Disable Students Creating Discussions

Is there a way to disable the option for students to be able to create discussions. We want them to respond to the discussions and reply to each others, but we would rather not have them have the ability to begin a discussion for the class on their own.

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Accepted answers

kona

Yes, you can do this from the Discussions page (click on the gear icon - upper right - and then uncheck the option to allow students to create discussion posts) OR from your course Settings (click on Settings, scroll down, click on the "more options" link, then uncheck the option to allow students to create discussions. You only have to make this change in one place and it will automatically update it in the other.

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kona

unknown

One of our students seems to have found a loophole. We have the ability to create discussions disabled in the class, which should force them to use "reply" to respond in the proper graded forum, yet if a student clicks on PEOPLE, then clicks "visit" in their group and clicks the DISCUSSION item there, they can then create a forum and post there (where no one is likely to see it).

That whole "Group" area is very confusing to me, since you get a similar (but not the same!) menu along the left--kind of bizarre to create an alternative reality with no clear indication beyond the breadcrumbs along the top (and the slightly different menu) that you're not in where you used to be...and there's not a "exit" button to be seen! It took me a while to learn to get back to the real world using the breadcrumbs.

unknown

So, it just happened again--much chaos and confusion because students created their own discussion forums in their groups which were not tied to a grade column. I suppose we just have to tell everyone NOT to click on the "add" button. Please, Canvas, give instructors the ability to customize as needed to make your system work the way we desire!

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