Viewing Discussions
Posting a Discussion Reply
Discussion Tips
Canvas Guides

Viewing Discussions

In Canvas discussions are public discussions with the instructor and your peers in the course. You can adjust how you receive notifications for new messages in discussions via your notification settings. In some courses students will be able to click discussions in the left navigation to view the discussion index page. Please note if you do not see the discussion link in the left navigation in a course, it just means that the instructor has hidden the link and may be linking to individual discussions on the pages or in modules. In some cases discussions may not be used in a course. Check with your instructor if you are not sure. Review the numbered items below.

Search & Filter Options- Use the search box to search for title, body or author in any discussion topic. Click Unread to view only unread messages in all topics OR click Assignments view only discussions listed as assignments.
Settings/Gear icon - Click the gear icon to view option to manually mark messages as read for all discussion topics (see next page for details).
Pinned Discussions – The pinned group will display any discussion topic the instructor has “pinned” to stay at the top of the discussion list regardless of activity. Items in this grouping will be ordered as the instructor ordered them. If an instructor doesn’t place any discussions in the Pinned group, students will not see the pinned group. All discussion topics will have the following options. (a) Once students post in a discussion topic they will be automatically subscribed to receive notifications about new postings in the topic. (b) Each discussion topic will display the number count of unread (blue) messages and read (gray) messages.
Discussions – This grouping display all topics that that are not pinned or closed for comments. Discussions in this group are sorted by recent activity. Graded discussions will display an assignment icon next to the title. The Due date will be listed to the right of the title.
Closed for Comments – This grouping display any topic where the instructor has closed the topic for comments. Students will not be able to post in discussions that are closed for comments but will be able to view discussion topics.

Posting a Discussion Reply

Viewing a Graded Discussion

In Canvas discussions are public discussions with the instructor and your peers in the course. Instructors may use discussions for assessment and require you to post messages and respond to other students in the course. Instructors may also use discussions as a way share podcasts and files with students. You can adjust how you receive notifications for new messages in discussions via your notification settings. Review the numbered items below.

View Rubric & Mark All as Read – Click the gear icon to view the rubric (if one is attached) and to mark messages as read.
Graded Discussions – Graded discussions will have a blue highlight bar. Total points will display along with the due date. If the instructor has posted discussion directions, they will display here. Once there are messages in the discussion there will be a number in blue represents the number of unread posts in the discussion and the number in gray represents all posts in the discussion.
Search box/Unread – Use the search box to search for entries for keyword or author. Click the Unread button to view only unread messages in the topic.
Collapse/Expand All Threads –Use the buttons to collapse and expand all threads in the topic. Point the mouse over a thread to open and close the individual thread.
Creating a post – Click in the top Reply box to write a new post in the discussion topic. The rich content editor will display. See the next page for details.
Must Post before viewing replies (posts) – Sometimes instructors may require a first post before you can view other students’ replies.

Posting Your Reply

When you click reply the rich content editor will display allowing you to create your post. Review the numbered items below.

The rich content editor box will appear with a toolbar for formatting the text. Type your reply in the rich content editor. (A) Click the picture icon to add a picture from your personal files. If you want to upload an image, please review How to Embed an Image in a Discussion Post tutorial. (B) Click the media icon to record or upload video. (C) You can switch to the HTML editor to paste embed code from video sites.
Use the right sidebar to link to any course content. On the Links tab students can link to content within the course. On the Files tab students can link to content in course files and on the Image tab students can embed images within reply post that are in the course files area.
To make the rich content editor box bigger click and drag the handle in lower right corner. Click Post Reply when done.

Discussion Tips

Please note that the rich content editor does NOT autosave discussion posts as you are writing the post and you will NOT be warned if you click away from the discussion page with an unsaved post. It is recommended in graded discussions that you use a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or GoogleDocs to write posts. This will allow you to have a saved copy of your post in case you have a technical issue posting to the discussion. Once you are finished writing your post in word processing program use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + A to select all the text. Then use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C to copy the text. In the rich content editor in Canvas place the cursor in the location where the text should appear. Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + V to paste the text in the rich content editor. Then be sure to save your post when finished.
The discussion link may not be available in course’s left navigation. If this is the case, your instructor will link directly to each discussion topic on a page or in a module.
Some instructors may restrict your ability to create discussion topics and edit discussions posts or add attachments to discussion posts.
If you are part of a group, the group will have its own discussion area and you will be able to create discussion topics and edit and delete posts.

Canvas Guides

Printable Handout

Video Tutorial

Discussions Video

Canvas Online Guides

Note: These guides are maintained by the Canvas Documentation Team and are available on the Canvas Community site. Some of the information in these guides may not apply to the Lake Land College instance of Canvas. If you have a question about a feature mentioned in these guides, please review Getting Help page for details on who to contact at Lake Land College.

What are Discussions for students?
How do I view Discussions as a student?
How do I view and sort Discussion replies as a student?
How do I reply to a Discussion as a student?
How do I reply to a Discussion as a student?
How do I like a Discussion reply as a student?
How do I edit or delete my Discussion posts?
How do I link to a YouTube video in a Discussion reply?
How do I mark Discussion posts as read or unread?
How do I tell Canvas to not automatically mark my Discussion replies as read?
How do I embed an image in a Discussion reply?
How do I subscribe to a course podcast as a student?
How do I attach a file to a Discussion reply as a student?
How do I subscribe to a Discussion as a student?
What is a peer review Discussion?
How do I submit a peer review to a Discussion?
How do I know if I have a Discussion peer review to complete?
Where can I find my peers' feedback for peer reviewed discussions?