Introduction

Discussion boards are a common means of communication in online, blended, and hybrid courses, but they are also a tool used to enhance teaching and learning in a variety of contexts. Use the activities and resources on this page to identify important pedagogical recommendations for effective discussions and to learn the steps for creating and managing discussions in your course.

On This Page:

Recommendations for facilitating online discussions
Create a discussion in your course
Manage course discussions

Recommendations for facilitating online discussions

We recommend that you explore some best practices to help you facilitate effective online discussions:

Register for a consultation

Tips and guidelines for writing effective discussions:

Mastering online discussion facilitation

Designing effective discussion questions

Create a discussion in your course

Practice creating a discussion thread in your Canvas sandbox by following the steps in any of the following resources; choose to view video or text-based tutorials depending on your personal learning preference.

The first video below introduces Canvas discussions, and the second video includes the steps for creating discussions. The document that follows includes the same steps for creating discussions in your course, but in a text-based format:

Discussions Overview (8 min)

Discussion Creation (5 min)

How do I create a discussion as an instructor?

Follow the steps in the tutorials below if you would like to allow students to attach files to their discussion posts, create their own course discussions, or edit and delete their own discussion posts:

How do I allow students to attach files to a course discussion?

How do I allow students to create a course discussion?

How do I allow students to edit and delete their own discussion posts in a course?

Manage course discussions

Read this tutorial to learn how to monitor and manage discussions in your course:

How do I use the discussions index page?

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