Canvas - Create Group Discussions

Use Student Groups in Canvas for collaborative work, discussions, and peer review assignments. This guide walks you through setting up a graded Discussion for use by two or more Student Groups.

Part 1 of 2: Create the Groups

To create Student Groups, start at your site's “People” page (click "People" in the Course Navigation Menu at left)

• Click the blue “+Group Set” to create a Group Set, such as “Peer Review Groups”
• You can have Canvas auto-split students into groups or assign manually
• Then create the groups within the set, such as:
  • Group 1
  • Group 2
  • Group 3
• Add students to the Groups by dragging them from the list at left into the “Group” member field

NOTE: Your site’s "People" page may be hidden from student view/access:

• this is okay, it just means students will use the "Groups" button in the global nav menu at far left to access the Groups they are members of
• Or -- you can make the "People" page available to students -- directions for how to edit the Course Navigation Menu are after the Part 2 instructions

Part 2 of 2: Create the graded Discussion

In the Discussion’s settings, check the boxes:

• under “Options”
  • “Allow threaded replies”
  • “Users must post before seeing replies”
  • “Graded”
• at the Group Discussion setting:
  • “This is a Group Discussion”

How to edit the Course Navigation Menu

To edit/make navigation tabs visible to or hidden from students in the Course Navigation Menu:

• click on Settings at bottom of the Course Navigation Menu
• at the next page, click on Navigation (along top-middle)
• at the Navigation page:
  • the top section is for tabs you would like students to see and be able to access
  • the bottom section is for tabs you want to hide from students
• click on and drag tabs to move them from one section to another
• or click on the gear icon to show or hide the navigation tab
• when finished, click the blue Save button at bottom of the page

Need Help?

• When using Canvas and you encounter an issue, click on Help in the lower left corner of the Canvas site.
  • This opens a pop-up window with different help options such as:
    • Search the Canvas Guides - view help documentation by Instructure (the makers of Canvas)
    • Report a Problem - submit a help ticket via Canvas which goes to your Academic Technologies team
    • Ask the Community - a lively forum with answers to many Canvas questions

• If you are unable to access/log in to Canvas, submit a help ticket to Academic Technologies or from the upper right corner of your MyEvergreen page.