6.3 | Student-to-Student Engagement Strategies
Students who are engaged in their course work are energized by success, curiosity, originality, and satisfying relationships. To promote the development of meaningful and satisfying relationships in the learning environment consider building regular opportunities for student-to-student engagement.
In Canvas, this can take many forms including discussions, collaborations, group assignments, and peer review, to name a few.
Discussions
Discussions can be graded or ungraded activities and can be initiated by the instructor or by students. When initiated by the instructor discussions can be a meaningful outlet for students to discuss pertinent course content, begin to think about upcoming assignments, engage in peer-debate, and brainstorm new ideas. Discussions can be created for individual reply or can be set up for smaller group work as well.
When initiated by the student, discussions can provide a medium through which learners can share notes or other course information with one another, ask, and answer questions.
Canvas Guide: Discussions Links to an external site.
Group Assignments
Instructors can create groups for students to collaborate on group assignments, pages, discussions, and more. Instructors can manually create groups, have Canvas automatically assign group members, or allow students to create their own groups, if desired.
When students are a part of a group they are provided a dedicated group space in Canvas where they may view the groups they are enrolled in, store and share files amongst peers, begin group discussions, send messages to group members, and create group collaborations. Instructors have visibility into these group spaces, thereby increasing student-to-instructor engagement (a topic discussed on the next page), as well as transparency into student contributions.
Canvas Guide: Groups Links to an external site.
Peer Review
A peer review assignment enables students to provide feedback on another student's assignment submission. Peer reviews are a tool that allows communication between students and can help students master the concepts of a course and learn from each other. Peer reviews can be assigned to show student names or display anonymously.
When you create a peer review assignment, you can assign peer reviews manually (so that you have input on who is reviewing another student's work), or you can have Canvas automatically assign the peer reviews. Peer reviews may be attached to individual or group assignments as well as to discussions. Additionally, rubrics may be added to peer reviews to guide students in providing feedback to one another.
Canvas Guide: Peer Review Links to an external site.
Summary
Using these tools in your Canvas course promotes community building opportunities and enhances the student-to-student experience. To learn more about these tools or to explore additional Canvas features please view the linked Canvas Guides on this page.
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