CATME (or other) Automated Team Upload

dagray3
Community Member
2
1747

I've developed a tool I wanted to share here.  I teach multiple sections of a course with up to 72 students per section.  I typically merge all sections of my course into a single canvas site.  This works well for most things, but grouping 360 students into 60 teams manually is a nightmare.  The GUI for team management is an atrocious mess.

I've written a Google Apps Script in JavaScript that uses a Google Spreadsheet as the GUI.  With this tool, you can download your canvas roster, and then you can upload all teams automatically using another sheet.  

I wrote the tool to work with CATME team formation, specifically.  But, so long as the 'CATME Import' sheet contains the student email and team name, it should work fine for manual team formation.

This is my first stab at API coding, and so there are bound to be lots of errors and bugs.  For one, I don't have the OAuth2 worked out, so this version uses a temporary token that you get from your Canvas page.  

I've put a version of the code up on GitHub - GitHub - dagray3/canvas_api_scripts: collection of Google Apps Scripts in JavaScript for working wit... 

I don't know how to share the companion google sheet with others.  But, I think it's a good, rough beta that might be of use to someone.  Hit me up with a DM if you have questions or comments about the code.  Otherwise, be awesome.

2 Comments
mjennings
Community Contributor

David Gray - This sounds amazing and a perfect solution to a problem that I have been trying to work around.

 

I found this on sharing the Google Sheet as read only which would let people make a copy for themselves - Sharing a Google Drive File View Only - YouTube. But I believe the code would have to actually be in the sheet. 

I would also ping  @James ‌ who may be able to speak to more on the use & sharing of Google Sheets for this kind of project. 

I would be interested in testing this out if you figure out how to get this into a Google Sheet. 

Keep being awesome!!

dagray3
Community Member
Author

Matthew,

I DM'ed you a link to the loaded google sheet.  If you wouldn't mind guinea pigging it for me, I can look for a way to make it more generally public.