Overview
Group Data Syncing in Canvas enables group set names, group names, and group memberships to be selected in the Visibility Settings of your Harmonize discussion.
Note: Group syncing requires use of the Canvas API and requires an additional Developer Key to be installed with read-only permissions. See Configuring Canvas API in Harmonize for more information.
Initial Instructor Setup
After the data sync key has been configured, instructors will have the ability to enable group syncing in their courses. The following steps are only necessary once per unique course.
As an instructor, navigate to an existing discussion or create a new discussion. Click the Edit button located in the Instructions section of the Harmonize window:
On the Edit Topic page, click the Authorize Canvas Extensions button:
In the new browser tab or window that appears, click the Authorize button:
Once authorized, all group sets and groups created in the course will sync to Harmonize.
Setting Group Visibility in a Harmonize Discussion
Once Group Data Syncing has been authorized, group filtering options will appear in both the Post Settings as well as the main Harmonize discussion view.
Visibility Settings
Create a new Harmonize Discussion or launch a previously created Harmonize Discussion and click Edit. This will open the Edit Topic view. In the Edit Topic view, click the Post Settings tab. In the Visibility Settings section, click Students in Same Group. The Group Set drop down menu will appear, along with a Refresh button.
- Note: If a new Canvas Group Set has been created since the initial sync, click the Refresh button.
Select the appropriate Group Set from the Group Set drop down menu. The chosen Group Set will apply to this Harmonize Discussion only. Click Publish. Students will only see instructor posts and posts from students in the same group.
Filtering Posts by Group
After setting group visibility in your Harmonize Discussion, a new Groups menu will appear on the main Harmonize discussion view. To filter student posts by group, select the desired Group from the drop down menu.
Please note that the groups filter is visible to instructors only. For students, this area of the discussion will instead display the name of the group to which they've been assigned. Here is an example:
Visibility of Posts, Comments, and Replies in Group Discussions
When using groups in your Harmonize discussion, it is important to understand the visibility of posts, comments, and replies.
Instructors
- Can see all instructor posts, comments, and replies
- Can see all student posts, comments, and replies
- Original posts created by instructors are visible to everyone enrolled in the class
- Instructor comments and replies published to student posts are visible to students assigned to the same group as the student who created the original post
Students
- Can see all instructor original posts
- Can see instructor comments and replies published to the original posts of students assigned to the same group
- Can see posts, comments, and replies of students assigned to the same group as them
- Posts, comments, and replies they create are visible to students in the same group and to all instructors
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Are instructors able to submit one grade for the entire group?
- There is currently no way to submit a single group grade that applies to all group members. These grades will need to be entered manually for each student.