Improving Google Collaborations

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Status: Archived Submitted by on ‎10-04-2021 09:22 AM

I am new to Canvas and overall have been enjoying the Collaborations feature to allow students to more easily collaborate on Google Drive in a way that is easily linked to class.  However, I have two issues that I would like to suggest for revision:

  1. I have students working on group projects during which I would like to be able to go into the Google doc to see their progress and comment.  Students are creating their own Google doc as a new collaboration and inviting their group members.  However, it is not automatically shared with me as the instructor when it's created in Canvas.  I think this is an issue, since students then need provide me permissions to view/edit the document in Google Drive.  It adds another step to the process that could be more streamlined.  The part I see as being odd is that when I am the one to create the document and share it with the students via the Collaborations feature, I can see it just fine.  
  2. I have a number of Google spreadsheets that I have previously developed for class projects that contain specific formulas and protected sheets/ranges that I need maintained to prevent students from editing them.  I would like there to be a way to start a new Collaboration and link a Google doc, spreadsheet, or presentation that already exists, instead of starting with a new, blank document.  I tried copying and pasting my already created spreadsheet, but the formatting and formulas to not copy correctly. I would like to be able to duplicate the document to preserve the formatting and then just share it with new student Collaborations each semester.
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Stef_retired
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni
‎10-11-2021 02:37 PM
Status changed to: Archived

Thanks for sharing these ideas. We've archived this submission because it contains two separate requests, and the second is already the topic of discussion at  Collaborations: Template Access  and  Collaborations - add template document.

Please read through How do idea conversations work in the Canvas Community? for guidance on searching for existing ideas and writing prompts with a singular focus, and then resubmit the first idea as new if you aren't able to find an existing one to support.