Encourage Robust Online Discussions

Student discussion forums are a core element of your online course.  To enable a robust online asynchronous conversation, we recommend you "Allow threaded replies" when developing your discussions [as shown below] so students can interject their responses to each other at each step of the conversation.

Create a Discussion

Create your discussion by utilizing the following options:

1. Enter your topic title in the topic title field. 
2. Use the Rich Content Editor to format your content. 
3. Create a threaded replies by clicking on the Allow threaded replies checkbox. 
4. Save your Discussion.

View Threaded Discussions

By implementing Threaded Discussions you will see when a student replies to another student's reply. A blue dot [1] indicates a new reply, and a white dot [2] indicates an unread reply. Click the Gear icon [3] to select one of the following options in the drop-down menu:

• Click the Go To Topic link to return to discussion post or comment you replied to. 
• Click the Edit the reply link to edit your response. 
• Click the Delete the reply link to delete your response. 
• Note: Graded discussions will also include an Open in SpeedGrader link to grade the discussion replies.

View Collapsed Replies

By hovering over the reply, you can collapse all replies [1] and expand all replies [2] to make the Discussion easier to manage. Or you can collapse and expand a single thread by hovering over the thread [3]. Click the Reply link to reply to the main discussion [4]. You can also reply to any other post in the thread by clicking the reply arrow.


The details for these features have been sourced from Canvas’ User Guides. Please feel free to contact us (online@baypath.edu) for any questions you may have about using Canvas for your Bay Path class.

Viewing Embedded Media in your Canvas Classroom

Are you seeing media pop-up alerts when using Canvas? This may have something to do with your web browser settings. Canvas works with most web browsers; it works especially well with Chorme or Firefox. If you find that your are not able to view embedded media or web pages, if you are seeing pop-up alerts, or if you are attempting to use the media comments within your Canvas course and having troubles, you may need to do one of two things:

• switch the browser you are using -or-

• make some modifications to your browser security policy-as shown below.

Pop-up indications, while annoying, mean you may need to adjust your privacy settings.

Some embedded media may be viewed by your browser as "unsafe" or "unauthenticated". You might also need to make the following adjustments in your browser to view the media:

Chrome Security:

Google Chrome verifies that the website content you view is transmitted securely. If you visit a page in your Canvas course that is linked to insecure content, Chrome will display a shield icon in the browser address bar. You can choose to override the security restriction and display the content anyway by:

1. clicking the shield icon and then
2. clicking the Load unsafe script button.

Chrome Media Permissions:

Chrome has its own media permission within the browser. To use your computer camera and microphone within any Canvas feature, you might have to approve two permissions:

1. Allow access to Canvas via Adobe Flash Player Settings [1]. This prompt appears in the center of the video and audio pop-up windows, or the center of the browser if you are accessing Conversations.
2. Allow access to Canvas via Chrome's media permission settings [2]. This prompt appears just below the address bar. Click the Allow button.

Firefox Security:

Firefox verifies that the website content you view is transmitted securely. If you visit a page in your Canvas course that is linked to insecure content, Firefox will display a shield icon in the browser bar [1]. You can choose to override the security restriction and display the content anyway by clicking the shield icon, clicking the Keep Blocking drop-down menu [2], and selecting the Disable Protection on This Page option [3].

While they may be cumbersome at times, these browser settings are in place to protect your computer. By making these adjustments above, you will be able to select which sites are allowed to display content that is deemed "unauthenticated".

The details for understanding how Canvas works with different browsers have been sourced from Canvas' User Guides. Please feel free to contact Online Learning online@baypath.edu or call 413.565.6880 for any questions you may have about using Canvas for your Bay Path class.