If your course has sections listed in GOLD or if you create groups
Links to an external site. in Canvas, your Canvas course will automatically create group workspaces. Group workspaces are small versions of Canvas courses where group members (Instructors, TAs, and students) can post group-related content and where students can work together.
Only instructors, TAs, and the designated group of students will have access to the content posted in their group’s workspace. Learn more about the difference between a Section and a Section Group.
Accessing the Group Workspaces
To access the Workspaces, instructors and TAs must go to the People link in the Course Navigation Menu.
To access the Section groups (based on Registrar enrollments), click the Section Groups tab.
Then, locate the section you wish to visit and click on the three vertical dots to the right. Select Visit Group Homepage
If you want to create additional group workspaces (outside of the Registrar enrollments), create a New Group Set
Links to an external site. and assign students to their groups. The workspaces of these manually created groups will also be accessed through a tab in People.
Understanding the Group Workspaces
Group workspaces share some of the features that a regular Canvas Course has.
To the left, the Workspace Navigation Menu lists all the features: Home, Announcements, Pages, People, Discussions, Files, and Collaborations.
To exit a workspace, go to Home in the workspace’s navigation menu and click the Course Name.
Group Workspace’s Limitations
Workspaces are more limited than Canvas courses. These features are not available in workspaces:
- The default Home can’t be changed.
- The links in the Navigation Menu can’t be hidden.
- Modules can’t be created. You could replace the module functionality with Pages. Organize Pages alphabetically by week. E.g., Week 1. Discussion Section Activities, Week 2. Discussion Section Activities.
- Files and Pages in a workspace can’t be shared with other workspaces. If you want two workspaces to have access to the same resource, you’ll need to upload it to both workspaces.
- Course links can’t be added through the workspace’s Rich Content Editor. You can only add links to items within the workspace. You may add course links as external links.
- Student View is not available.
Image A. Using one Page to organize all the section's work
Image B. Using one Page per week to organize the section’s work