Example Discussion Setups

Below are some examples of discussion prompts. When putting together prompts, consider making use of the many available options in the Canvas text editor. The same text editor you use to create pages also appears in the discussions, so you can get a little creative. For example, instructors often post a  video on a Canvas page and then instruct students to proceed to a discussion forum to unpack it--why do that when you can just embed the video directly into the discussion prompt?

There are a couple of discussion setups that are not illustrated on this page.

1. The first is a situation where the instructor has a lengthy set expectations for all discussions. The best way to do this is to create a page in the Course Overview module where the discussion expectations are outlined. A reminder link back to that page appears in each discussion prompt.
2. You might choose to use a time-stamped discussion around a video. These are not gradable but they make sense for certain situations. (Film analysis comes to mind.)

 

1: CLASSIC TEXT ONLY DISCUSSION PROMPT (WITH RUBRIC)

 

2: VIDEO DISCUSSION PROMPT

 

3: DISCUSSION PROMPT WITH LINKS

 

4: INTERACTIVE DATA AS A BASIS FOR DISCUSSION

4: INTERACTIVE DATA AS A BASIS FOR DISCUSSION

5: PRIVATE JOURNAL ACTIVITY