threaded replies”
    • “users must post before seeing replies”
    • “graded”
11. determine the number of points you’d like to assign
12. enter a due date
13. click Save & Publish

Facilitating Online Discussions

To ensure a positive and constructive experience, it is essential to embrace a set of practices that promote healthy and respectful online interactions. Facilitating online discussion and forums effectively requires a skillful approach that encourages participation, promotes meaningful dialogue, and maintains a supportive atmosphere for all participants. Here are a few key strategies to ensure a successful facilitation experience:

• Create a welcoming environment
• Encourage active participation
• Foster respectful dialogue
• Set clear objectives and structure
• Moderate effectively
• Encourage diverse perspectives
• Summarize and synthesize
• Ensure follow-up and closure

Whether you are learning in-person or online, discussions are the core of the learning experience. In a discussion learners are able to build community with their peers, learn more about the topic, and hear their instructor share a professional’s perspective. It is a unique opportunity for students to reflect on any instructional materials, share new ideas, develop conclusions and/or apply the topic.

Planning out your discussion prompts ahead of time, can allow you the opportunity to create a prompt that is focused on the topic, sparks conversation, and provide the students with clear instructions. 

Here are the steps you can implement as you consider your discussion prompts:

1. Selecting a Prompt Style

Use a variety of approaches to your discussions, get creative with what and how students can respond. Instead of a read X and respond to Y, try out some of these strategies. If appropriate, try combining two together! 

• Role Play. Invite students to take on a perspective of someone from a case study or a client. You might even provide a case you would like the students to consult on as the professional. 
• Lived Experiences. Students come from diverse backgrounds, having them share their unique past experience, knowledge, or perspective can increase their sense of belonging within the course and their peers. 
• Consider the Community. How does your discussion topic relate to current events? Is the student’s local community being currently impacted by this topic? Allow opportunities in the discussion to allow students to share their communities needs or injustices that are impacting them. 
• Spark Debate. If there is a topic that is controversial in the community, bring it in to your discussion. Allow students the opportunity to become familiar with the research and formulate their own stance on the subject. In the discussion board, you can ask students to respond with additional questions and opinions about their stance. 
• KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned). In this structure, students share what they might already know about the subject, anything they want to know about the subject, and finally what they learned as a result of the instructional materials. Encourage students to form their response to the first two questions before diving into the materials. Once students read the materials, they can reflect on their new knowledge by describing what they learned. 
• Peer Review. This can be a great strategy when students have a large project they are working towards. Here, students can share a draft of a project, questions they have, and what they would like their peers to specifically look over. Then peers can provide feedback, suggestions, and answers to their questions. This can improve the quality of the final work the students submit.

2. Write Clear Instructions

Providing clear directions makes the learners more confident and prepared when addressing the prompt. Rather than spending their time and energy interpreting what you want them to do, we can easily communicate this in the prompt to allow them to focus on their learning. In your post you should provide a short description of each of the following:

• The relevancy to the course. Describe the associated learning objectives, connected materials, and how this is implemented in the real-world. You can also describe if this is connected to another assignment the students will be doing. 
• How to respond to the prompt. Describe if the students should respond with text, video, infographic, presentation or if they get to choose from a list of options. Also, you may want to include how long their post should be (such as 300-550 words or 2-3 paragraphs).
• How to respond to peers. As we want students to be engaged in the discussion, you may want to describe what they should consider or address in their responses to peers. These could be phrases you include in the prompt such as:
  • Connect with your peers response by elaborating on an idea/thought you had while reading
  • Include a question to your peer in your response
  • Expand on their idea by sharing relevant research articles you came across.

3. Check for Inclusion & Accessibility

Review the prompt to ensure that it will meet the needs of all learners. For example, if you are asking students to “reflect on a time where you met a friend for a coffee”, you are assuming that the students have had this experience in their lives. While it may be true that some students have done this, we cannot assume that all students have done this. Instead you can say “reflect on a time you had a good conversation with someone”. This removes the barriers of having a specific experience and includes a wider variety of interactions they could have that might help them relate to the prompt in a similar manner. 

4. Test it Out!

You should craft your own response to each discussion post. This will help you understand the flow of the prompt and how long it may take you to craft your response. You can also share your new prompt with a colleague to respond to to get an outside perspective. 

Once you have completed this step, revise your prompt to include anything you found that was missing, should be highlighted, or removed.