Creating Group Assignments

Owned by Helen Gong
Last updated: Jan 13, 2023Version comment
3 min read

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Overview

Canvas uses group sets to assign group assignments, and each group within the group set that is assigned to the assignment is required to complete the assignment. When creating a group assignment, you can assign an assignment to specific groups. You can also set different due dates and availability dates for a group within an assignment that is assigned to the rest of the class. Creating Group assignments are most helpful for instructors who want to grade student groups altogether though the option of grading students individually is also an option. This instruction walks you through the creating of such group assignments as well as how to set these up for grading students individually and as groups. 


Create an Assignment for a Group

Before creating a group assignment, you need to create groups first. Please check the instruction of Create Groups.

You can either create a new assignment or edit the settings of a pre-existing assignment to make it a group assignment.

  1. In the assignment settings, select “This is a Group Assignment”.
  2. Check the box “Assign Grades to Each Student Individually” if you want to grade each student.
  3. Choose a group set and save.

          group assignment

        4. By default, Canvas will assign your assignment to Everyone in the group set you select. If you want to assign the assignment to specific groups in this group set, click the Remove icon next

            to the Everyone label [1] and select the groups from the list.

            assign to groupsselect groups

Assign Different Dates for Groups

  1. By default, Canvas will assign your assignment to everyone with the same due and availability dates in your course. To add new due and availability dates for other users in your course, click the Add button.

add different dates

       2. In the new Assign to field, choose groups you want to offer different due and availability dates. You can include more than one group in the Assign to field as long as the groups are to be

          assigned the same due and availability dates.

         

      3. Go back to the assignment to check if the due and availability dates are correct.

availability dates

Tips

Peer Assessment can help you to understand individual contributions to the group and individual’s role as a team player. This assessment can count as % of group assignment grade for each student. 

  • You can create and share the peer assessment rubric with students.

team performance

  • Encourage students to review the rubric during the task to identify each group member’s contributions and improve team effectiveness.
  • The peer assessment will count as % of the group assignment grade. For example, the group assignment weights 80% that can be graded by groups, and the peer assessment weights 20% that can be graded by each student individually.

different grade weight

  • Explain your grading system to students before they begin their work to encourage teamwork, and individual accountability.
  • Peer assessment can be created by Canvas Survey, or other online forms applications such as Microsoft Forms as shown below. 

peer assessment

Note

If you have any questions about peer assessment and effective strategies to design group work in Canvas, please reach out to ETM at etmhelp@spu.edu to discuss your instructional needs.


Additional Resources