Canvas recently introduced the Discussion Summaries Feature Preview which uses a Generative AI model to give instructors summaries of the main points, questions, and ideas in a discussion thread. Feature previews are course feature options still in active development. Users who opt in to the feature may join the Community user group and help improve the feature through direct feedback but should understand that your course may receive updates to Discussion Summaries as soon as the updates are released.
Facilitating conversation and collaboration among students in Canvas Discussion can be challenging for instructors, especially those with larger classes. Discussion Summaries can help instructors determine the central themes and questions of a discussion to determine student engagement and identify topics that warrant further conversation. This feature is designed to save instructors time and to allow discussions to be used effectively in large-format classes. These summaries are only available to instructors and administrators, and the feature is not available or intended for students at this time.
If enabled, use the Summarize button in the discussion toolbar.
The summary will appear in a box below the original Discussion post, and instructors may enter a prompt to refine its focus (ex: What are the most problematic areas for my students to clarify?) to a specific topic. Use the Generate Summary button to regenerate or the Disable Summary button to close the summary window. Once regenerated, the previous summary is no longer available. Instructors may use the thumbs up/down to provide feedback about the quality of the discussion summary.
Enabling Discussion Summaries
If you would like to enable Discussion Summaries in your course, you must enable the “Discussion Summary” feature option in course Settings. Click the Feature Options tab.
Use the feature state icon and choose Enabled. The feature should display a green checkmark.
If you would like to explore this feature outside your production course, it is enabled in the Canvas@UD beta environment (udel.beta.instructure.com) of your courses. If you are unfamiliar with the Canvas beta environment, please review the Canvas guides, What is the Canvas beta environment? and How do I access the Canvas beta environment as an instructor?
For more information, please review the following Canvas resources:
- Discussion Summaries User Group
- Feature Preview Overview: Discussion Summaries
- Canvas Deploy: Discussion Summaries (2024-07-17) Release Note
- Discussion Summaries: FAQ
- Discussion Summaries AI Nutrition Facts
If you have any questions about the changes or about how to use Canvas effectively, IT-Academic Technology Services staff is always available at the IT-ATS Welcome Bar or you can send your questions to canvas-info@udel.edu.
| Date | Change Log |
| 1/10/2025 | initial post |
