Question about group work and communication between group members.

[sandra_minton]

I want the students in my class to be able to work with each other in groups. I have figured out how to form groups, but cannot figure out how those in each group communicate with each other. There seems to be no way for them to e-mail each other or is e-mailing each other even necessary? A box appears when I form the groups. Do the student communicate by way of this box?

[orwinr · Accepted solution]

Hi  @sandra_minton and welcome to the Canvas Community!

A group in Canvas is like a mini Canvas course for the students in the group. This is a work space that the students can use to collaborate. To see what a group looks like to students go to the group set and then click on the vertical dot menu at the right side of the group name. Click the menu and then select the "Visit Group Homepage" option.

You will see in the group a menu like below:

• Home
• Announcements
• Pages
• People
• Discussions
• Files
• Conferences
• Collaborations

Students can use the announcements menu to send announcements to everybody in the group. They can see the members in the People page. They can setup their own discussion boards, share files, use the Conferences feature to have live video meetings and use the Collaborations link to share Google and Microsoft docs to the rest of the group.

So you can it is a full collaboration space. Now, know that many students will setup their own work groups using Google Drive or other things and figure out how to do things on their own.

Please let us know if you have any other questions about groups.

Best,

Randy

[sandra_minton]

I followed your directions below and a box with the letter i on its left appeared. Is this the box where the students communicate with each other and where they submit their lesson ideas?

Sandra Minton, Ph.D.

Co-Coordinator, Dance Education MA

School of Theatre Arts & Dance

Frasier Hall 105

Campus Box 49

University of Northern Colorado

Greeley, CO. 80639

sandra.minton@unco.edu<mailto:sandra.minton@unco.edu>

[orwinr]

Hi  @sandra_minton ,

The box with the "i" to the left is just the recent messages for the activity stream. This box show any recent activity in the group, like discussion posts or announcements. So no, this is not where students communicate and/or submit lesson ideas.

I think we should back up a bit and have you describe what you want students to do in the group? What assignment should they be working on? Once we know what you are trying to accomplish we can help you decide how best to use the group functionality. Can you provide more details?

Best,

Randy