Ed Discussion

Ed Discussion supports customizable thread filters and categories, anonymous posting, LaTex, image annotation, instructor endorsements, customizable notification settings, data analytics, and runnable code snippets.

Manually enable Ed Discussion from the settings and navigation menus in your Canvas course, or contact the Canvas Help team to use Ed Discussion independently of Canvas.

Go to Canvas Email canvashelp@stanford.edu

Ed Discussion features

Ed Discussion can be used for:

• Q&A discussions, where students can post anonymous questions to peers or the teaching team.
• Collaboration, where students can work on group projects or study together.
• Peer review, where students post their work files and give feedback to each other.
• Back-channel discussion for teaching team members to coordinate their work.
• Formative feedback, where the instructor provides feedback to specific individuals, groups, or the entire class.

Artificial intelligence features

Ed Discussion has AI functionality called Bots++.  Students ask Bot a question and receive answers based on instructor-curated answers. The tool must be enabled by the Stanford Canvas team.  It is available, but disabled by default.  Please submit a ticket to canvashelp@stanford.edu. 

Access Ed Discussion

Access via Canvas

Ed Discussion is most commonly accessed from within Canvas for students enrolled in that Canvas course. To set up Ed Discussion within a Canvas course:

1. Go to the Settings tool within the Canvas course, then click the Navigation tab.
2. Drag Ed Discussion from the hidden tools at the bottom of the page to the active tool list.
3. Disable the default Discussions tool by dragging it to the hidden tools list. This will prevent the potential confusion of having two discussion tools.
4. Click Save.
5. Click the Ed Discussion tool from the Canvas course navigation menu.
6. Refer to the Ed Discussions Getting Started guide to finish setting up the tool.

Access standalone from Canvas

To set up an Ed Discussion forum independent of Canvas, send a request to canvashelp@stanford.edu. This option is for courses that are not using Canvas.

Ed Discussion benefits

Ed Discussion can benefit both instructors and students in a variety of ways:

• Reduce the number of emails and repeat questions to instructors and the teaching team.
• Asynchronous access allows more students to participate in discussions.
• Gives students multiple ways to express ideas with equations, runnable code, annotations, and more.
• Data analytics can provide useful information to inform the course design.

Please note: Ed Discussion is approved for use up to Moderate Risk data/communications. The first time users launch Ed Discussion in a course, they will see a privacy message informing them that sharing of High Risk data, such as OAE accommodation letters, is a violation to its terms of use and authors are solely responsible for potential risks. Users must acknowledge the message before accessing the Ed Discussion site. 

Questions?

• Self-enroll in Stanford's Canvas Ed Discussion Demo site
• Visit the help portal and the Getting Started guide from the Ed team.
• View setup instructions from Stanford's Canvas support team.
• See the detailed or simple version of the Ed Discussion and Piazza comparison chart.
• View the Ed Discussion Information Page. 

Contact canvashelp@stanford.edu with any questions.