Group assignment
TAs should be very careful when using this feature. The group assignment in Canvas allows students to see other group members' uploaded files. If the assignment is done by the unit of group but requires individual efforts, this becomes an honor code issue.
However, group assignment is very powerful when grading the assignment group by group. TAs may assign the grade to the whole group by just typing in one group member's grade.
In conclusion, for group assignment such as lab reports, TAs should first create an individual assignment that assigns to every student in the course. When it comes to grading, TAs can take advantage of group assignment by creating another group assignment that serves for grading purpose only.
To use group assignment, TAs should create groups in advance. Navigate to People. Hit
+ Group Set
Enter the group set name and click
Save. The Allow self sign-up option will allow students to exit and enter groups on their own. TAs should be careful with this option since it may lead to chaos.
To create groups, select
+ Group, enter the group name and group size, clickSave.
Back to the assignment editor, put a check mark before This is a Group Assignment. Choose the created group set.
The Assign Grades to Each Student Individually will allow TAs to assign different grades to each group member in the same group. However, if TAs want to do so, they are recommended to create individual assignment but not group assignment.