canvas how to create assignment groups

How to create and manage groups

Here's an interactive tutorial.

https://www.iorad.com/player/1892951/How-to-create-and-manage-groups

1. The first step is to click People.

2. Click Groups

3. Click + Group Set

4. Type the assignment or project name in Group Set Name box.

5. Let's have Canvas automatically create groups for us. Select Split students into groups.

6. You can determine how many groups you would like.

7. Scroll down and click Save

8. Let's expand the groups. Click Capstone Project 2.

9. Now click Capstone Project 1

10. Click the Everyone tab to return to the class roster.

11. Let's create one more group. Click + Group Set.

12. Click Group Set Name to write the assignment title.

13. This time we'll keep the default set to create groups later. Click Save .

14. Now we'll manually add the groups. Click + Group .

15. Create your group name.

16. Click Save.

17. Let's add another group. Click + Group .

18. Create a Group Name .

19. Click Save . You also have the option to limit group membership to a certain number if you'd like.

20. Expand the groups. Click Team Alpha to expand it.

21. With your mouse, click and drag Student 1 , then drop it on Team Alpha .

22. With your mouse, click and drag Student 4 , then drop it on Team Alpha .

23. With your mouse, click and drag Student 6 , then drop it on Team Alpha .

24. Click to expand Team Omega .

25. With your mouse, click and drag Student 2 , then drop it on Team Omega .

26. With your mouse, click and drag Student 3 , then drop it on Team Omega .

27. With your mouse, click and drag Student 5 , then drop it on Team Omega .

28. To see options for a particular group, click the kabob icon to the right.

29. From here, you can visit the groups unique homepage, which is a space in Canvas for them to work independently. You can also edit the group name or delete the group.

30. To access the Group Set options, click the kabob icon .

31. These settings will allow you to message unassigned students. Randomly assign students, edit the Group Set name, duplicate the Group Set, or delete the Group Set.

32. Let's move a student from one group to another. Click to drag Student 6 and drop the student to Team Omega.

33. Now let's click to drag Student 5 and drop the student to Team Alpha.

34. That's it. You're done!

Getting Started with Groups in Canvas

• Last modification date Updated On February 16, 2022
• Categories: Canvas , Groups
• Categories: collaboration , communication , content differentiation , Getting Started

Canvas  Groups  are a way for instructors to organize students within a course for group assignments, group discussions, or other collaborative work. The Groups tool creates course-like areas in Canvas that include the following navigational options:

• Announcements
• Discussions
• BigBlueButton (Formerly Conferences)
• Collaborations

Managing Group Sets

Managing groups, managing group enrollment, managing group activities & content.

A  Group Set  is a collection of groups. A new Group Set is needed for every assignment that calls for a new grouping of students. When getting started with Group Sets, learn to:

• Create a Group Set with the Canvas guide  How do I add a group set in a course?
• Edit a Group Set with the Canvas guide  How do I edit a group set in a course?

Do not delete a group set after submissions have been made by any group in that set.

Use unique group names in order to ensure students can identify which course the group is from, as all of their groups are listed in a single place outside of the course.

Do not delete a group after a submission has been made by that group.

Groups  are the specific groupings of students within a Group Set.  When getting started with Groups, learn to:

• Automatically create groups in a group set with the Canvas guide  How do I automatically create groups in a group set?
• Manually create groups in a group set with the Canvas guide  How do I manually create groups in a group set?
• Create self sign-up groups in a group set with the Canvas guide  How do I create self sign-up groups in a group set?
• Allow students to create groups with the Canvas guide  How do I allow students to create their own student groups?

Students can only belong to one group in a group set. This precludes them from taking part in group work or group discussions in Canvas in multiple groups for the same assignment/activity.

Do not change membership in a group after a submission has been made by that group.

When enrolling students in Groups, learn to:

• Automatically enroll students in groups with the Canvas guide  How do I automatically assign students to groups?
• Manually enroll students in groups with the Canvas guide  How do I manually assign students to groups?
• Assign a student leader to a group with the Canvas guide  How do I assign a student leader to a group?
• Change group enrollments with the Canvas guide  How do I move a student into a different group?
• Prevent students from changing self sign-up group enrollment with the Canvas guide  How do I prevent students from switching groups in self sign-up groups?

