Discussion Enhancements and Highly Awaited Checkpoints

Transforming Engagement

What is it?

This change introduces a range of innovative features aimed at enriching the user experience for teachers, students, and administrators alike. This new design provides a streamlined interface that makes navigating discussions easier than ever. The accompanying video resource offers a comprehensive overview [2:54] of these exciting changes, ensuring that users can fully leverage the enhancements to foster more engaging and interactive discussions. Whether you’re looking to facilitate learning or participate more effectively, the redesigned discussion experience in Canvas is designed to meet your needs.

Why is it important?

Employing discussions in online learning is important for several compelling reasons. First, discussions enhance engagement by fostering a sense of community, allowing students to feel more connected to their peers and course material, even when accessing it via mobile devices. They promote critical thinking, as students articulate and defend their viewpoints while considering diverse perspectives. Furthermore, collaborative discussions facilitate knowledge construction, enabling students to co-create understanding by building on each other's insights. This format also enhances communication skills, which are vital for academic and professional success. Additionally, discussions provide immediate feedback from peers and instructors, helping students refine their thoughts and comprehension. The flexibility of online discussions accommodates various schedules and learning styles, making participation more inclusive, particularly for those learning on the go. Finally, instructors can assess students' understanding and engagement through their contributions, allowing for timely support and interventions. 

The benefits of employing discussions in online learning within the Canvas LMS apply to both asynchronous and synchronous formats, though their implementation differs. Asynchronous discussions offer flexibility, allowing students, especially mobile learners, to participate at their convenience and reflect on their responses. This format promotes inclusivity and deeper engagement over time. In contrast, synchronous discussions enable real-time interaction, fostering immediate engagement and dynamic feedback, which can lead to spontaneous insights. Regardless of the format, discussions enhance critical thinking, improve communication skills, and allow instructors to assess understanding, thereby enriching the learning experience for all students.

Additional Items Beyond Legacy

  • @mentions: Tag members of the course. Tagged individuals will receive an email notification with a direct link to the @mention comment. 
  • Anonymous discussions: Instructors can allow anonymous student replies.
  • Split screen view: Users can choose to view discussion threads inline or in a side-by-side window (split screen). Users can go between the two views. 
  • Edit history: Instructors can view all versions with a timestamp of a student’s edited reply.
  • Quote Replies: Users can quote another reply and have their comments display directly under the quoted text.
  • Role labels: Teacher and TA labels will appear next to those with the Teacher or TA roles in the Canvas course.
  • Sort: Order the high-level replies from Newest to Oldest or Oldest to Newest.
  • Mark All as Unread: In addition to Mark as Read and Unread at the reply level, users can mark the entire discussion thread as read or unread from the Discussions page.
  • Count of replies: Comments with nested replies will have total number count of nested replies visible at first level.
  • Search text highlighted: Results of matching search query will be highlighted.

How do I do it?

You can create and assign a graded discussion to everyone in the course, individual students, or to a course section. You can also assign a graded discussion to a course group. When Multiple Grading Periods are enabled in a course, graded discussions are also validated against closed grading periods. Only the students assigned to the graded discussion can view the graded discussion.

Notes:

  • Graded discussions do not support anonymous grading.
  • You can learn more about grading a graded discussion in SpeedGrader.
  • If your course is using Mastery Paths for conditional assignments, you do not have to manually assign graded discussions to individual students. Learn how to assign a graded discussion to Mastery Paths.
  • Within the Gradebook, a graded discussion appears as a column for all students, but grade cells are grayed out for students who have not been included in the discussion. 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.

Open Discussions

Select Discussions from navigation menu.

In Course Navigation, select Discussions link.

Add Discussion

Discussion button in top right corner of screen.

Select Add Discussion button.

Enter Discussion Details

Add title, introduction, task, instructions, evaluation, and any supporting documentation.

Enter a title in the Topic Title field [1]. Enter discussion details using the Rich Content Editor [2]. You can also attach files [3].

To add Mastery Paths to a graded discussion, select Mastery Paths tab [4].

Learn more about creating a discussion.

Set Graded Discussion

Select Graded checkbox, and consider adding multiple dates with checkpoints.

Select Graded checkbox [1].

If the Discussion Checkpoints feature option is enabled at your institution, you can add multiple due dates and checkpoints to graded discussions by clicking the Assign graded checkpoints checkbox [2].

Note: Graded discussions cannot be anonymous. If the Graded checkbox is not visible, you may need to turn off anonymous discussion.

Enter Grading Details

Use toggle for each of three dropdown items.

  • Enter the total number of points possible in the Points Possible field [1].
  • To select a grading type, select Display Grade As drop-down menu [2]. Then, select a grading type. You can display grades as points, percentages, complete/incomplete, a letter grade, or a GPA scale.
  • To choose an assignment group, select Assignment Group drop-down menu [3]. Then, select an assignment group.

