Student Organizations

[lhenson]

Our HS and MS have several Student Organizations. The sponsors would like to communicate with those students via Canvas. Is there any way to set up a messaging group which includes students outside of a course? Is there a way to create student groups outside of a course? I know I can create courses for all of these groups, but kind of a pain to do. I was hoping for an easier solution to this issue.

[jniles]

We have the same situation.  However, we also have staff advisors for each student group.  If a student group wants a Canvas page, we will set up a new class and add the student officers as TAs.  This seems to be the best option at the moment.

[jomontuori]

We have begun to do something similar in our high school, @JEFFREY R NILES. Courses are set up for each club; the teacher/advisor is the Canvas course Teacher. Within each club a teacher can set up groups and designate the club officer(s) as group leaders. There they can communicate with a number of tools, collaborate with a Google doc for agendas, minutes, etc.

[lhenson]

I have my groups created, how can a user be a member of multiple groups within a group set?

[jomontuori]

They can't. Students can only be a member of one Group within a "Group Set."

Instead, create individual Groups, rather than a Group Set to allow multiple group membership.

Click People.

Click View User Groups:

Click +Group:

Add as many groups as you please. Students can be entered into more than one in this way.

[lhenson]

I was hoping to have a Faculty group set with campus groups and grade level groups, but I guess I will have to just make separate groups for all of them. So, I guess we are going to end up with lots of groups and no Group Sets. Oh well, at least I know the limitations.

[kona · Accepted solution]

 @lhenson ​, on the admin side of Canvas you can set up groups that are independent of courses - How do I create groups in an account? These work really well for student groups/clubs, so it might be something to discuss with your Canvas admin!

[lhenson]

This looks like a perfect solution. Thanks Kona. You come through, as usual. I will do some reading on this and figure out ways to utilize this for more than student organizations.

[kona]

No problem! Glad I could help!