How to setup "Private" Discussion Boards

CONCEPT

An instructor may want to create an discussion area within CANVAS where each student can private talk back-and-forth with their instructor about their work. This could be used as a form of asynchronous office hours. Each student could have a unique discussion thread they use throughout the course. Students could attach files or videos to further elaborate on their questions.

STEP 1 — Add Discussion Tool to your course

1. Login to your CANVAS course.
2. Go to Settings, then Navigation
3. Drag the Discussion tool up to the active section at the top.
4. Press Save at the bottom
   

STEP 2 — Create a Discussion Board "Template"

1. Within your CANVAS course, go to Discussions
2. Click +Add Discussion at the top.
3. Enter basic instructions that you'd like to repeat for every students, then press SAVE.
   TIP: Do not Save and Publish. You typically don't want students to access the template. 

4. Example Discussion Template

   TOPIC TITLE = NAME Discussion Board [TEMPLATE]
   TOPIC CONTENT = Welcome NAME, this is your place to discuss this course with your instructor, <enter your name here>. You may post messages below including file attachments. Press REPLY below to get started.

   

STEP 3 — Setup "Private" Discussion Boards for each student

1. Once your new section is launched, with each new student... go to Discussions

2. Click the triple-dot menu next to the template you created in step 2 above (e.g., "NAME Discussion Board [Template]")

3. Select Duplicate

   

4. Click the triple-dot menu next to the "COPY" you just created.

5. Select Edit

   

6. Update the following items:

   • Topic Title = add student NAME and remove "[TEMPLATE] Copy"

   • Topic Content = add student NAME

7. Scroll down, under Assign Access click the X next to "Everyone" to remove that access.

8. Start typing the students name, select the student from the list when it appears.

9. Press Save and Publish