While students can manage their Group spaces in Canvas, instructors are able to generate activities for groups and view group content. When managing group activities and content, learn to:

• Grade Group Assignments in the SpeedGrader with the Canvas guide  How do I grade group assignments in SpeedGrader?
• Create a graded Group Discussion with the Canvas guide  How do I assign a graded discussion to a course group?
• View a group’s files with the Canvas guide  How do I view group files as an instructor?
• View a group’s content and student group activity with the Canvas guide  How do I view content and student activity within a group as an instructor?

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• Assignment Groups

How Do I Use Assignment Groups in Canvas?

In Canvas, assignment groups allow you to organize your assignments into discrete groups. For example, you may want to group all the essay assignments in your course within one assignment group titled ‘Essays’.

Assignment groups allow you to leverage a weighted grade scheme in your Canvas course. A weighted grade scheme allows you to distribute percentages of a student’s final grade across these assignment groups. Following our previous example, you may want the Essays group to account for 30% of the final grade. 

By default, Grade weighting is turned off for all Canvas courses. To turn on Grade weighting, please follow Canvas’ tutorial for weighting final grades based on Assignment Groups.

How do grade weights get distributed across an Assignment Group?

In Canvas, the weight of an assignment group is distributed proportionally across the assignments inside it. Because of this, assignments worth different points will be weighted differently if they are in the same assignment group.

Here’s an example of an assignment group in Canvas. This group is worth 30% of the total grade and contains three assignments with different point values. The table further below outlines how the assignment group weight of 30% is distributed across the three Assignments.

Here, since Essay Two is out of 200 points, it will count two times more than Essays One and Three.

***assignment group weight distribution for assignments with differing point totals.

If you want all assignments within a given assignment group to be worth the same weight, you have two options:

1. Make all assignments inside an assignment group worth the same number of points, as shown below.

***In this scenario, we have changed Essay Two’s point value from 200 to 100 points. Since all point values in this assignment Group are the same, each Assignment will be worth the same, 10% in this case.

2. Create new assignment groups for any outlier assignments if you cannot or do not want to change their point value.

***In this scenario, we have not changed Essay Two’s point values, so we will need to put it in its own assignment group worth 10% and change the first assignment group to be worth 20% so that all Essays are now worth 10% of the total grade.

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How to create group assignments in Canvas

CREATE GROUP ASSIGNMENTS

Here are instructions to first create a Group Set and individual Groups and then create the Group Assignment.

Create a Group Set:

1.  Click on People in the Course Navigation menu. 

2.  Click on the +Group Set button.

3.  In the Create Group Set pop-up, enter the name for the Group Set, select options as needed, then click Save .

Create Groups for the Group Set:

1.  Click on People in the Course Navigation menu.  

2.  Click on the tab for the Group Set.

3.  Click on +Group .

4.  Enter the name of the group, the limit of students that can be in the group, then click Save .

5.  Create as many groups as needed.

6.  Drag and drop students from the Unassigned Students list into their respective groups.

Create the Group Assignment:

1.  Click Assignments in the course Navigation menu.

2.  Click +Assignments .

3.  Enter the Assignment name, Points, etc and select This is a Group Assignment .

4.  Leave Assign Grades to Each Student Individually unchecked unless each member of a group will receive an individual grade.

5.  Select the Group Set .

6.  Click on the Assign To box, select one of the Groups you created, enter a Due date and Available From and Until Dates.

7.  To assign the Assignment to additional groups click on the +Add button and repeat step 6.

8.  Once the Assignment is assigned to all groups, click on the Save & Publish button.

If you have more questions about this, email [email protected] or call 864-656-3494.

Create Assignment Groups in Canvas

As a best practice, you should 1st create Assignment Groups before adding your assignments in Canvas

• Select the "Assignments" tab from your Course Navigation menu
• Select "+Group"

Once you create all assignment groups, you'll need to add Assignment Group Weights

• Select the dropdown button next to red “+ Assignment” button and select Assignment Group Weight
• Weigh your Assignments based on your grade breakdown

Adding Assignments to Assignment Groups

Your assignments can be grouped by category, project, or whatever convention makes sense to you. If you'd like to add an assignment to a specific group, select the "+" button for that group and the assignment you create will be added to that group. You can also move assignments to a different group by dragging and dropping them within the Assignments tab.

