Skip to sub-navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
StatusAlertsMaintenance
Technology Services
  • myVCU
  • Email
  • eLearning
  • Submit a Help Request
    • Home
    • About Us
    • IT Support Center
    • Software Center
    • askIT
    • IT Catalog
      1. Technology Services
      2. askIT
      3. Teaching and Learning
      4. Canvas
      5. Faculty
      6. Discussions (Faculty)
      7. Discussions: Manage (Faculty)

      Manage Discussions

      • Edit a Discussion
      • Move or Reorder Discussions
      • Publish or Unpublish

      Once you've created a discussion in your course, you can edit the discussion details. You can update the discussion title and content, and you can modify the discussion options.

      1. In Course Navigation, click the Discussions link.

      Discussion Index Link

      2. Click the name of the discussion.

      3. Click the Edit button.

      4. To edit the discussion, use the Rich Content Editor. You can also edit other discussion options.

      5. Click the Save button.

      Note: If you are editing an unpublished discussion and want to publish it, click the Save & Publish button.

      You can move or reorder pinned discussions in the Pinned Discussions section. You can manually drag and drop the discussion, or you can use the Move To option, which is also accessible for keyboard users.

      Note: Only discussions in the Pinned Discussions section can be reordered manually. Other sections are automatically ordered by recent activity date.

      Reorder Discussion

      1. In Course Navigation, click the Discussions link.

      Discussion Index Link

      2. You can use the drag and drop option to reorder pinned discussions. Click and drag the discussion to the desired location within the section. 

      Drop the discussion by releasing the mouse

      Move Discussion

      1. You can also use the Move To option to reorder a pinned discussion. Click the Options icon [1] and select the Move To... link [2].

      Move To_DIscussion

      2. In the Move Discussion sidebar, click the Place drop-down menu [1]. Select the placement of the discussion you are moving [2]. You can move the discussion so it is located at the top of the section, before a specific discussion, after a specific discussion, or at the bottom of the section.

      Move Content Location Options 2

      3. Click the Move button.

      As an instructor, you can publish or unpublish a discussion in a course. Unpublished content is invisible to students, and graded discussions are excluded from grade calculations.

      Note: If you use Modules in your course and add a Discussion to a Module, please be aware that the state of the Module overrides the state of all module items. You may want to consider leaving Discussions unpublished until you are ready to publish the entire Module. For more information please see the Modules Draft State lesson.

      1. In Course Navigation, click the Discussions link.

      Discussion Index Link

      2. On the Discussions index page, you can view the status of each discussion. Green icons indicate the discussion is published [1]. Gray icons indicate unpublished discussions [2]. You can change the status of a discussion by toggling the published and unpublished icons.

                     Published vs Unpublished Radio Buttons

      Publish Discussion

      To publish a discussion, click the discussion's unpublished icon.

      Unpublished Icon

      Unpublish Discussion

      To unpublish a discussion, click the discussion's published icon [1].

      Discussions with student submissions cannot be unpublished. The published icon for these discussions is lighter in color to indicate discussions that cannot be unpublished [2].

      Published Icons

      View Status within an Individual Discussion

      Publish Discussions

      Within individual discussions, the discussion status is shown next to the discussion settings.

      Individual Unpublished to Published 1

          Individual Unpublished to Published 2

      Unpublish Discussions

      To unpublish a discussion, hover over the published button for the content item and view its status. If the discussion can be unpublished, the hover text will confirm you want to unpublish the discussion, and the button will change from green to red. Click the button to confirm.

      Content with student submissions cannot be unpublished.

      Individual Publish to Unpublish

      • Virginia Commonwealth University
      • Division of Administration
      • Technology Services
      • 701 W. Broad St., Box 843059
      • Richmond, VA 23284
      • Phone: (804) 828-2227
      • Privacy | Accessibility | Webmaster
      • Updated: 02/16/2021
      Knowledge Base A-Z
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
      • P
      • Q
      • R
      • S
      • T
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • X
      • Y
      • Z
      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • YouTube
      • Instagram