Discussions

As an instructor, you can create discussions in your course to encourage interaction, support collaborative learning, and give students a space to share ideas.

To learn how to create a discussion in your course, visit the How do I create a discussion as an instructor? guide.

In Canvas, groups allow you to organise students into small teams where they can collaborate in their own course‑like space, complete with a dedicated Calendar, Discussion board, and Collaboration tools. Only the students assigned to a group can access these features, creating a focused environment for teamwork.

When you create a group discussion assignment, Canvas automatically generates an identical discussion topic for each group, and students respond within their individual group spaces while still being linked back to the main course.

To learn how you can use group discussions in your course visit How do I create a group discussion in a course? guide.

You can also learn more about Canvas Groups in the Groups guide.

You have control over when a discussion becomes visible to your students. Publishing a discussion makes it accessible in the course, while keeping it unpublished ensures students cannot see or interact with it. This gives you the flexibility to prepare discussions in advance, refine instructions, or manage the timing of activities without revealing them before you're ready.

For more information on how to managing the publish of your discussions, visit the How do I publish or unpublish a discussion as an instructor? guide.

You can control exactly when students gain access to a discussion by setting future availability dates. If you choose to delay posting, the discussion will remain locked and hidden from students until the start date arrives. This is useful when you want to prepare content in advance, release discussions in a specific order, or keep students focused on current activities before moving on to the next topic.

You can find out how you can delay posting your discussion by visiting the How do I delay posting a discussion until a specified date in a course? guide.

Pinning discussions is a simple way to make important topics stand out at the top of the Discussions page. You can pin discussions within student groups to guide their focus.

If you have several pinned items, you can reorder them to control which ones appear first, ensuring students always see the most relevant discussions up front. You can see how to do this in the below "How do I move or reorder a discussion in a course?" section.

To learn how to pin a discussion in your course, visit the How do I pin a discussion in a course? guide.

You can control the order of your pinned discussions to highlight the topics you want students to see first. In the Pinned Discussions section, you can manually drag and drop items into the order you prefer, or use the Move To option—helpful for keyboard users or for more precise placement. Keep in mind that only pinned discussions can be reordered this way; all other discussions are automatically sorted by recent activity and can’t be manually rearranged.

You can learn more about how you can order and move your discussions by visiting the  guide.

Viewing and navigating replies in a discussion is easy, whether you want to scroll through everything or quickly find something specific. The discussion toolbar lets you filter for unread posts, adjust the sorting order, and search by author or keyword to locate particular replies.

You can also choose how threaded replies are displayed—either inline or in a split‑screen view for easier reading. If you’ve allowed students to edit their posts, you can check their edit history as well, giving you full visibility into how conversations develop over time.

For more information on how to view and sort discussion replies, visit the How do I view and sort discussion replies as an instructor? guide. 

If your discussion includes threaded replies, you can choose how you want to view them. Canvas lets you display threads inline within the main discussion or open them in a split‑screen sidebar for easier reading and navigation. This flexibility helps you follow conversations in the way that works best for you.

For more information on how to view discussion threads, visit the How do I view a discussion thread as an instructor? guide. 

You can reply to any discussion or individual reply, allowing you to join the conversation wherever it’s most helpful. This makes it easy to guide students, answer questions, or keep discussions moving in the right direction.

For information on how to can reply to discussion posts, visit the How do I reply to a discussion as an instructor? guide.

As an instructor, you have the ability to edit or delete discussion replies within your course. This gives you the control you need to maintain a safe, respectful learning environment and remove any inappropriate, inaccurate, or otherwise unwanted posts. 

To learn how you can edit or delete student discussion replies, visit the How do I edit or delete student discussion replies in a course? guide.

You can manually stop students from adding new replies to a discussion by using the Close for Comments option. Once a discussion is closed, students can no longer post, edit, or delete their replies. This is useful when you want to end a conversation, prevent late responses, or preserve the discussion exactly as it is.

To learn how to close a discussion board for comments, visit the How do I close a discussion for comments in a course? guide.

Canvas automatically helps you stay updated on conversations by subscribing you to any discussions you create. This means you’ll receive notifications whenever new replies are posted.

If teaching assistants or students are allowed to create discussions, you won’t be subscribed to those by default—but you can choose to follow them manually.

Anytime you reply to a discussion, Canvas also auto‑subscribes you so you continue to receive updates unless you decide to unsubscribe.

To find out more about how you manage your discussion subscriptions, visit the How do I subscribe to a discussion as an instructor? guide.

You can mention a user directly in a discussion reply to help draw their attention to part of the conversation or include them in a specific thread. This makes it easy to guide students, highlight important points, or signal when someone’s input is needed.

This feature does not work for anonymous discussion boards.

For information on how you can mention users in your discussion posts, visit the How do I mention a user in a discussion reply as an instructor? guide.