Viewing and Posting Discussion Replies
How Do Discussions Work in Canvas?
In Canvas discussions are public discussions with the instructor and all students in the course. All users can adjust how they receive notifications for new messages in discussions via account notification settings. In some courses students will be able to click discussions in the left navigation to view the discussion index page. Instructors may hide discussion link in the left navigation in a course and link directly to individual discussions in the modules. In some cases discussions may not be used in a course. Review the tabbed menu below.
Discussion Overview Video
View the video below to learn how to post a discussion.
218 - Discussions Links to an external site. from Canvas LMS Links to an external site. on Vimeo Links to an external site..
Important Notes
Please note as of the November 17, 2018 release Links to an external site. instructors and students can upload images directly using the rich content editor toolbar. Please review the following guide.
Students will use the rich content editor when creating discussion posts. See rich content editor tutorial for details.
The rich content editor will be updated on May 15, 2020. See Rich Content Editor Update (Coming Soon) page for details.
Tips
You can embed content from various web services. Below are tutorials from some of these services that show you how to embed content.
- Make Google Docs, Sheets, Slides & Forms public Links to an external site. - This tutorial shows you how to setup content content from your Google Drive account so you can embed it in rich content editor.
- Embed YouTube videos & playlists Links to an external site. - This tutorial shows you how to get the embed code to embed YouTube content in the rich content editor.
- Embedding your Prezi presentation Links to an external site. - This tutorial shows you how to get the embed code to embed a Prezi presentation in the rich content editor.
The following guide below will show you how to embed the copied code from the services listed above in the rich content editor.
Using the Image Uploader
Additionally, in Canvas discussions instructors and students can upload images in the rich content editor using the Design Tools image uploader. The advantage to using this option is that there are crop tools for cropping the image. Follow the tutorial below for step by step instructions.
Create a reply in a discussion.
In the editor place the cursor where you want to the image to be in your reply. In the toolbar click the V icon and select Upload/Embed Image.
Please note if this is the first time you have used the Design Tools image uploader, Design Tools will request access to your Canvas account. Click Authorize.
The Image Uploader screen will appear. (1) Upload an image. (2) The image will appear in crop area. Use the right corner to resize the crop area. You can also move the crop area anywhere on the picture. Use the tools below the crop area to define the image. (3) Click Crop Image.
The cropped image will appear. (1) Give the image a meaningful name. (2) Click Upload and Embed. The image will appear in the rich content editor. Click and drag one of the white handles to resize the image more if desired. Be sure to save your reply when done.
Canvas Guides
Note: These guides are maintained by the Canvas Documentation Team and are available on the Canvas Community site Links to an external 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.
- How do I view Discussions as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I view the rubric for my graded discussion? Links to an external site.
- How do I subscribe to a discussion podcast as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I submit a peer review to a discussion? Links to an external site.
- How do I know if I have a peer review discussion to complete? Links to an external site.
- How do I create a course discussion as a student? Links to an external site.
- Where can I find my peers' feedback for peer reviewed discussions? Links to an external site.
- How do I subscribe to a discussion as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I view and sort discussion replies as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I change discussion settings to manually mark discussion replies as read as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I mark discussion replies as read or unread as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I reply to a discussion as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I attach a file to a discussion reply as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I embed an image in a discussion reply as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I link to a YouTube video in a discussion reply as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I edit or delete discussion replies as a student? Links to an external site.
- How do I like a reply in a course discussion as a student? Links to an external site.