Helpful notes about assignment groups

All assignments within an assignment group are weighed equally. Adjusting the possible points for an assignment changes the weight of a particular assignment. (i.e. You have essay assignments, but you want one to be worth 10% and the other worth 5% [total 15%]. You can create two assignment groups for each assignment and adjust the group weights OR you can create one assignment group worth 15% and assign point values to both essays that equate to 10% and 5% (essay 1 - 10pts, essay 2 - 5pts).

Canvas Guides

• More guides on setting up assignments site.
• How do I add or edit settings in an assignment?

Use Weighted Assignment Groups in Your Canvas Course

by Thomas Keith | Aug 26, 2022 | Canvas , Canvas Features/Functions , How-tos , Pedagogy

Introduction

• Create an Assignment Group

Weight Assignment Groups

Use weighted assignment groups to calculate the total grade, drop a low score from an assignment group, further resources and getting help.

It is good pedagogical practice to maintain a Canvas Gradebook that gives an accurate reflection of your students’ performance. Students frequently consult their grades in Canvas to get a sense of how they are doing in your course and of areas in which they need to improve. You can use weighted Assignment Groups in your Canvas course to help ensure that the grade calculated by Canvas is indicative of students’ actual performance.

Create An Assignment Group

An Assignment Group in Canvas is a means of sorting assignments according to the categories to which they belong in your syllabus. By default, new assignments created in your Canvas course will be added to a catch-all group called Assignments . (Note that “assignments” in this context refers to anything that is graded; this can be an Assignment proper, a Quiz, or a graded Discussion.)

You can create a new Assignment Group by going to the Assignments tab in your course and clicking the gray +Group button at the upper right.

It is a good idea to give your group a name that reflects the assessment categories on your syllabus. For example, if the group contains quizzes that are given each week of the quarter, you might call it Weekly Quizzes .

Once a group has been created, there are two ways to add assignments to it:

Assignment Groups are most useful when used to weight grades. With weighted Assignment Groups, you can make the organization of your assignments in Canvas match the organization used on your syllabus. You also have greater flexibility than is offered by weighting each individual assignment: if an assignment needs to be dropped or added, you can simply remove it from/add it to the appropriate assignment group, and Canvas will automatically recalculate the final grade accordingly.

For the remainder of this post, we will use as an example a course in which the grading is as follows:

• Five short quizzes: 20% of the final grade
• One midterm exam: 30% of the final grade
• One final exam: 40% of the final grade
• Attendance and participation: 10% of the final grade

To begin, the instructor creates four assignment groups, named Short Quizzes , Midterm , Final Exam , and Attendance and Participation .

She then clicks the column of three dots at the upper right and chooses Assignment Groups Weight .

She then checks the box next to Weight final grade based on assignment groups . This allows her to set the percentage weight for each assignment group.

Note that Canvas shows the instructor that the assignment groups add up to 100%. It is important to check this, as Canvas will not stop you if your groups add up to less than or greater than 100%.

Once the instructor has weighted her groups to her satisfaction, she clicks the maroon Save button. Canvas then indicates across from each assignment group’s name the percentage value of the total grade that it carries.

The instructor can now create her assignments and add them to the appropriate assignment groups by one of the two methods enumerated above.

An important caveat: If an assignment group contains more than one assignment, it is important that all assignments have the same point value for Canvas’ math to work out correctly. This avoids the risk of “double weighting,” which will occur if assignments within a group have different point values. For example: if a quiz worth 5 points and a quiz worth 50 points are placed in the same assignment group, the latter quiz will be worth ten times as much in Canvas’ calculations, which will greatly skew the result. In our example course, the instructor has avoided this risk by creating five quizzes within the Short Quizzes group, each of which is worth three points.

The Midterm and Final Exam groups each contain only one assignment. This can be an assignment of type Online Assignment if the instructor wishes her students to submit it through Canvas, or it can be an assignment of type On Paper if students will hand in a physical exam paper.

For the Attendance and Participation group, the instructor creates an assignment of type No Submission .

Remember that in Canvas, there is a one-to-one correspondence between assignments and columns in the Gradebook. Thus, if you wish to create a column for (e.g.) students’ attendance/participation grade, it is necessary to create a corresponding assignment. By making it of type No Submission , the instructor has ensured that students do not need to hand in any work, while still creating a Gradebook column where the grade is recorded.

