Canvas provides several ways to organize students within a course. Sections, Groups, and Differentiation Tags may appear similar, but each is designed for a different purpose.
As a general rule:
- Sections represent the official enrollment structure of a course and can be used when you want to provide different content, activities, or due dates based on that structure.
- Groups are useful when students need to collaborate with one another on an assignment or in a discussion.
- Differentiation Tags allow educators to create flexible subsets of students for instructional purposes, including providing different content, activities, or due dates.
Quick Comparison
| Sections | Groups | Differentiation Tags | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Represent course or enrollment structure | Facilitate student collaboration | Create subsets of students for instructional purposes |
| Visible to students? | Generally, Yes | Yes | No |
| Creates a student collaboration space? | No | Yes | No |
| Differentiate Canvas content? | Yes | Not their primary purpose | Yes |
| Set different assignment due dates? | Yes | Not their primary purpose | Yes |
| Filter the Gradebook? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Useful for group assignments? | No | Yes | Yes |
| Managed by | Official CU Boulder processes | Educators, Students | Educators |
| Best choice when... | The distinction represents the official structure of the course | Students need to work together | You need flexible, educator-managed subsets of students |
Differentiation Tags - Instructor-visible Categorizations
Best for: Providing different Canvas experiences to subsets of students
Differentiation Tags allow educators to create custom sets of students and use those tags to target Canvas content and activities. For example, educators can use Differentiation Tags when assigning:
- Assignments
- Discussions
- Quizzes
- Pages
- Modules
- Different due dates or availability dates
- Canvas Inbox messages
Tags can also be used to filter students in the Gradebook.
Tags are not visible to students and do not create a collaborative space. Students can see the sections and groups that they are members of in Canvas, but they are not made aware of any Tags that an instructor has set up in the course.
Consider using Differentiation Tags when:
- You want to create temporary or flexible subsets of students.
- A group of students need alternative assignment due dates or availability dates.
- You want to organize students for your own instructional purposes without exposing that organization to students.
- You want to filter or communicate with a particular subset of students in a way that does not align with the course sections.
Things to consider
Differentiation Tags should be used for instructional organization rather than student collaboration. If students need to work together, share files, participate in a group discussion, or submit work as a team, use Canvas Groups instead.
Tags are visible to those with the Teacher, TA, TA - No Grade Access and Designer roles and are not visible to students.
Tags should describe an instructional purpose only and should not include sensitive, personal or judgemental information. Learn more about Differentiation Tag naming guidelines.
Learn more:
Sections - Official Enrollment Designations
Note: Educators cannot create Sections or manually change the Section associated with an officially enrolled student in academic, for-credit courses.
Best for: Using the official section structure and enrollment of a course to differentiate course activities
Sections are primarily used to organize course enrollments. In most academic CU Boulder Canvas courses, Sections are created based on official enrollment data.
A Canvas course may contain multiple Sections, particularly when multiple class sections have been combined into a single Canvas course. While instructors can interact with students across sections, students who are in one section of a course cannot see or interact with students in another section of that course. Additionally, you can restrict Teaching Assistants to only interact with specific sections of students to divide up responsibilities for communication and grading.
Sections can also be used throughout Canvas to differentiate course activity. For example, educators can assign different due dates or content to different Sections and filter the Gradebook by Section. This can be useful in cross-listed courses that might have both a graduate and undergraduate section, or a section that joins class remotely while another meets in-person.
Consider using Sections when:
- You plan on organizing or assigning content to students based on the officially scheduled sections of a course.
- Teaching responsibilities need to correspond to particular course Sections.
Things to consider
Sections and section enrollments for academic courses are managed through official CU Boulder enrollment processes. In certain non-academic Canvas courses–like community courses– instructors are allowed to create and manage their own sections.
If you need to create your own subset of students for instructional purposes, use a Differentiation Tag rather than a Section.
Groups - Student Collaboration Spaces
Best for: Student collaboration and group work
Canvas Groups are designed to allow students to work together on course activities. Students can be organized into groups manually by an instructor, randomly by Canvas, or through a self sign-up processGroups are organized within Group Sets. For example, a "Final Project Groups" Group Set might contain Groups 1–10.
Students within each Group receive access to a separate collaborative workspace within Canvas.Depending on the Canvas tools enabled in the course, students can use their Group space to share files, participate in discussions, create announcements, and collaborate with other members.
Groups are also used for group assignments, where students work together and one submission can represent the work of the entire Group. Instructors can then give a grade to the entire group or they can grade individual group members.
Consider using Groups when:
- Students are completing and submitting a project or assignment together.
- Students need a shared Canvas space for collaboration.
- Students will participate in discussions within smaller teams.
Things to consider
Groups are visible to students and give students access to information about their Group and its members. If students need to collaborate with one another, use a Group. If you only need to organize a subset of students for instructional purposes, use a Differentiation Tag instead.
In multi-section courses, using groups allows students to interact with students from other sections of the course. If you do put students in different sections into a group, consider taking time to show students how to find their collaborative group space in Canvas.
Learn more: