Small groups are great for online courses, but they do require a little babysitting on the part of the instructor. There are two types of group enrollments: auto enroll and manual enroll. This post will cover what instructors need to do for each. Your instructional designer can help if you’re not sure which you have.

Automatically Assign

Canvas can randomly assign students to groups. Students can be assigned to groups after they are added to the course. If your groups are set to auto-enroll, you will need to manage group sizes as students drop the course. It is also important to keep in mind that Canvas will not add students to groups, even those set to automatically distribute students. Once Canvas makes the groups, any students that add the course will need to be manually added to a group by the instructor.

Click here to learn how to automatically assign students to groups.

Manually Assign

Instructors might want to manually assign students to groups. Some do this to promote a diversity of experiences in each group, or to combine students with similar interests. If a student adds the course, they will also need to be manually added to groups.

Click here to learn how to manage group enrollments.

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Katie Venit

I received my B.A. in English with a minor in Journalism from Wake Forest University and an M.A. in Religious Studies from Indiana University Bloomington. I see the role of an instructional designer as one that removes barriers to learning online content. Those barriers might be ones of accessibility, clarity, motivation, or something else that we discover as the online education continues to be refined. My job is to collaborate with instructors to make their content shine.

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