Can I make a discussion available for multiple classes?

[jsmale]

Hello, I am teaching several sections of a computer science class.   My colleague is also teaching several sections of the same class.

Can I create a discussion that can be accessed by all students in all of our classes?

Can I restrict access to only students in my classes and my fellow instructor classes?

Can I set it up so I and my fellow instructor are both moderators of the discussion?

Thank You.

John

[James · Accepted solution]

 @jsmale ,

Can I create a discussion that can be accessed by all students in all of our classes?

Are the sections within the same Canvas course? If the answer is no, and you each have your own Canvas course with just your students in it, the students in your colleague's course will not be able to see anything, including discussions, in your course.

Can I restrict access to only students in my classes and my fellow instructor classes?

Discussions are at the course level, not the section level. If you made it past the first question and all of the students are in the same Canvas course that has multiple instructors, then the way to accomplish this is to use a differentiated assignments. You can assign the discussion to the students in your sections and not assign them to other students. Note that your school would have to put people into sections when they added them into Canvas or you would have to manually choose the students that you want to add to the discussion.

Can I set it up so I and my fellow instructor are both moderators of the discussion?

Depends on what you mean by moderation. Canvas doesn't have an approval processes that requires a moderator to approve them before they get posted. If you want the ability to edit or delete posts after they've been posted, then anyone with those permissions (instructors should have them) could serve as a moderator. This would include any teachers of other sections provided they were in the course. Again, if your students aren't all in the same Canvas course, then you can't do any of this.

If the above doesn't work for you, you may want to look into using an external discussion tool where students can talk to each other. What you find might be an LTI App and integrate, but I'm not sure if would allow for multiple courses to be in the same discussion, so you might lose the ability to do any grading the discussion and pass the grade back automatically to Canvas.

[RobertStone]

Is there a way to request this as an implemented feature?  I have a class trip planned with multiple classes, and I'm trying to get them into a group chat discussion for coordinating things, and it's difficult because they can't all be in the same discussion thread because they are in multiple class modules.

[Chris_Hofer]

Hello there, @RobertStone ...

You can submit a Feature Idea here in the Canvas Community.  However, I am not sure if what you are seeking would be developed in the timeframe you're looking at.  You can find out all about how the Feature Idea process works by visiting these Guides:

• How do idea conversations work in the Instructure Community?
• What is the feature development process for Instructure products?
• How do I create a new idea conversation in the Instructure Community?

Please let Community members know if you have other questions about this process...thanks!

[jsmale]

James,  Thank you for your prompt and thorough reply.   Cheers, John