Collaboration in Canvas
“It is the long history of
humankind (and animal
kind, too) that those who
learned to collaborate and
improvise most effectively
have prevailed.”
Charles Darwin
Canvas / Webcourses
Canvas – Student Groups
Student Groups in Canvas
• Canvas allows groups for a lot of things: Study
groups, discussion groups, collaboration with and
without faculty depending on your settings.
• Students can use the discussion tool, they can DM
each other using the chat function, and the
collaboration tool.
• Student-created Groups - Students can create
their own groups to work together or share
resources.
• Students may create an open group where the
entire class is free to join or they can restrict it to
just those who are invited. If you set up canvas so
students can create groups, they can even start a
study group in your class!
• Note: If you want students to be able to create
groups, you MUST allow them to see the People
tab in your course.
Canvas – Student Collaboration
Collaborations Tool
• When students work together on
assignments such as papers or
projects, they may need a centralized
location to store and work on shared
documents.
• The Collaborations tool in
Webcourses houses third party
document sharing tools, like Google
Docs and EtherPad.
• Note: If you want students to be able
to collaborate, you MUST allow them
to see the Collaborate tab in your
course.
Canvas – Document Sharing
Document Sharing in Canvas
• Google Docs: It allows multiple students to
work on a document simultaneously without
having to worry about emailing and compiling
multiple versions. AND it also has a chat
feature so that students can communicate
while working together on the document.
Please note that participants will need a
Google account to use this tool.
• EtherPad: an open source tool that also allows
for document sharing and has a chat feature.
Unlike Google Docs, it is not password
protected, so anyone can collaborate.
• Both students and instructors can start a new
collaboration using Google Docs or start a new
collaboration using EtherPad
Canvas – Conferences Tool
Conferences Tool
• Webcourses has a web
Conferencing tool that allows
students and instructors to broadcast
PowerPoint presentations,
documents, or their desktop in real
time.
• Note: Both students and instructors
can create a new Conference
• Note: Creating a conference is a
course permission. If you cannot
create a conference, your institution
has restricted this feature.
• Conferences are synchronous, so all
participants must access the
conference at the same time.
Canvas - Faculty Collaboration
“Send to” Tool
• Webcourses has a “Send
To” tool that allows faculty
to collaborate by sharing
pages and modules easily.
• On the file or module that
you want to share place
cursor over ellipsis. Click
“Send to”.
• You can select multiple
individuals to “Send” the
pages or modules with.
Canvas - Faculty Collaboration
• Once you send a file or
module, you will see a 1
(or more) above your
name in Canvas.
• Select ”Shared Content”
and the material will be
displayed.
• Click the ellipsis under
action and you can
either, import, preview,
or delete the shared
information.
• This is a great tool if
multiple faculty are
working on a module to
be shared in multiple
classes!
Teams and
OneDrive
Teams and OneDrive are apps you
already have in your UCF Office suite.
Using Teams to Collaborate
Using Teams to Collaborate
• Under apps, select “Teams” and it
will take you there!
• It will show teams you are already
on and you can create a new
team as well!
• It has a great chat function as
well.
• Teams allows you to chat, send
files and schedule meetings!
• Please note it also shows if you
are available ☺
Using OneDrive to Collaborate
• In One Drive - You can view and edit files, as well
as collaborate with your coworkers, researchers,
and external users in real-time.
• OneDrive allows sharing files and folders easily
from your desktop or a web browser. It will show
teams you are already on and you can create a
new team as well!
• Cloud based and enables you to securely share
files with colleagues so you can collaborate on
projects using Microsoft Office documents
• Is it preferable to share files on SharePoint in
Teams or Team OneDrive? They are one and the
same for the team. All documents stored in
SharePoint use OneDrive as the storage
platform.
• Please note many departments are tansitioning to
Teams
“Alone we can do so little,
together we can do so much.”
Helen Keller
