Groups and sections in Canvas

Owned by CIT Webmaster
Last updated: 28 Mar 2023 by Jummain
2 min read

Groups and Sections comparison



GroupsSections
1GuidesGroupsSections
2Accessed via

Course > People > Groups tab


Students who are in groups will see a Groups tab on the left-hand Global Navigation Menu on their interface.

Course > Settings > Sections tab
3Purpose
  1. To organise students for group work, presentations, projects etc.
  2. For collaboration.
Student lists for lectures, tutorials, seminar, laboratory, recitation.
4Creation
  1. Manual, not synced with EduRec.
  2. Create via random assignment, manual assignment, by file import or student sign-up.
  1. Automatic, based on information from EduRec.
  2. For official academic courses, sections are not editable by users.
5Download lists

You can download the group lists by following these instructions.

(While the instructions are for importing groups, look out for the Download Course Roster CSV File step.)

Download student lists with section information.
6Others

Each group has a group homepage, which allows the group (and their teachers) to access a mini-Canvas consisting of: Announcements, Pages, People, Discussions, Files and Collaborations.

Create attendance list.

Groups and Sections in Canvas tools

  1. Tools where neither groups nor sections are applicable are not listed.
  2. Files, Modules, Pages and Videos/Panopto cannot be assigned to groups nor sections.

ToolGroupsSections
1AnnouncementsNot applicable.Post announcements to sections.
2AssignmentsGroup assignments
(not applicable to external tools e.g. Turnitin).		Differentiated dates for individual sections.
3Attendance (Roll Call)Not applicable.Take attendance by section.
4CalendarGroup appointment sign-up.Not applicable.
5CollaborationsCan be set up using groups.Not applicable.
6Discussions

Create a discussion to be assigned to groups.

Discussion appears in respective group's home page.

Create a discussion to be assigned to sections.

Separate discussions for each section appears in Discussions.

7GradesFilter students by groups and/or sections.Filter students by groups and/or sections.
8InboxSend messages to groups.Send messages to sections.
9QuizzesNot applicable.Differentiated dates for individual sections.
10SpeedGraderGrade group assignments.Filter student list by sections.
11ZoomNot applicable.

Invite up to 3 sections to join meeting.
Add up to 5 sections to view recordings.