The Student Groups feature in Canvas divides students into small groups within the course. Upon creation, student groups will have their own discussion boards, collaboration tools and calendar, making them ideal for work on group projects or other assignments.
The tutorial on this page will review how to create groups and separate students into them. If you would like to learn more about the group tools that are included in groups, please view our page on Group Tools.
To create a new set of groups, select the People tab from the course menu.
Click the Make a New Set of Groups button in the upper right corner of the page.
A window will pop up, prompting you to fill out some information about your new group set. Give the group set (not individual groups, that will come later) a name.
Creating Self-Assigned Groups
Next, decide if you would like to Allow self sign-up. This will make it so that individuals can choose their own groups. If you check the box, the group structure will change and ask you to enter how many groups you wish to create. Click Create Category when you have finished filling out the required fields.
The groups will be created, and you will be able to see which students have signed up for a group and which students have not.
Creating Instructor-Assigned Groups
After clicking the make a new set of groups button, don't choose anything under self sign-up. However, do choose between split students into __ equal groups and I'll create groups manually. The first option will randomly generate groups, while the other will allow you to choose who goes in which group.
When you have chosen, click the Create Category button.
Randomly generated groups will create the groups for you. Manually assigned groups require you to create groups within the set that you then add students to. To do this, go into the group set you just created and click the plus sign icon in the right corner of the menu.
On the left side of the page, a box will appear as Group name. In the space provided, give the group a new name (for example, "Group #1" or "History Project Group") and click the Update button.
The group will be updated with its new name. Create all of your groups first, then add students to them. Students can be added into groups using the drag and drop feature. Simply select a student from the right hand column and drag them into a group on the left hand column.
The student will then be listed as a member of the group.
If you change your mind and need to change anything about the groups, simply click the icons (pencil to edit, garbage can to delete) in the upper right corner of each group.
