Insights for Canvas Discussions

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Feature Preview

Insights for Canvas Discussions is currently a Feature Preview. This means there may be ongoing updates outside of the regular release schedule.

Option 1:
Discussion Insights is a strictly instructor-facing tool designed to support the grading process without directly determining grades or adhering to specific rubrics. Students cannot view these insights or evaluations, and while the AI-generated scores and notes are uneditable, they are intended solely to guide instructors who ultimately assign grades within SpeedGrader. Access to these results is generally confined to the Discussion Insights interface, although they become visible within SpeedGrader if the Platform Usability Updates feature is enabled.

Option 2:
Discussion Insights serves as an instructor-facing support tool that operates independently of assignment rubrics, meaning the AI evaluates posts without considering your specific grading criteria. Students cannot access these internal evaluations, and the AI-generated scores—which cannot be edited—are intended solely to guide the instructor’s manual grading process in SpeedGrader rather than determining the final grade. While these insights are primarily housed within their own interface, enabling specific usability updates allows the results to be viewed directly alongside the grading workflow in SpeedGrader.

Canvas Discussions allow instructors to generate insights for a given discussion topic using IgniteAI to help determine the relevance and quality of student replies.

Enabling Insights for Discussions

In order to utilize Insights for Discussions:

  1. Navigate to your Canvas course.
  2. Click on the Settings course navigation link on the bottom left-hand side of your screen.
  3. Click on the Feature Options tab at the top of the screen.
  4. Find the IgniteAI Insights for Discussions Feature Option row.
    • Optional: Click on the > icon to expand and read the description.
  5. Click on the red ❌ icon, and select Enabled. A green ✅ checkmark icon will display indicating that the Feature Option has been enabled.
    • There is no Save button on this screen. Any Feature Options you enable or disable here are updated immediately.
A screenshot of the feature options page within the Canvas LMS settings. The first item listed is "IgniteAI Insights for Discussions" with the description "Allow access to discussion insights" and a "Feature Preview" label. A purple arrow points to this feature title. To the right, a dropdown menu is open, showing the "Enabled" option highlighted in purple and the "Disabled" option checked. A red 'X' icon is visible next to the dropdown, indicating the current disabled state before the change. The next item below is "IgniteAI Summaries for Discussions".

Viewing Insights for Discussions

These instructions assume that you have at least one discussion topic created in your Canvas course and have replies from your students. If you do not have any discussion topics created in your course, refer to How do I create a discussion as an instructor? or How do I create a graded discussion?.

In your Canvas course, click on the Discussions course navigation link on the left-hand side of your screen.

Click on a discussion topic in your course.

Click on the ✨ Go to Insights button located at the bottom right-hand corner of your discussion prompt.

The ✨ Open Summary button (not shown) may also appear here if you have enabled IgniteAI Summaries for Discussions.

    A screenshot of a Canvas discussion topic titled "Module 3: Creative Art Project - Concept Share." Below the general assignment instructions, a purple arrow points directly to a white button labeled "Go to Insights" located in the bottom right corner of the post frame, positioned opposite the "Reply" button on the left.

    The Discussion Insights dialog box will appear.

    Click on the ✨ Generate Insights button to generate Evaluation Notes of your students’ replies.

      A screenshot of the "Discussion Insights" screen in the Canvas LMS. Below the header and a brief explanatory note about AI generation, a search bar and dropdown menu appear on the left. A purple arrow highlights the "Generate Insights" button situated on the far right, which features a sparkle icon and a purple-to-blue gradient background.

      After insights have been generated by IgniteAI, use the Search students… text box to search for specific students, and/or use the Filter by drop-down menu to select a specific Relevance of All, Relevant, Needs Review, or Irrelevant.

      A screenshot of the discussion insights interface in Canvas showing search and filter options. On the left, a purple arrow points to a search bar labeled "Search students..." used for locating specific individuals. On the right, a second purple arrow highlights an expanded dropdown menu labeled "Filter by," which displays options to sort results by "All," "Relevant," "Needs Review," or "Irrelevant." Below these controls, a list of student entries is visible with corresponding relevance badges and evaluation notes.

      Five columns of data display on the screen after Insights have been generated:

      A screenshot of the "IgniteAI Insights" results table displaying two student entries. The table columns are annotated with yellow circular badges labeled A through E: "A" marks the "Relevance" column (displaying "Needs review" badges), "B" marks "Student Name," "C" marks "Evaluation Notes" containing text summaries, "D" marks "Time Posted," and "E" marks the "Actions" column featuring three interaction icons.
      1. Relevance: The labels (each in their own color) in this column are Relevant (green), Needs review (gold), or Irrelevant (red). The labels are not clickable. Click the up/down arrow icon next to Relevance to sort the column.
      2. Student Name: Displays the student’s name in a given row. Click the up/down arrow icon next to Student Name to sort the column.
      3. Evaluation Notes: Displays an AI-generated evaluation of student responses.
      4. Time Posted: Displays the date and time of when the student posted the reply. Click the up/down arrow icon next to Time Posted to sort the column.
      5. Actions: Three different icons display in this column.
        • Please see the menu below for an explanation of each icon.
      See Reply

      Click on the 👁️ eye icon to See reply. A Review Evaluation window will open. The student’s response displays at the top with the AI-generated Evaluation beneath it.

      • Click the See Reply in Context button to be taken to the discussion topic.
      • Use the Like (Thumbs Up) and Dislike (Thumbs Down) icons next to Do you like this evaluation? to submit feedback to Instructure about this tool.
      • Use the <<, <, >, and >> icons to page through student responses.
      A screenshot of the "Review Evaluation" modal window. The screen displays the full text of a student's reply. Purple arrows point to three key interface elements: the "See Reply in Context" button in the top right corner, the "Evaluation" section header (showing a "Needs Review" status and explanatory text), and the feedback controls at the bottom right labeled "Do you like this evaluation?" featuring thumbs up and down icons.
      See in SpeedGrader
      See Reply in Context

      The following screenshot shows a different discussion topic in another course and how IgniteAI evaluated these student responses.

      A screenshot of the "IgniteAI Insights" results table populated with several student entries. The table shows columns for "Relevance," "Student Name," "Evaluation Notes," and "Time Posted." The list displays a mix of status badges: green "Relevant" badges are shown for replies that directly address the topic, while gold "Needs review" badges flag replies containing issues such as "video attachment with no textual content," "minimal text," or "non-text content."

      Additional Resources

      Use IgniteAI Summaries for Discussions

      How do I use IgniteAI Insights for Discussions?

      Related Links