This article is to help clarify the differences between these terms/functions in Canvas. Understanding the functions will help in making decisions for use of the tools.
Definitions
Group: a set of students in a course that may be as few as one student or as many as 100,000. Each Group also has a separate collaboration space that is unique to the course in which the Group was created.
Group Set: a set of groups used for a specific purpose. For example, Final Presentation Groups, or Small Discussion Groups.
Section: usually an enrollment artifact–students enroll in specific sections that may be cross-listed into the same Canvas course. If there is an instructional need to separate and manage students as if they are in separate courses–for example, a large-enrollment course of several hundred students, in which all students are enrolled in a single section–instructors can request the ability to create manual sections to make course management easier.
Groups vs Sections
Canvas Groups function like a smaller version of a Canvas course and provide students with a collaborative environment to work together. It creates a space where students can share files, work on documents iteratively, have group-only discussions, and submit group assignments. Think about Canvas Groups as enabling teamwork. Groups can be a good way to collaborate completely within the LMS without the need for external tools (e.g. Google Drive). Students or groups that prefer to collaborate using Google Docs, may want to try Canvas Collaborations.
A Canvas Section is a segment of the class roster used for administrative purposes. Sections are created automatically when courses are combined or cross-listed. Instructors can assign assignments to a specific section of students, assign different due dates to different sections, and can take attendance by section. Think about Canvas Sections as enabling more streamlined student administration.
Assigning Groups and Sections
To differentiate who can see an item in Canvas, please review the following Canvas guides
Uses
By default, Canvas will set your item as assigned to everyone. Here is a list of tasks you might create in Canvas and how you can differentiate the work with both Groups and Sections. You can use this to vary your topics and instructions to different sets of students.
Assigning assignments and discussions to different sets of students
Groups
If you set the item up as a group assignment or group discussion, you can then set the due date for particular groups in a group set - don't include the others that you don't want to have this assignment by removing the “Everyone” label.
Sections
Set up the discussion, assignment, or quiz as a regular item but then assign a due date to the specific course section. If you remove the “Everyone” label, only the section(s) specified in the item details can view the item.
Task | Groups | Sections |
|---|---|---|
Assign different assignments, quizzes, or discussions to different sets of students | Set the item up as a group item and then choose only specific groups | Yes |
Assign different due dates for the same assignment to different sets of students | Set the item up as a group item and then assign different due dates to each group | Yes |
Send different announcements to different sets of students | Yes - within the group’s Homepage | Yes |
A space for group discussions and collaboration | Yes | No |
Single submission of a group assignment | Yes | No |
Self-enrolling in groups | Yes | No |
Filter the gradebook | Yes | Yes |
Filter Speedgrader | Yes | Yes |
Canvas Calendar events for a specific set of students | Yes | Yes |
Examples of Using Groups and Group Sets in Canvas
The course has 100 students. You want to have small group conversations in discussions. You will create a group set that will divide the 100 students into 10 groups of 10. They will only see their group's responses to discussion prompts.
Students switch discussion groups mid-way through the course: A student may be assigned to Group 1 of Group Set A for Discussions during the first 3 weeks of the course, then switch to Group 4 of Group Set B for the next 4 weeks.
Students participate with multiple groups during a course: A student may be assigned for Discussion Group 1 (for discussions) with 8 people and Project Group 2 (for an assignment) with 4 people from their discussion group OR 4 completely different people.
To minimize grading on group projects, an assignment is set up as a Group assignment and one student submits it for the group. The grade can be assigned individually or to the entire group.
Examples of using Sections in Canvas
Math 304 is the undergraduate course and Math 504 is the graduate course, but the content has strong overlaps. A faculty member may cross-list these sections to teach in one Canvas course and differentiate some assignments.
Chem 101 has 200 students, but they are all enrolled in Peoplesoft as sections A-D of 50 each. These sections can be cross-listed so that the content is the same for all students.
Considerations
The names of groups can get confusing if they are not specific. A student could be enrolled in 4 Group 1’s (one for each class). Naming conventions should be carefully determined.
The Group Set and the rules set up in its creation will not carry forward in a course copy, but a Group Set named “Project Groups” will be tied to any assignment or discussion that was set up as a group item. The “Project Groups” will be empty and the student groups must be recreated and populated with current students each time the course is offered. If your original course has multiple Group Sets, they will not be maintained in a course copy–only one placeholder Group Set will be created and all group assignments will be associated with the single Group Set.
Faculty can have the power to create sections that are not tied to Peoplesoft if they desire. You will need to complete the Section Teacher Request form. Note:: these must be manually maintained by the instructor as they do not tie back to the university’s registration tools and, therefore, will not update when someone drops or adds the course.
