Assign content to sections / Mastery Path without initial test

[sgarcia1]

I'm wondering if there is an easy way to make pages and files available / visible to a certain group of students only.

I have a course with Section A and Section B, they have a common group project and common materials, but other materials are different and exclusive.

I know I can use Mastery Paths but I would like to avoid the students taking the initial test because they would have to choose which section they are into and can be confusing to them. Also I have only 2 sections, not 3.

I thought by creating Sections I could solve it, but the only thing I can assign to sections are Assignments, nor pages or files.😱

Can anybody help me please? Any ideas? Thank you!

[nwilson7 · Accepted solution]

@sgarcia1 What you are requesting, the ability to assign modules by section is still a feature request.   Hiding and Viewing Modules for Individual Sections - Instructure Community (I think there are others too now). 

There are a few work arounds that might work for you if you are just wanting to share content and it not be across both sections.  I have seen it suggested a few times to put the information in an assignment worth zero points that you could then assign to just one of your sections.  The other trick that I have used it to create groups.  You can create groups by section by having Canvas automatically create the same amount of groups as you have sections in the course (looks like you have 2) and then check the box that the members need to be in the same section.  Groups then get a group homepage  How do I view content and student activity within ... - Instructure Community. You could put the content on these homepages and tell students that this is where their specific content is.

I too hope that the feature idea for modules by section becomes a thing as I do get asked this question a lot by faculty and see it asked in the community a lot as well.

Hope this helps!

-Nick

[sgarcia1]

Thank you @nwilson7 for your kind answer. Creating content as ungraded assignments was my B option. Still not a great UX since students see the value and the 'start assignment' button, which can be confusing.

Since as you say it is a frequently asked topic I hope Canvas will develop some solution soon...

[moshi]

The solutions are great. However, I have a question. Can the students of section B see the assignment which was assigned to Section A? Is it visible to the other section?

More details: I think that there is a difference between whether students of others sections can "not see" the assignment (i.e., it is invisible) or they "can see it, but are not able to submit" anything. Which one is it? 

The reason I am asking this is that I will put the files in the description of the assignment. So, if the students of the other sections can see the assignment too, then they can see the description and files as well. And this is exactly what I wanted to avoid.

[sgarcia1]

Hi @moshi !
A student from section A cannot see the assignments assigned to section B, nor in Assignments neither in Modules; for them they are completely invisible. Anyway you can always check by using the "act as user" option in People to check what a student can and cannot see!

Hope that helps!