More section control for group creation

This idea has been developed and deployed to Canvas

For additional information, please read through Canvas Production Release Notes (2016-12-10).


When creating groups with the option to "Split Students into X Groups" that should also have an option to restrict to same section.

 

Also, when viewing the groups and who is not in a group. There should be a filter by section option.

28 Comments
johnpj
Community Contributor

When the new Canvas Community was launched we were told that 30 votes in 3 months was the threshold for review. Is the 100 votes threshold a recent change in policy?

If so, I'm certain we can get 100 votes for this capability. Do you suggest resubmitting this idea (perhaps with a more intuitive title and tighter focus)?

kona
Community Coach
Community Coach

johnpj, for more information on the 100 vote change see the following discussion - Re: Was there an announcement about the voting on Feature Ideas changing from 30 to 100?

canvas_admin
Community Champion

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who missed the announcement.

jordan
Instructure Alumni
Instructure Alumni

John, you are correct about the initial threshold. We did post an announcement to the community re: the change but I think that many people missed it, so we apologize for not being more vocal about the revision. There were a lot of unknowns that we faced as we rolled out this new feature idea process in this new community. We quickly realized that 100 votes is a more viable threshold to help us understand the sentiment of the masses. Thanks for your patience as we are getting over these growing pains along the way 😉

Here's some info about resubmitting that should be helpful.  Based on our suggestions there, I would say that you could definitely resubmit your feature idea, make reference to this idea, and rally the troops behind it!

Here's a few things that may help with submitting this feature idea again:

  1. Have a focused and clear title to help increase visibility
  2. Have a focused and clear, yet descriptive outline of the feature idea to help others (and Instructure) see the value it would offer
  3. Include use-case scenarios to help Instructure and other users see the value of your idea
  4. Include pictures and/or video to illustrate your vision for the feature idea can be helpful (mockups, etc.)
  5. Share your feature idea in some of the relevant Community Groups​ in which you are a member.

Here's a link to check out our main suggestions on How do I write a good feature idea submission

jbuchner
Community Contributor

I missed this idea entirely, but I want to give it another (late) vote up. Even manual group creation used to have a *students must be in the same section option* or at least I remember it that way. Building groups off of sections, or giving sections their own home pages seems would be fantastic.

johnpj
Community Contributor

Thank you Jordan.

Based on you recommendations I have submitted:

I will work to solicit some use cases and experiences from other institutions as to how this capability would enhance our ability to support rich instruction in Canvas.

johnpj
Community Contributor

The revised version of this idea is now open for voting at:

We have received 57 votes in just a few days, so it seems to have some traction this time around!

Renee_Carney
Community Team
Community Team

This idea has been resubmitted and will open for voting on Feb. 3rd.

RobDitto
Community Champion
Renee_Carney
Community Team
Community Team
Comments from Instructure

When instructors create a group set from the People page, the group structure supports randomly assigning students to a group by section. This feature allows instructors to specifically limit groups to users within a specific section.

For more information, please read through the  Canvas Production Release Notes (2016-12-10).