[Assignments] Assign to by Group for Individual Assignment

This idea was submitted previously and archived (see below). I would also request the same thing. For individual assignments, I would like to be able to "Assign to" by Group. I often divide the class into groups with varying discussion assignments or assignment due dates, yet these are individual assignments. I teach large classes, so it is too much work to type in individual names repeatedly.

 

Assign to" Student Groups for Individual Assessment

 

I want to be able to create Groups based on their modification or need and assign it to that group.Currently we have teachers who have to type in a LOT of student names when it's a modified assignment. Being able to pre-create groups with those students in them and assign or exclude that group would save a lot of time.

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135 Comments
abbeymaxwell
Community Novice

This would be incredibly helpful! I currently co-teach a theatre course where my co-teacher and I split the class for each unit. He teaches tech, I teach acting, and then we switch. For every assignment I have to type in 8-9 student names to assign to them individually to specific dates. It would be super helpful to be able to give an assignment only to a particular group of students within a course section.

ReidJiang
Community Member

We really would like to be able to make groups for students across class sections that could used like a class section when assigning due dates or choosing what modules or assignments are assigned to who.

We know it is possible to make group assignments, but we would like to have students complete these assignments individually.

We would find it incredibly useful to have finer control over what certain groups of students can see. For example, we have many students learning English, who would benefit from a differently worded/looking assignment page that has a different file to download than one that our native-English speaking students need to download.

jenseng1
Community Explorer

I could really use the capability of being able to assign due dates by group on an individual assignment. When I tried to do it, I couldn't believe it was not an option. It would make so much sense. 

mvanderwest
Community Novice

With hybrid learning in our schools across our country I think its imperative to allow teachers to create groups of students to be able to quickly assign individual assignments. I also believe instruction should be able to be modified and allowing quick assigning is crucial to being able to differentiate. I do not understand how many people need to say that this feature is needed and for how many years it can be in a discussion with no development of the feature. Please Canavs read this thread and add this feature we are all asking for. 

winnie_milner
Community Participant

The process of differentiating by group shouldn't take so long and should also be extended to quizzes. Time after time, my teachers differentiate for their students but still have to type names in to make this happen. I have teachers trying to make smaller student groups within cross listed courses so that they can assign assignments and differentiate amounts of extended time. (They do not want to alter the assignment itself.) The teachers want these subgroups to be static and set for all assignments, not just on a by project or by assignment basis. They want to make the groups confidential. Additionally, they also want the students to span all of the cross-listed courses. If I had one magic Canvas wish, it would be for this. There are so many students and teachers who would benefit from this functionality. 

Teach4Kids
Community Member

I have six groups of students for reading courses. I assign each group of students a different assignment, which is not a whole group assignment. They are to complete their assignment individually and submit. I am having to type one-by-one each student name every week to assign them the assignment. This is very time consuming. Since I already have the students "grouped," it seems there should be a button to click that says to assign this to group ___ and it automatically will load all student names who should receive that assignment for independent practice.

eagleye
Community Novice

I was shocked to find this was not possible, and dismayed to find that this request has not been addressed after almost 5 years.  What a simple change to ignore for so long.  I'm going to spend half my prep for next semester clicking on names!

breklis
Community Participant

We need this feature to truly differentiate individual assignments for certain students.  This is especially important for K-12 students that require modified assignments or accommodations such as IEPs or 504 plans.  Teachers would like to be able to create student groups for which they can give alternate due dates for individual assignments, without having to individually select each student each time (which is quite time-consuming).  Assigning individual work to student groups would be so much more efficient.

Thanks to @mchiang for raising this suggestion in our district.

LH5
Community Member

I would like to have the option of creating a group within my class.  I am an elementary teacher and I teach all subjects.  Some of my students that are in my class, will not necessarily do work assignments that I will post. (For example, Reading)  Is there a way to assign a groups of students into a folder so that when I want to assign an assignment I don't have to always type those individual students that need to do it?  I'd like the option of creating a student folder for Reading so that I can click Reading folder and all the students in that folder would get the assignment.

 

EXAMPLE:

I have student A, B, and C.  Student C goes to a resource teacher for Reading and Math.  Right now the way Canvas is set up, I have to go down the class list and assign individual students to every Math and Reading assignment because its the only option I have other than assign to all students.  This is a very time consuming endeavor.

 

DB

kate_zambon
Community Novice

This would be exceedingly helpful for assigning different deadlines to different groups. With rotational teaching during covid, this would make my life a lot easier.