Canvas provides useful tools to help instructors manage students and personalise learning. Groups and Differentiation Tags serve different purposes and are best suited to different situations. Understanding how they work helps instructors encourage collaboration and adapt teaching to meet individual needs more effectively.
Canvas Groups: For Collaboration and Projects
What They Are: Groups are used to organise students for collaborative purposes. They’re designed to help students work together on shared activities and assignments within a course. They provide a space for teamwork, allowing students to communicate, share resources, and submit group project work.
Canvas Groups cannot be hidden from students. Once a group is created and students are added, they will be able to see the group and its members.
Key Features:
- Visible to students
- Allows group submissions and peer collaboration
- Supports group-specific discussions and shared files
Best Used For:
- Group projects or presentations
- Peer review activities
- Collaborative discussions or study groups
Example Scenario: An instructor assigns a group project requiring students to collaborate in their Canvas Group – sharing ideas, exploring the topic together, and jointly creating and submitting a final report.
Differentiation Tags: For Personalised Instruction
What They Are: Differentiation Tags are used to organise students for administrative purposes. They’re hidden labels that instructors assign to students based on academic progress or accessibility requirements such as reasonable adjustments or mitigating circumstances. These tags help tailor content, assignment deadlines and communication without students seeing how they’ve been grouped.
Differentiation Tags have replaced Sections in Canvas as the preferred method for tailoring the release of content and customising submission deadlines. Tags are easier to create and manage by staff – especially in bulk – and offer greater confidentiality, making them ideal for tasks like handling DASS extensions.
Key Features:
- Always hidden from students
- Doesn’t affect student records
- Used for differentiated instruction, messaging, and Gradebook filtering
Best Used For:
- Personalising content based on academic progress or performance
- Assigning tailored tasks for students with specific needs
- Applying flexible deadlines or extended time for accessibility or reasonable adjustments
- Directing messages to targeted sets of student for clearer communication
Example Scenario: An instructor uses Tags to identify students who need extra time on assessments. When setting up a quiz, they apply tags like “1 Week extension” and “2 Weeks extension” to assign different versions of the same quiz, ensuring individual needs are accommodated while maintaining student privacy.
Summary: When to Use What
Feature | Canvas Groups | Differentiation Tags |
Visibility | Always visible to students | Always hidden from students |
Purpose | Collaboration and group work | Personalised instruction and tracking |
Use Case | Group assignments, discussions | Targeted content, custom deadlines |
Student Experience | Shared workspace | No change in interface |
Use Groups when students need to collaborate. Use Tags when you want to personalise learning discreetly, or to streamline Gradebook or SpeedGrader. For example, if students are assigned to a Tag, a marker can filter assignment submissions by ‘Tag’ to see only the students they need to mark.
Further Support
For guidance on setting up and managing Groups and Differentiation Tags in Canvas, check the resources below.