Enhanced Discussion Boards [2026]

Allison McComb Updated by Allison McComb

Enhanced Discussion Boards [2026]

We’ve introduced several new discussion features designed to make conversations more engaging, interactive, and easier to navigate for both students and facilitators in the Enhanced Discussion Board format. Please feel free to watch the below video with Liz Tarshis, which provides an overview of the enhanced discussion board experience and the features you’ll see in your courses:

Video Overview with Liz linked here.

Steps You Can Take to Improve the Experience

This change should not require much manual intervention from Facilitators, but we do recommend taking the following actions before your courses start with the new discussion board format:

  1. Completing your facilitator profile so students can easily recognize and connect with you. You can access your profile directly from the new discussion board next to where you post a new reply:

This profile should read directly from your main Canvas Profile page, accessible from the left-hand menu:

Therefore, if your current Canvas profile is up-to-date, no action is needed. A full walkthrough on information you should include in your Canvas profile, and how to edit it can be found in this article.

  1. Re-Embed Student Lounge welcome post. It is likely your previous Welcome Introduction videos will not carry over automatically to the new discussion format.

If your Student Lounge video was originally recorded in Zoom, it should be available via Cornells Video on Demand website. A full walkthrough on recording a Student Lounge intro and getting that code uploaded can be found in this article: Recording and Posting a Welcome Video.

Once your video is recorded with Zoom and present on Video on Demand, copy the embed code (step 4 in this article):

Then, go into the discussion you want to edit and click the "</>" icon:

From here, you can paste that embed code you copied from VoD, and the video should come through as a thumbnail!:

Once you have posted your video, it should be copied forward to you future sections of that same course.  *Please note that if it is your first time facilitating a course, you will need to post your Welcome Video manually for the first time.

Plan to do the following in Enhanced Discussion Boards:

  • Use reactions (likes/kudos) to acknowledge student contributions and encourage continued participation:
  • Actively facilitate discussions by asking follow-up questions, recognizing strong ideas, connecting themes, and encouraging students to engage with one another.
  • Continue to meet our existing expectations for substantive facilitator engagement in course discussions. Rubrics on Effective Facilitation can be found in this article for your reference.
  • As always, actively monitor student submissions and flag or report inappropriate content or language if necessary. You can find guidance for unique student interactions in this article.

How did we do?

Navigating Canvas and the Dashboard

How Do I Edit My Canvas Profile?

Contact