Can an instructor join a student group? How?

[ryer]

How do I view/join student groups? I want to view and also actually JOIN their group to see what they see before I tell them about their groups in class.  But when I click on 'People' while in Student View mode, then click on Groups and select a group I've created, there is a lock  on the right side. When I scroll over the lock the message states "Group is joined by Invitation only" and it won't let me go further.  I'm unable to join a student group to view as they do. I can click the group name and see the students I've assigned to a group, but can't leave this page to see what they see. Am I missing something? Is an instructor unable to join a student group? Is the only way to visit a group homepage done by clicking the 'Visit Group Homepage?" I can't seem to assign a test student or myself to any of the groups to join them or see all the student sees when they access their group page. 

[valentinesking · Accepted solution]

Howdy  @ryer ‌,

You are correct. An instructor doesn't join a student group and the student view won't show groups because the test student can't be placed in a group. When you click "Visit Group Homepage" you basically see what the students see; nearly identical.

Hope that helps you.

Sky V.

[ryer]

Thank you.  I always like to see exactly what the students will see.  I do wish instructors could join a group at least initially to help guide, view content problems, etc.  But thanks. I'll work with what I've got! 

[Stef_retired]

 @ryer , you might be interested in supporting this feature idea that is currently open for voting: https://community.canvaslms.com/ideas/14034-add-test-student-to-groups 

[Chris_Hofer]

 @ryer ...

Here is a blog post I wrote a while back that might be of interest to you: Easy Student Group Access for Instructors.  It is located in the https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/admins group here in the Community.  If you are not yet following this group, please click on the group link that I provided.  You'll see two buttons at the top right corner of the screen.  Click on "Follow" and "Actions".  When you click on "Actions", select "Join group".  I hope this blog post will be of help  to you, Rhonda.

[knmnyn]

Hi! This link to the page doesn't seem to work anymore.

[Chris_Hofer]

@knmnyn ...

Ahhhh...you stumbled upon a link that did not migrate when Instructure moved from one Community platform to another back in late Summer 2020.  The good news is that if you know the title of the resource, you can usually put that title in the search field at the top of any page here in the Community, and you'll be able to find the current link for it.  That's what I did here.  So, the resource you are looking for is:

Easy Student Group Access for Instructors

Hope this helps!