{"id":125,"date":"2025-09-09T10:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T15:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/?p=125"},"modified":"2025-09-09T16:26:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T21:26:34","slug":"canvas-update-ai-powered-discussion-summaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/2025\/09\/09\/canvas-update-ai-powered-discussion-summaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Canvas Update: AI-Powered Discussion Summaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Canvas has introduced a new feature called <strong>Discussion Summaries<\/strong>, which is now usable by instructors in all courses. This feature uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate short overviews of discussion threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What the Tool Does<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Discussion Summary tool creates a concise summary of the main ideas, questions, or themes present in a discussion board. Instructors will see a <strong>\u201cSummarize\u201d<\/strong> button when viewing a discussion. Selecting this option will generate a summary of the posts in that thread.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"268\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/files\/2025\/09\/canvas_discussions_summarize-1024x268.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-128\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/files\/2025\/09\/canvas_discussions_summarize-1024x268.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/files\/2025\/09\/canvas_discussions_summarize-300x78.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/files\/2025\/09\/canvas_discussions_summarize-768x201.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/files\/2025\/09\/canvas_discussions_summarize-1536x402.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/files\/2025\/09\/canvas_discussions_summarize-1140x298.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/files\/2025\/09\/canvas_discussions_summarize.jpg 1782w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Points for Instructors<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Instructor-Only Visibility<\/strong>: Summaries are only visible to instructors. Students do not see the summaries.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Optional Use<\/strong>: The feature is <strong>on by default<\/strong>, but instructors may disable it at any time in their course settings under Feature Options.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Customization<\/strong>: Instructors can add prompts to guide the summary, for example to highlight common themes or identify areas of confusion.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Limitations<\/strong>: The summaries may not always capture every detail or nuance of student posts and shouldn\u2019t be used for grading.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What This Means for Courses<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This feature does not change how students interact with or view discussions. It is intended as an optional support tool for instructors who wish to use it.If you would like more information about how to access or manage the Discussion Summary tool in Canvas, please visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/community.canvaslms.com\/t5\/Discussion-Summaries-Feature\/Feature-Preview-Overview-Discussion-Summaries\/ta-p\/609157\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Canvas Feature Overview<\/strong><\/a> or <a href=\"mailto:catlst@uww.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>contact the CATLST team<\/strong><\/a><strong> <\/strong>for support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canvas has introduced a new feature called Discussion Summaries, which is now usable by instructors in all courses. This feature uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate short overviews of discussion threads. What the Tool Does The Discussion Summary tool creates a concise summary of the main ideas, questions, or themes present in a discussion board. Instructors will see a \u201cSummarize\u201d button when viewing a discussion. Selecting this option will generate a summary of the posts in that thread. Key Points for Instructors What This Means for Courses This feature does not change how students interact with or view discussions. It is intended as an optional support tool for instructors who wish to use it.If you would like more information about how to access or manage the Discussion Summary tool in Canvas, please visit the Canvas Feature Overview or contact the CATLST team for support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17774,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15,6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements-news","category-canvas","category-for-instructors","category-for-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17774"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/catlst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}