What does "everyone" actually mean in graded assignments? Why select "everyone" ever?

[hmkroger]

what is the difference between selecting my class or Everyone?  First time teaching and only have the one class at this point.  Does Everyone mean all of campus? 

[kona · Accepted solution]

Deactivated user​, is this (see image) the "Everyone" you are referring to? If so, then unless you want to specify a specific course section or student (this isn't in Canvas now, but is coming), you would leave it as Everyone (which is the default). Everyone means all students in the course.

This is stated way down towards the bottom of this guide - How do I add Assignment details?

[hmkroger]

That's it!  Thank you Kona.  As I've only the one class listed at this juncture, I was confused and become worried Everyone meant literally everyone in my institution and I didn't want to bombard that everyone with my trillion discussions.

[kona]

LOL! I totally understand! Way better to be safe than sorry!

Along those same lines, I'll give you a heads up on a mistake that you don't want to make with your Inbox! It's easy to miss and I've done it more times than I care to remember - and once to a class of over 3000!! I had to email Canvas Support to have them clear it out of everyone's inbox - definitely not one of my finer moments.

When composing an email to your class make sure to check the "Send individual messages" box. If you don't then students will see everyone who is getting the message and get all replies to the message. This gets really bad when students start replying with confidential or potentially confidential information and the whole class gets it!

[hmkroger]

Great advice!  Thank you so much for the heads up! 

I just went and changed all my assignments from Everyone to my one class this summer thinking of future classes and potential confusions...

Thank you again so much for your answer and advice!

[kona]

In general it really is fine to leave it to set to everyone - I leave it this way for my students - but if it makes you feel better than it's not going to hurt anything!

[bowmanr]

Kona -

Thanks for that information.  I had originally tried to remember to check that box for a different reason.  Then I noticed that I get a sent message for each student - which I do not like because easily find other sent messages. I can search for them, but sometimes I can't remember the necessary information to search on.  So I stopped checking that box.  Looks like I will have to start checking it again.  The more I deal with the conversation part of Canvas the more I despise it.

[kona]

 @bowmanr ​, yeah, can't say it's my personal favorite either.

For further reference here is the link to the guide that indicates, "If you do not want a student to see all recipients and replies in the message, click the Send individual messages checkbox." - How do I send a message to an entire class as an instructor?