Canvas Discussion Boards Redesign

Shanay Murdock

Apr 14, 2026

14199

On May 8, 2024, FSU turned on a new feature in Canvas, the Discussion Boards redesign. While there are significant changes in discussion board features and minor changes to the interface, there will be no loss of functionality between the old and the new discussions. We're excited to unveil these features, which will grant instructors new opportunities to customize and control their course discussions like never before. The upgrade will also help students communicate in ways that reflect the constantly shifting space of digital communication. You can navigate these changes by selecting the links below or scrolling down.

Note: Instructure enacted these changes permanently on July 20, 2024. FSU maintains that students, staff, and faculty follow our Canvas Best Practices when using Discussion Boards.

Flexible Viewing Options

Users will have the option to structure their discussion board as either an Inline or Split view. To toggle between the two, at the top of the screen, select either View Split Screen or View Inline.

View Split Screen button on Canvas Discussion interface

By selecting Split Screen, the discussion thread will be formatted as seen below:

Visual example of the split screen layout with a list of posts on the left and the active conversation on the right.

View Inline button on Canvas Discussion interface

By selecting Inline, the discussion thread will be formatted as seen below:

Visual example of the Inline layout where replies appear directly beneath the main post.

Mentions

This feature allows users to use the @ symbol to mention other users, which is functionally similar to social media platforms.

Visual example showing the '@' (at) symbol being used to trigger a user selection dropdown in a reply.

Quotes

This new feature will allow users to quote others in their replies.

Screenshot of the quote button and how quoted text appears within a new discussion reply, including a toggle to included quoted reply in the message response.

Anonymous Discussions

Instructors can host anonymous discussions, where student identifiers such as names, pictures, and role labels will be hidden. This option will be set to off by default.

Note: Grading and Groups are not supported in anonymous discussions.

Settings menu showing radio selection buttons for Anonymous Discussions (Off or Full anonymity).

When the Discussion Settings menu option is selected for students to create discussions, there is also the option to allow students to create anonymous discussions. This option is turned off by default.

Discussion Settings interface showing checkboxes for allowing students to create anonymous discussions.

When an anonymous discussion exists in the course, the Discussions page will indicate the anonymous discussion prior to a student opening the discussion.

Anonymity indicator badge as seen on the main Discussions index page.

Reply Reporting

Now, within individual discussions, replies can be reported by students and teachers. Teachers can choose to enable reporting in the Discussion Settings menu.

Discussion Settings interface with checkboxes to enable reporting of replies.

When enabled, users can report replies by clicking the Settings menu for the reply and clicking the Report button.

The options menu on a specify reply showing the Report link.

When a user reports a reply, they must select why the comment is being reported (inappropriate, offensive/abusive, or another reason). Once submitted, this action cannot be undone.

The Report Reply interface showing reason categories for reporting the reply to an instructor.

Finally, two minor changes involve role labels and an interface modification.

Role Labels

Discussion threads will now display a label for users with instructor-level permissions, such as Teachers (Instructors) and TAs, to help students quickly identify instructors in a course.

Visual example of the Author and Teach label next to a username in a discussion post.

Interface Modification

The following modifications have been made to individual discussion threads:

The toolbar has been moved to the top of the discussion thread.
Newest replies are displayed at the top of the first page instead of the bottom of the last page.
Users can sort replies from newest to oldest or oldest to newest.
Users can quickly move to the top of the discussion at any time.

Screenshot of the new discussion toolbar relocated to the top of the thread.

As always, it is recommended that users save their work in a separate document before posting replies to Discussion Boards. Otherwise, there is always the chance that unsubmitted work will be lost.