Comparing discussion tools: Piazza / Ed Discussion / Canvas Discussions
We hope you will find this table useful for deciding on the right discussion tool for your course.
View our guides on using Piazza, Ed Discussion, and Canvas Discussions.
- Add Piazza to the course navigation tab in Settings.
- Create your account and configure Piazza in your course in Canvas.
- Select Piazza in the course navigation menu to create a post.
- With LTI 1.3 Staff/Students should be automatically enrolled into the Piazza forum, based on the canvas roles.
Students cannot edit or update an instructor's posts.
Instructors can edit and delete all posts.
A history slider option shows how a question or answer has evolved over time, this is as, the answer is formed by multiple authors.
Must go to each course in Canvas and click on Piazza to get to it.
Older style UX.
Built-in filters and folders to locate and organise posts.
Posts can be tagged and organised into customisable folders and sub-folders. Clicking on a folder shows all the posts with that folder tag.
Class statistics/analytics: total posts, total contributors, average response time, post views, and individual student contributions.
Can be filtered by week or month by using the export statistics tool.
Once enough students contribute to the Q & A, instructors can download these statistics at any time as a csv file.
There is no option to assign grades to posts within Piazza.
Groups are created directly in Piazza, either manually or via csv file.
Email: team@piazza.com or help@piazza.com
- Add Ed Discussion to the course navigation tab via Settings.
- Select Ed Discussion in the course navigation menu to configure and activate your Ed course.
- Select Ed Discussion in the course navigation menu to send a welcome announcement (optional) and/or create a new thread.
- Staff/Students automatically enrolled into Ed Discussion, enrolments pulled through from Canvas.
Note: Even when its anonymous instructor can see who posted if required.
Instructors can also add private comments (visible to teaching team only).
Students can create private threads (visible only to author and teaching team).
Instructors can edit and delete all posts.
Instructors can turn on the 'Moderation' feature to require instructor approval of new threads created by students before they are visible to other students.
In Ed Discussion everyone has their individual answer, so it is not as useful to have the answer’s edit history. As a result, individual edit histories are not supported.
Staff/Students can just click on the course in the window and be taken to the posts made in it.
Modern UX with easier navigation.
Built-in filters and folders locate and organise posts.
Posts are also marked as 'Read', 'Unread', 'Starred', 'Answered', 'Unanswered'.
They can also be organized into custom categories (folders and sub-folders) that can then be used to filter posts.
Analytics can be viewed by Week, Month, or All time and include: student and staff participation, total posts, views, and comments.
Instructors can download these statistics at any time as a CSV file or JSON file.
Users can configure their notifications settings for notification emails.
There is no option to assign grades to posts within Ed Discussion.
Email: team@edstem.org
- Go to Course settings.
- In the tab Feature options, enable Discussions/ Announcements Redesign.
- If setting is Off: student names and profile pictures will be visible to other members of this course.
- If setting is Partial: students can choose to reveal their name and profile picture.
- If setting is Full: student names and profile pictures will be hidden.
Instructors can edit and delete students' posts/replies to a discussion.
Staff/Students can report on a comment if they believe it's inappropriate.
Staff/Students can select the discussion they want to reply to and post to it.
Posts can be marked as 'Read' or 'Unread'.
No way to see how many times a post was viewed unless you go into the discussion itself.
Notifications can be received immediately, daily or weekly.
Phone: 0800 005 205
Page updated 26/08/2025 (moved the table from defunct page)