What's the difference between Sections and Groups on Canvas?
Answer
Groups
Groups are like a smaller version of your course and are used as a collaborative tool where students can work together on group projects and assignments.
As an instructor, use groups to:
- Set up student group configurations at the course level for assignments and in-class work, both graded and ungraded.
- Facilitate semester-long projects so that students can communicate and iterate on documents together.
- Facilitate faculty professional development and institutional committees or activities.
- Facilitate student-run study groups within courses or at the account level.
For more information about Groups, visit the Canvas Guides group section.
Sections
Sections in Canvas are used to segment the class list for administrative purposes, typically based on teaching fellow assignment or meeting time.
Once you create sections, you can:
- have varied due dates for assignments by section
- filter the Gradebook by section
- filter the SpeedGrader™ by section when grading student work
- view section assignments for students on the People page
- post announcements to individual sections
- create calendar events unique to each group
The Canvas Guides have answers to frequently asked questions about sections.