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Part of being in a student group, for an assignment or just for studying and working together, is that your groups each have their own group site inside of Canvas. These interactive websites have tools you can use to create wiki pages, share files, and collaborate live or asynchronously. These collaborative spaces give you the tools to make working together online as easy as working together face-to-face - maybe easier - so that together, you can make great things happen in your group. 

What can we do in our group site?

Every group gets a set of collaborative tools and work space in the course just for members of the group. When you are part of a group, you will have access to the following tools in your group site:

  • Announcements: You can post announcements to other members on the group homepage.
  • Pages: You can create wiki pages within the group site, everyone can add content, including formatted text, images, and media, and you can all edit any page on your site.
  • People: View, and get to know, all members of the group. Depending on how group members have filled out their profiles, you may be able to learn more about others in the group, and you may be able to contact other group members by way of their profiles.
  • Discussions: Members of a group can create discussions and and have ongoing asynchronous discussions. In addition, if you are part of a group working on graded assignments, your instructor may push graded discussions to your group. You will be able to access and participate in these discussions from Discussion area of your course, as well as from the Discussion area of your group site.
  • Files: You can share files created outside of Canvas, including Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, image files, etc. You share files by both uploading and downloading files.
  • Conferences: At this time, Conferences gives you access to Big Blue Button, a live online meeting tool. Go to Conferences and create a meeting and invite other members of your group. In these meetings you can share audio and video, you can chat, and you can share your screens. Think "FACE TIME" for Canvas.
  • Collaborations: If all members of your group authenticate their Google accounts, then you can jump out to Google Docs through your group site. 

How do I Participate in a Group Discussion?

If you have a graded group discussion, you can get to that discussion through your list of groups, by way of the Discussions in the main course, or by way of Discussions when you are in your group site. Participate in the group discussion in the same way you would in a whole class discussion. Your group discussion will, however, be smaller - attended only by members of your group and your instructor. Navigating from your group site back to your course can be a little confusing at first, so be sure check out the Quick Link resources above for some help with this.


How do I create a discussion in a group?

Remember that any group member can start a discussion within your group.  Here's more information about how to create a discussion within your group.


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