Filter by "Student Groups"

[cliff_cunningha]

I'm trying to wrap my mind around a new (to us) feature in Settings called: "Launch Speed Grader Filtered by Student Group"

I like the concept; making SpeedGrader much more efficient by focusing on a small subset of students. (Especially necessary for our 500+ enrollment courses.)

However, I am looking for clarity on these "student groups". What are they? Where do they come from? They are different from "sections" (as evidenced by both being available filter options in the Gradebook)... and, yet, they appear to be automatically created, and their name and membership identically match the existing sections. (True?)

Can someone clarify: 

• Where do these student groups come from?
• When are they created?
• Are they editable?
• How do they compare/contrast with manually created student group sets?

Thank you in advance for any info.

[ysmalls]

Hi  @cliff_cunningha ,

Hope this helps:

• The People page, this is where you get to create them.
• Whenever you want
• How do I edit a group set in a course?‌
• If you are referring to the student group sets in the People page then they are the same.

I read the Canvas Release Notes (2019-09-21)‌ which is where I got the information above.

Stay safe.

[cliff_cunningha]

Thank you, Yaddira.

I’m not sure who you are… or where you fit into the support world. So, I offer feedback, hoping to get some input to Instructure.

At the collegiate level, we LOVE the idea of this feature that will seriously speed-up the wait-times, and rendering, and refreshes.

But… if I am understanding it correctly… this “filter by student group” feature only works on “groups”. (Which, I get it, makes sense from one stand point.)

But, we really just want the ability to filter BY SECTION. These course sections already exist… and, TAs are assigned to individual sections… and, as students add and drop from the course through our main registration channels, they are automatically updated in the Canvas sections.

For this feature to work, FIRST… an instructor is required to go build all those groups, and make sure all the correct students get assigned to them, and the be on the look out for new or dropped students, to keep the groups updated.

So… it’s just a bit disappointing.

Cj