Creating a Student Group Assignment Instructors can attach student groups to assignments within Canvas. It is recommended to create and populate the student groups prior to making the assignment. Student groups are created under People in the left navigation. See Building Your Course on the Public Faculty Canvas Website for assistance. View the section on GroupWork and the documentation on Creating Student Groups. All items added to a module will be in an UNPUBLISHED state until published by the instructor. Items in an unpublished state are not viewable by students. Publishing a Module will PUBLISH all content within the module. Items that the instructor does not wish the students to view can be unpublished within the published module. Students cannot see the cloud icon used to publish items. Only instructors can see what has and hasn t been published within a course. Use the following directions to Create an Assignment with a Student Groups. 1. Open the course. 2. Create a Module for the first unit of study. In this example, the first unit of study will be created in module called Chapter 1. (See Building Your Course on the Public Faculty Canvas Website for assistance in creating a module). 3. Click the Add icon to the right of the module. Previously, instructors had to click the Wheel to add content. Page 1
4. Click the drop down arrow next to Add. The dropdown arrow menu contains a list of all the available content items that can be added to the module and also a list of any available items within the course that may be selected. 5. Select Assignment. Notice previously created assignments are visible. 6. Select [ New Assignment ]. Page 2
7. Enter the assignment name: Presentation. Click Add Item. 8. The assignment will be visible under the Chapter 1 module in an UNPUBLISHED state. The gray Cloud icon indicates the item is unpublished. 9. Notice the icon next to the assignment indicating it will be graded 10. At this point it appears the assignment is finished but it is NOT!!!! It is now necessary to enter the directions for the assignment and identify how the student will interact with the assignment. 11. Click the assignment name to view the assignment. Page 3
12. Once the link to the assignment is clicked, it is apparent there is NO content or prompt or directions for the assignment. The window will say No Content. Notice there is no point value and the assignment doesn t indicate how the student will submit the assignment. For a blended or fully online course, it is recommended the assignment contain: Title Objective Description and details of the task Help Document on how to complete the task (if the work is done in Canvas or with a group) An Example if appropriate For assignments that contain long and detailed directions or for assignments that require students to complete a template, include a document with the full assignment description that the students can print. Link to a printable rubric. For student group assignments, explain how groups will submit the work. Page 4
13. Click Edit. 14. At this point, begin to enter the assignment description etc. into the content editor. a. Next, verify the point value is accurate. b. Select the appropriate Assignment Group. (Assignment Groups are the equivalent to Angel Categories and are used to group assignments by type.) i. If the assignment needs to be moved into a different Assignment Group, click the drop down box and select [New Group]. c. Select how the grade should be displayed to the student. Page 5
d. Select the Submission Type. No Submission: this selection means the work happened outside of Canvas, in-class presentations, daily participation points, or other optional activities used for extra credit. The selection of No Submission will create an ad-hoc column within the gradebook which will allow for a MANUAL grade entry by the instructor. Online: this selection defines what is allowed for submissions by the student. More than one submission type can be checked. Allow File Uploads is the equivalent to an Angel Dropbox. For an assignment with a group assignment, select File Upload. If Allow File Uploads is selected, the option to restrict which file types are allowed becomes visible. File types are entered by extension such as.doc,.xls,.ppt. On paper: this selection indicates the instructor will receive a paper copy from the student which are evaluated by hand and grades are manually entered by the instructor in the gradebook. External tool: this option allows an external tool that has been integrated into Canvas to be used when students submit the work. Page 6
e. Identify if the assignment is a group assignment. Check the box next to This is a Group Assignment. Once This is a Group Assignment is selected, the instructor will be prompted to select which groups housed in the course need to be attached to the assignment. Note: Groups are created under People. 1) In this example, there are three different sets of groups created by the instructor for the course in Canvas. (Project Groups, Presentation Groups, Test) 2) Select the appropriate group. Notice the instructor can make a group set while editing the assignment by clicking [ New Group Category ]. 3) The instructor has the option to give the same group grade to all members of the group or the instructor can check the box next to Assign Grades to Each Student Individually. 4) If the instructor decides to give a group grade for the work, one member of the group will submit the assignment to Canvas. All members of the group receive the same grade. 5) The student designated to submit the assignment would need an electronic copy of the final project saved to their computer so they can upload the group assignment. f. Identify if the assignment requires peer review is also available. Page 7
15. Instructors should enter a due date when appropriate. Instructors can identify when assignments are open for submissions and when the ability to submit an assignment will stop using the Available From and Until options. 16. If the checkbox next to Notify users that this content has changed, a notification will be sent. 17. Click Update Assignment when finished. Page 8
18. For a submitted assignment that is a group assignment it is recommended the instructor enter the point value, select the appropriate Assignment Group, select the method the grade will be displayed (points), select Online and File Upload as the submission type, and enter a due date. The Student Groups should be added when creating the assignment. Page 9
Publishing the Content 19. Before the assignment will be visible to the students and in the gradebook, the assignment must be published. 20. Click on Modules in the left navigation. 21. The newly added Presentation assignment will be visible within the Chapter 1 module in an UNPUBLISHED state. Note the gray Cloud icon which indicates the item is unpublished. 22. The fastest way to publish the module and its content is to click the Cloud icon for the module. The cloud will turn green with a white checkmark. The title of the item will also turn green. Page 10
23. Here is what the module will look like once it has been published. 24. To unpublish an item in a module, click the cloud icon. It will turn gray indicating it has been unpublished. 25. To Increase Indent, Edit, or Remove an item from a module, click the Wheel for that item. 26. Preview the course as a student to ensure all items that need to be accessed have been published and are visible to the student. Page 11
27. Click on the assignment name. Here is what the final assignment will look like when viewed by the instructor. Notice the assignment has been published. 28. When students view the assignment, they will see a Submit Assignments link on the right side of the screen (for assignments only). Page 12
29. Once Submit Assignment is selected, Canvas will inform the student that they are submitting work for the entire group. The student would then browse to the group assignment and upload it into Canvas. a. It is recommended the student send a comment to their group members indicating the group assignment has been submitted. The student should enter a comment in the Submission Comment box and then check the box next to Send Comment to Whole Group. b. More than one file can be submitted. 30. To begin grading, open the assignment. Click the SpeedGrader link in the right menu. SpeedGrader will open. Page 13
31. When the instructor is ready to grade the assignment, the group assignment will be visible in Speedgrader. Speedgrader will show the name of the group in the top left. The submitted file will be visible in the display area. A group grade can be added along with comments from the instructor. Annotation is also possible while in Speedgrader. Page 14