Note also that if students need to submit work that will not be graded, such as an outline for an upcoming paper, you can create an assignment of submission type Online Assignment and check the box Do not count this assignment toward the final grade in the assignment options area.

Using weighted assignment groups allows Canvas to do your math for you. A column will appear in the Gradebook for each assignment group. The Total column will be calculated by multiplying the value of each column by its percentage weight and adding the results. In the case of the student below, the grade is calculated as follows:

Short Quizzes: 12 out of 15 possible points = 80 * 0.2 = 16

Midterm Exam: 90 out of 100 possible points = 90*0.3 = 27

Final Exam: 80 out of 100 possible points = 80*0.4 = 32

Attendance and Participation: 100 out of 100 possible points = 100*0.1 = 10

Total: 16+27+32+10 = 85

If you wish, you can set an assignment group to drop one or more low scores (or high scores) automatically. To do this, go to the group within the Assignments tab and click on the column of three dots across from its name to open a dialog box. Then enter the number of low or high scores you wish to drop and click Save .

You can also specify that an assignment should never be dropped by clicking the blue +Add an assignment link next to Never drop: and choosing its name from the drop-down that appears.

For more information, please see:

• How do I weight the final course grade based on assignment groups?
• How do I create rules for an assignment group?

If you have additional questions, Academic Technology Solutions is here to help. You can attend our workshops to learn more about Canvas and other tools for teaching with technology. You can also drop into our Office Hours (virtual and in-person) to ask any questions you may have; no appointment is required.

(Cover Photo by Piret Ilver on Unsplash )

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Understanding Group Sets and Groups

Groups and Group Sets help instructors organize students into teams. At least one Group Set must exist before any Groups can be created.

A Brief Analogy

Group Set = A filing cabinet Group = A drawer in the filing cabinet Member = A hanging folder in the drawer

Important: Group activities in Canvas are assigned and associated with the filing cabinet , not the individual drawers (see below). Just as an office can have many filing cabinets, a Canvas course can have many Group Sets. Students can be members of multiple Group Sets but can be a member of only one group per set.

Create a Group Set

Open the People page  [1] . Next, click the "+ Group Set" button  [2] . Configure the group set.  It is not necessary to create the groups at this point.  The groups can be created later if necessary by returning to the People page and clicking the name of the Group Set above the course roster.

How do I add a group set in a course?

How do I manually create groups in a group set?

How do I manually assign students to groups?

Creating Groups and Assigning Students Automatically

Use the  Group Structure  area to specify how the groups will be structured, and where the students will be placed.

How do I automatically create groups in a group set?

Enabling Self-Sign Up Groups

Enabled students to join the group of their choosing by ticking the checkbox and setting the maximum number of people per group.

How do I create self sign-up groups in a group set?

Making an Assignment a Group Assignment

You can create a group assignment by using the  Group Assignment  checkbox. Canvas uses group sets to assign group assignments, and each group within the group set that is assigned to the assignment is required to complete the assignment.  All groups will complete the assignment using the same due date.

Note:  It is not possible to use individual groups as the basis for differentiated assignments, such as assigning an activity only to a single group or configuring unique due dates for specific groups.  Only Group Sets can receive special settings in assignments. 

How do I assign an assignment to a course group?

Making a Discussion a Group Discussion

You can create a single prompt and have groups to discuss it, either as a graded or ungraded activity.  Simple associate the discussion with an existing Group Set (or create a new one on-the-fly).

Be sure the Group Set has Groups before you open the discussion activity to students!

How to Create a Group Discussion

On the settings page of the discussion, check the box "This is a Group Discussion"  [1] . Then, open the Group Category menu to select the Group Set that will govern the group organization for the activity  [2] .  Alternatively, click the "New Group Category" button if you would like to create the Set to be used by the discussion.

Important:  Students must be placed into a Group in order to properly participate. Students who are not in a group can still post, but the posts are only visible to the instructor and other students not in a group.

How Students Participate in a Group Discussion

To participate, students click the link for the Discussion activity and begin posting.  They are automatically participating in their group and do not need to do anything special to "enter" or "join" the discussion.  Students cannot view other groups' posts.

