Pinned discussions not appearing

[Claudia_O]

Dear all,

We have noticed that some course discussions do not appear to students in the Discussion section of the course navigation menu even when they are pinned. Do you know why this happens? This is before course launch, so the discussions have no replies yet.

Thanks in advance!  

Claudia

[JoseOrcasitas · Accepted solution]

Hi Claudia, 

That’s a great question! In Canvas, discussions that are created but not published will not appear to students in the Discussions area—even if they are pinned. Only published discussions show up in the student view.

Since your course hasn’t launched yet and there are no replies, the most common reasons students don’t see them are:

1. Discussion is Unpublished → Check the green publish icon next to the discussion. If it’s gray, students can’t see it.

2. Availability Dates Set → If “Available From/Until” dates are applied in the settings, students won’t see the discussion outside that date range.

3. Course Navigation Hidden → If the Discussions link in the course navigation is disabled (hidden from students), they won’t see any discussions in that menu.

4. Differentiated Assignments/Sections → If the discussion is assigned only to certain sections or students, others won’t see it.

To fix it before launch, make sure the discussions are published, available, and the Discussions tab is enabled in Course Navigation.

I hope this helps!