Ed Discussion is a discussion board alternative that integrates with Canvas. Ed is currently being piloted for the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters. Faculty may enable Ed on a course-by-course basis in their Canvas course via Settings > Navigation.
One of Ed Discussions’ strengths is its ability to seamlessly facilitate Q&A discussions, empowering students to express their ideas using a built-in equation editor, share runnable code, annotate images, and much more. Additionally, Ed Discussion helps faculty save time and reduce inbox clutter by having all questions and discussions in one place. Some useful features of Ed Discussion to empower faculty:
- Rich content editor for all discussion posts
- Embedded polling tool
- Provide public or private comments to student posts
- Create anonymous discussions
- Organize discussion threads (i.e., by topic or week)
- Create chat environments for students (especially helpful for group work)
- Personalize discussion thread templates for your course
- Create staff-only comments (only viewable by instructors within a course)
To learn more about Ed Discussion, view their Using Ed Discussion Help Page and useful Instructor Tips and Tricks Page.
- Navigate to Settings within a Canvas course
- Click the Navigation tab
- On the bottom list, click on the three vertical dots (kebab menu) icon next to Ed Discussion
- Click +Enable
- Click Save
