Group Work in Canvas: Introduction and Example
This article discusses the benefits of group work, gives guidance on what sorts of assignments and activities work well for group work, and offers some examples of group work in Canvas.
In this article
- Why Assign Group Work?
- Designing a Group Work Assignment
- Example Group Work Assignments in Canvas
- Resources and How-To Guides
Why Assign Group Work?
Group work has numerous benefits on students’ comprehension of course material and psychological welfare. Other articles in this series discuss strategies for success, how to assess and evaluate group work, a deep dive into using digital tools for group work, and an overview of other digital tools that can help facilitate group work.
It’s useful to be able to articulate your “why” about assigning group work and to share it with your students. Being transparent about your design decisions can help with learner buy-in and engagement. You might state in your course policies or course overview, “This class is going to involve a group project. I know that group work is not every student’s favorite, so I want to be very clear about my reasoning for assigning group work. I have chosen this type of assignment / activity / project because…”
Participating in group work and collaborative assignments or learning activities has many benefits for learners. Many of the benefits fall under these three broad categories:
Deeper learning / cognitive benefits of group work
- Group work promotes active learning as learners engage with the material and each other.
- Learners can solve problems in groups that they might not have been able to solve on their own due to complexity, as there is more idea generation, ways of thinking and ways to distribute the work.
- Group work might require learners to defend points of view, negotiate differences and consider new perspectives.
- Explaining things to other group members can lead to new and deeper understandings.
- Group work is supported by multiple learning theories, including Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, Social constructivism and the Community of Inquiry Framework (COI). In the Community of Inquiry Framework (Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T, & Archer, W., 2000) social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence all contribute to the overall learning experience. Working closely with other students and bringing unique perspectives (social presence) on well-facilitated assignments (teaching presence) learners create meaning (cognitive presence) and increase their satisfaction, learning, and sense of belonging.
Psychological and Social Benefits
- Many students struggle with feelings of isolation when taking online asynchronous classes, and offering opportunities for student-student interaction (like group work) can mitigate those feelings. Research shows that a sense of belonging – which comes from feeling like a part of a community – increases retention among students as well as just making their learning experience richer (Earl, J., 2020)
- Group work may reduce feelings of student-student competition (Slavin, R.E., 2014).
- Learners get to know each other, network with each other and build relationships with classmates that can extend beyond just the project you’re asking them to do (Goldberg, 2019).
- Group work creates a rewarding learning experience and increases motivation, engagement and persistence (Slavin, R.E., 2014).
Professional Preparation
- A strong work ethic is one attribute reported by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) report as a top skill employers are looking for in 2024. Students involved in collaborative learning must consider their work ethic and how it affects others through accountability to peers (Goldberg, 2019).
- Other attributes employers look for according to the NACE are written and verbal communication skills. In group work, learners must communicate effectively with their peers in order to accomplish the tasks collaboratively.
- Flexibility and adaptability are also reported by the NACE as top attributes. With group work, learners practice flexibility and adaptability when working in a group injects things they themselves cannot control into a situation.
- Other top skills include analytical, quantitative and technical skills which may be practiced to a varying extent in a group work situation, depending on the nature of the assignment or activity.
Designing a group work assignment
Features of good assignments for group work include assignments that are:
- Aligned with your learning objectives (Barkley et al, 2014). Just like any assignment or assessment, it’s important that the skills students are practicing or being evaluated on, or the knowledge they are building or expressing, are relevant to and aligned with the stated learning objectives of the course. For more information about alignment, see Learning Objectives and Alignment from University of Washington Tacoma.
- Open-ended, with multiple possible acceptable responses. These types of activities and assignments will allow students to benefit the most from sharing their different perspectives or ideas surrounding the topic and negotiate possible answers or directions to go in.
- Complex enough to require collaboration. The dangers of too simple of a project is that it may not require collaboration in order to be completed. This lessens student engagement and buy-in to the collaboration process. The worst case scenario is that one member of the group independently decides to complete the assignment alone in order to have full control of the product. Assigning a complex problem prevents these issues.
- Authentic and relevant. Students are most motivated and engaged when they feel that the work they are doing has some obvious real-world application, or relates to a real-world problem. The future usefulness of the skills they are developing in a workplace is motivating.
Example Group Work Assignment in Canvas
This page on Teamwork and Collaborative Learning from University of Maryland offers a list of example assignments that can work well for collaborative learning. In this article, we highlight three example group work ideas.
In these examples, all Canvas tools are in bold.
Group Project and Presentation Example
This example is a major course project, and the overview for the project that is provided in Canvas is extensive. It tells students that the project addresses all eight (linked) course objectives, and briefly explains the two parts of the project: (1) a presentation on a book that they critically evaluate based on their learnings from the semester, and (2) a reflection after reviewing two other group presentations, comparing and contrasting all three books.
The instructor includes a statement to provide their rationale: “I believe group work is important, especially in the online environment given the way society is conducting its business today. Many jobs, if not most, now require the ability to collaborate with others to work through a problem, agree on a solution and produce an outcome without ever meeting face to face. This group project provides the opportunity to develop the skills required for successful collaboration and presentation in a virtual environment…By working with others, not only will you benefit from sharing the work of producing an entire presentation, you will also have the ability to learn from each other and critically evaluate your own and your classmates’ perspectives on issues related to law and justice. In a democratic society like ours, especially one that is so divided right now, the ability to discuss ideas and thoughts about political structure and policy issues is especially important.”
One section centralizes the details and instructions for the project. Full instructions for each part are provided in Google Doc: Group Project Instructions Google Doc and Individual Reflection Instruction Google Doc. Using Google Docs to provide project information makes it very easy to update your project information, share across sections of a course, and re-use it over and over again without having to upload documents for each course/section.
Students may use VoiceThread to create their presentations, if desired, and a resource for students to learn about that tool is provided. A Discussion to ask questions of the instructor is also provided in this section.
Next in the Canvas course are the project milestones. First, students select a book review group, using the Self-Sign Up Groups in a Group Set which puts them into a Canvas group with the other students who want to read that book. This is done through the People link in the left-hand navigation menu. Instructions for students are provided in a Page.
A Group Discussion is also provided for students to prepare. In this example the instructor requires that, whatever they use to prepare (Google Chat, GroupMe, text message or Google Doc) that they add her to the group so she can, as needed, go back and verify an individual’s contributions.
In the project submission section, final presentations are shared between groups via a Discussion. Final presentations are collected for assessment through a Peer Review Assignment. One person from each group will upload these items, and each group member will review their peers. Students’ individual reflections (part 2 of the project) are collected via a Canvas Assignment.
Tools Used for this Online Group Project Example
- Google Doc
- VoiceThread
- Page
- Group Set and Groups
- Canvas Discussion
- Canvas Group Discussion
- Canvas Peer Review Assignment
- Canvas Assignment
Other Articles about Group Work
Works cited
- Barkley, E. F., Major, C. H. & Cross, K. P. (2014). Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (2nd ed.) Jossey-Bass.
- Earl, J. (2020). Belonging improves student retention. Science, 369(6502), 264-265
- Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2, 87–105.
- Goldberg, C. (2019, October 25). Why groupwork is important, and how to get it right. Touro College.
- Slavin, R.E. (2014). Cooperative learning and academic achievement: Why does groupwork work? Anales De Psicología, 30(3), 785-791.