Course Groups
Some common reasons for dividing students into groups are:
- Group assignments: Students submit the assignment as a group.
- Group discussions: Students can only participate in and view their own group’s discussion.
- Group work: Students can use the group workspace to communicate, meet, and collect materials.
- Student sign-up: Students can sign up for groups and use that to indicate their choice among available options.
Groups are always created within a group set. A course can include multiple group sets, for example, for group assignments or discussions. Students do not see the group set itself, only the groups.
When a group set is linked to an assignment or a discussion, it becomes a group assignment or a group discussion.
See more about the features below.
Note: Student View does not show groups accurately. To see how students actually view groups, watch the video further down this page: How do I view all groups in a course as a student?
Give groups names that reflect the course and their purpose, for example: “HMM223F – Business Analysis – Group 1”.
If groups are linked to an assignment, place all students in a group, including those who may submit individually, by putting them in a one-person group. If self-sign-up is enabled, confirm that all students are in the correct groups and turn it off before submissions begin. Keep in mind that one submission counts for the whole group, and the grade and feedback are shared with all group members, though individual grades can still be assigned.
Group sets and group sign-up
Course groups are created under People in the course menu. The process begins by creating a group set, which manages the group structure. The teacher can choose to:
- assign students to groups manually
- let Canvas assign students randomly
- enable self sign-up and allow students to join groups themselves
Groups can be created at the same time as the group set or later. A student can only belong to one group within each group set.
Courses that rely on group work often use multiple group sets.
For example:
- Group set 1: groups of five for a group discussion
- Group set 2: pairs for a partner assignment
- Group set 3: groups of different sizes for group work
Groups are also sometimes used to let students choose among options by signing up for a group.
Group names
Make sure group names reflect both their purpose and the course they belong to.
For example: “HMM223F – Business Analysis – Group 1”.
When groups are created at the same time as a group set, their names are based on the group set name with a number added at the end. In the example above, the group set was named “HMM223F – Business Analysis – Group ” and Canvas adds a number to create each group name. After the groups have been created, the group set name can be changed if needed, for example by removing the word “Group”.
It is also possible to create a group set without any groups and then create the groups manually, one by one. This makes it easy to give each group a distinct name.
Group workspace
Each group automatically gets its own workspace. There, group members can store files in the group files area, create pages and discussions, send announcements to group members, and add events to the group calendar. The teacher also has access to group workspaces and can, for example, monitor students’ work. Note that assignment submissions are not made through the group workspace, and it is not connected to the gradebook.
About group assignments
To create a group assignment, create an assignment and link it to a group set. The same applies to group discussions; see the discussion setup instructions for details.
Place all students in a group, including those who are allowed to submit on their own, by putting them in a one-person group.
If students are allowed to sign themselves up for groups, make sure all students are in the correct groups and disable self sign-up before submissions are due.
A submission by one student in a group assignment counts as the submission for the whole group and appears for the other group members as well.
The submission, grade, and feedback are tied to the group the student belonged to at the time of submission.
The grade and feedback are visible to all group members, but it is possible to assign an individual student a different grade from the rest of the group.
In group discussions, students can only see the discussion for their own group.
How do students see groups?
Note: Student View does not work properly for groups. See the video below for more information.
Students see groups differently from teachers
A student can follow the same path as a teacher by opening the course, going to People, and then Groups. There, the student can see all groups in the course, whether or not they are a member of them. However, the student can only visit the group workspace for a group they belong to. Students must use this route if they need to sign up for a group.
Students can also go to Groups in the Canvas global navigation menu, in the blue menu bar on the left. There they will see all of their groups across all courses in one place, and from there they can open the workspace for each group. For this reason, it is important to give groups clear, descriptive names.