Ed Discussion
Ed Discussion is an online communication and Q&A platform for courses. It gives students, instructors, and course staff a shared space for threaded questions, answers, announcements, media, math equations, code snippets, and course-specific discussions.
Cost
No costAudience
Students, faculty & staffPurpose
Course collaborationCanvas integration
LTI availableGetting started
- Open the Canvas course, select Settings, then Navigation.
- Find Ed Discussion in the disabled navigation list, open the item menu, and select Enable.
- Select Save. Ed Discussion will appear in the course navigation and open in a new tab.
- If Ed Discussion is not listed, contact your college or technology support team for help with access.
Activity examples
- Use Q&A threads so student questions and endorsed answers benefit the whole class.
- Create categories for assignments, lectures, labs, exams, or logistics to keep course communication organized.
- Invite students to share runnable code snippets, equations, files, videos, and annotated images during discussions of course concepts.
- Use private or anonymous posting options when a question needs a narrower audience or a lower barrier to participation.
Compare your options
Use Ed Discussion when a course needs searchable, organized, Q&A-centered communication that can scale beyond a traditional discussion board or email thread. It is especially useful for courses where students need to ask repeatable questions, share code or equations, and learn from instructor-endorsed responses.
| Tool | Best for | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas Discussions | Text-based discussion prompts, replies, and graded participation inside Canvas | The activity is a simple written discussion, and students do not need to comment on slides, images, audio or video. |
| Ed Discussion | Structured Q&A, course help forums, endorsed answers, and searchable student questions | The goal is to troubleshoot, answer repeat questions, or build a class knowledge base. |
| Zoom | Live presentation, real-time discussion, screen sharing, and synchronous demonstrations | Students need to meet, present, or discuss together at the same time. |
| VoiceThread | Asynchronous media-based discussion, oral responses, annotation, and peer feedback | The activity centers on shared media, and students need time to watch, listen, speak, annotate, and respond at their own pace. |
FAQ
Yes, Ed Discussion supports code snippets in multiple languages, including C/C++, Javascript, HTML, Python, and SQL. Instructors can choose to let Ed Discussion automatically syntax highlight code paragraphs for certain languages.
Yes, Ed Discussion allows instructors to select an option where new threads must be approved before being posted. Admin and staff are also able to lock threads, which will stop anyone from contributing or editing the threads further.
Accessibility, privacy, and other considerations
Accessibility
- Keep course posts accessible by using clear titles, descriptive link text and readable formatting for equations, images and uploaded files.
Privacy and course use
- Use anonymous, private and staff-only settings intentionally based on course policy and student needs.
- Do not ask students to post sensitive personal information in course discussion threads.
Get support
Need technical help?
For technical support, contact the ASU Experience Center or visit the Ed Help guide (you must first log into the Ed Discussion platform through your Canvas course before accessing this guide).
Want to explore ways to use this tool in your course?
Learning Experience (LX) offers workshops and consultations where you can explore ways Ed Discussion and other enterprise technologies might support your teaching goals.