Overview
Section Data Syncing in Canvas enables "Students in Same Sections" to be selected in the Visibility Settings of your Harmonize discussion and allows instructors to filter student posts based on section.
Note: Section Data syncing requires use of the Canvas API and requires an additional Developer Key to be installed with read-only permissions. See Configuring Section Data Syncing in Canvas for more information.
Enable Canvas Features (only necessary one time per instructor)
After the data sync key has been configured, instructors will have the ability to enable group syncing in their courses.
- 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 Enable Canvas Features button.
- NOTE: If the "Authorize Canvas Extensions" button does not appear, it's likely extensions have already been authorized in your course. Please move on to the next section of the guide.
- In the new browser tab or window that appears, click the Authorize button:
- Once authorized, all sections created in the course will sync to Harmonize.
Setting Section Visibility in a Harmonize Discussion
Once Section Data Syncing has been authorized, group filtering options will appear in both the Post Settings and the main Harmonize discussion view.
- 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 Sections.
- A Refresh button will appear. Sections will sync automatically, but you can use the Refresh at any time to force a sync.
- Click Publish. Students will only see instructor posts and posts from students in the same group.
Filtering Posts by Section
After setting section visibility in your Harmonize Discussion, a new section drop menu will appear on the main Harmonize discussion view. To filter student posts by section, select the appropriate section from the drop down menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can I use groups instead of sections?
- Yes. To learn more, go to Setting Group Visibility in Harmonize (Canvas).
Q. Can I change the visibility settings after students have started posting?
- Yes. Changing visibility settings will not delete or alter any posts made by students.