Canvas Tools for Student Groups

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.

Canvas 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 several 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.
Group Calendar: Once you have been added to a group, you can view the group calendar.

Find Your Group Site

Select the Groups icon in the global navigation bar. You'll then see a pop-out menu showing any groups you're a part of. Select the group name to enter the group workspace.

Move Around the Group Site

Use the group navigation menu to access Pages, Files, Announcements and Discussions. The People tab will show you who's in your group (in case you forget a name or need an email address).

NOTE: It's not possible to edit the Group navigation menu options so some of the links (e.g., conferences or collaborations) can just be ignored.

Return to the Course Site from the Group Site

Either method will work:

Select the course code in the breadcrumbs trail at the top of the page. OR
Select the Courses or Dashboard tab in the global navigation bar at the far left.

Announcements

Sending an announcement is a simple way to "push" a message out to your whole group. Replies are viewable by anyone with access to the announcement.

Pages

Pages are used to show informational content and resources (pretty much for anything that isn't a quiz, assignment or discussion). Pages can include text, video, and links to files, other Pages, or other group content.

Be aware that there is no Modules tool in the group workspace and Pages are listed in default alphabetical order. So it's a good idea to decide on a naming convention that allows your group to keep pages in some sort of organizational structure.

Discussions

Discussions is the place for on-going, back-and-forth conversations among your group. Any group member can start a discussion, which could lead to multiple threads addressing the same topics. We suggest you'll want to decide together on a structure ("Do we want one big discussion forum where we talk about everything, or do we want separate discussions for different topics like our roles, implementation ideas, and a meeting schedule?").

How do I create a group discussion?

*Groups may also 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.

Working with Files in Groups

Files allows you to store files (documents, images and media) within Canvas. You can upload one or multiple files, preview files and view details about your files. It's a good idea to keep files organized in sub-folders so things are easy to find.

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