Choose Letter Grade Scheme

Use default grading scheme or make your own.

If you display grades as letter grades, the grading scheme defaults to the Default Canvas Grading Scheme. To select another grading scheme, select Grading Scheme drop-down menu [1] and select another scheme. You can view [2] or copy [3] the current grading scheme. You can also create a new grading scheme [4] or manage all grading schemes [5]. Learn more about adding grading schemes to an assignment such as a graded discussion.

Manage Peer Reviews

Manually or automatically assign peer reviews; default is none.

Manage Checkpoint Settings

Consider various checkpoint options.

If you enabled the Assign graded checkpoints option, you can add points possible for replies to the discussion topic [1], the number of additional replies required [2], and points possible for additional replies [3]. The total points possible will display at the bottom [4].

Manage Assignment Settings

Set task for who, when due, and for how long.

In the Assignment Settings section, you can manage assignees [1], the due date [2], and availability dates [3].

Add Checkpoint Due Dates

Set date and time for initial post and reply.

If you enabled the Assign graded checkpoints option, you can add a due date for replies to the discussion topic [1] and required replies [2].

Select Assignees

Set the who: everyone, sections, or individuals.

By default, graded discussions are assigned to everyone in the course [1]. However, you can differentiate the assignments. To assign a graded discussion to an individual student, section, group, or Mastery Path, remove Everyone by clicking the Remove icon [2].

Select Student or Section

Delineate students of one section or multiple sections.

To add individual student, select Assign To field [1]. Then, select a course section [2] or a student's display name [2].

Note: You can also assign a graded discussion to a course group.

Find Student or Section

Several options: students can be added and removed as desired.

To find a student or section more easily, enter a few letters of the name [1] and select the name from a filtered list [2]. To remove an assignee, select assignee Remove icon [3].

Note: You can include more than one student or section in the Assign To field as long as the students are to be assigned the same due and availability dates.

Edit Due and Availability Dates

Edit when due and how long for for each section or student or group as needed.

In the date fields, add your preferred date(s) for the following:

  • Due Date [1]: Set the date and time that the graded discussion is due.
  • Available From [2]: Set the date and time when the discussion will become available.
  • Until [3]: Set the date and time when the discussion will no longer be available.

Notes:

  • If you have set section override dates in your course, you may need to select a course section and set due and availability dates that fall within the section override dates.
  • If the course does not include specified course start and end dates, Canvas validates the discussion against the term date set for the course.
  • If your course is not using Multiple Grading Periods, the due date is validated against the closed grading period and requires the discussion date to be past the date of the closed grading period.
  • Canvas displays time zone dates and times according to context. If you manage courses in a time zone other than your local time zone and create or edit a due date for a graded discussion, the course and local times are displayed for reference.

Add Additional Assignments

Select Assign To button to add more assignments for specific groups, especially for make-up work.

To add an assignment with a different due date and availability dates, select Assign To button. Then enter a new set of assignees, due dates, and availability dates.

Remove Assignment

Trash icon delete entire entry and Clear resets dates.

You can also delete assignments by clicking the Remove icon in the appropriate assignment section [1]. To remove the dates in the Due Date, Available from, or Until fields, select Clear link [2].

View Date Error

If you are still copying courses, be sure to adjust your dates.

If you submit an invalid string of due dates, Canvas generates an error notification. Invalid entries include not unlocking the discussion before it is due, not placing the due date inside the range of availability dates, or assigning a date that is outside the course or term dates.

Correct the date and then update the discussion again.

Notes:

  • If the course does not include specified course start and end dates, Canvas validates the graded discussion against the term date set for the course.
  • If your course is using Multiple Grading Periods, the Assign field validates the due date against the closed grading period and requires the discussion due date to be past the date of the closed grading period.

Save and Publish

Three options: Cancel, Save and Publish, or just Save.

If you are ready to publish your discussion, select Save and Publish button [1]. If you want to create a draft of your discussion and publish it later, select Save button [2].

View Due Date Warning

Two options: Continue or Go Back.

If you do not add course sections or students to the assignment, a warning message displays. If you do not want to add any others to the assignment, select Continue button [1], or to go back and add additional sections or students, select Go Back button [2].

Note: This warning message does not display if Everyone, Everyone Else, or all course sections or students in the course are assigned to the assignment.

View Discussion Dates

Who, when due, and point value for one date.

If there is only one set of assignment dates, you can view the assignees [1], the due date [2], and the number of points possible [3].

View Multiple Due Dates

Who, when due, and point value for several dates.

If there are multiple assignments, you can view users and due dates for the discussion by clicking the View Due Dates link.

View Assigned Dates

View the dates assigned to the graded discussion [1]. To close the Due Dates window, select Close icon [2].

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