How Instructors Monitor a Group Discussion

Instructors can get an overview of activity in the groups by opening the discussion activity link and viewing the information at the top of the page. New posts are indicated in the badges on the far right.  To view a group's discussion, click the link for the group on the left.

Viewing Another Group

After reading one group's discussion, click the "Home" link in the left navigation menu and then click the breadcrumb link for the course at the top of the page to return to the home page.  Find the main link for the discussion and re-enter it.  Sorry, this is really an area where Canvas could be improved.

Viewing and Monitoring Group Activity

As an instructor, you can view what is happening in groups by viewing each user group from the  People  page of the course. You can view student activity within the group and view group-created content. You can also access student groups to create group collaborations and add other group-specific content if necessary.

How do I view content and student activity within a group as an instructor?

Updated: October 11, 2022

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Simon Fraser University Engaging the World

Canvas support.

• A-Z directory

Creating a Group Assignment

Creating groups.

To create groups manually, go to:

How do I manually create groups in a group set?

To create groups automatically, go to:

How do I automatically create groups in a group set?

To import groups by csv, go to:

How do I import groups in a group set?

This documentation is also available via a How to Quickstart video: https://youtu.be/wUrDmD-t1-Y (Links to an external site.)

The first step is to create a group set. Group sets house the different groups within a course. When you create a group assignment or group discussion you would attach the group set to the group assignment to assign it to the groups within the group set.

1. Click People

2. Create a group set by clicking + Group Set

3. Name the Group Set

4. Choose whether you want to allow self sign up, have the groups automatically created or create groups manually. This example shows how to create groups manually.

5. Click Save

You can assign a student group leader to help manage a group within your course. You can assign group leaders automatically or manually. When students are assigned to be a group leader, they can manage members of the group and edit the group name. However, they cannot change the number of members in the group.

6. Click + Group to create a group. You will need to repeat this as many times as you need to create all the groups that you need.

7. Choose a group name.

8. Choose if you want to limit the number of students in a group.

9. Click Save

You will see the groups:

10. You can drag students into the groups or click the + sign to move the student into a group

11. Click the arrow beside the group name to see the students in the group

TC Technology Knowledge Base

• Add an assignment to an Assignment Group in Canvas

Updated on Aug 08, 2024

You can use Canvas's Assignment Group feature to weigh different types of assignments in your course.

1. Log into the myTC portal.

Access the myTC portal.

2. Click on the Canvas icon in the top right corner.

3. Click Dashboard in the Global Navigation menu.

4. Click on your course card.

1. Click Assignments in the Course Navigation Menu.

2. Click on the name of the assignment that you would like to add to an Assignment Group.

3. When the assignment opens, click Edit.

4. In the Assignment Group section, click the arrow to view the drop-down menu. Click to select the group for the assignment. Alternatively, you may create a new group.

5. Add assignment details as needed, and click Save.

Canvas for Faculty

• Find your Canvas course
• Get Canvas help
• Set your Canvas notifications
• Add a profile picture to Canvas
• Add an event to the Canvas calendar
• Change what courses appear on your Canvas Dashboard
• Move course cards on your Canvas Dashboard
• Change the nickname of a Canvas course
• Add an image to your Canvas course card
• View your Canvas course as a student
• Share a link to a Canvas course
• Download a student roster in Canvas
• Send a message to all course users in Canvas
• Sign into the Canvas Teacher app with a TC UNI (Instructor)
• Create appointment slots in the Canvas calendar
• View student activity on the Canvas People page
• Delete Announcements in Canvas
• Import a past Canvas course in a new course
• Add a syllabus to your Canvas course
• Create an announcement in Canvas
• Create a module in Canvas
• Add an item to a module in Canvas
• Add a file to a module in Canvas
• Make a video for a module in Canvas
• Move items within a Canvas module
• Indent a module item in Canvas
• Create a page in Canvas
• Add a website link to a page in Canvas
• Allow file attachments in Canvas Discussions
• Set the front page of a Canvas course
• Change the home page of a Canvas course
• Change sharing settings for a Google Doc collaboration in Canvas
• Upload files to a Canvas course
• Link to a Canvas course file within a page
• Upload a file directly to a page in Canvas
• Recover deleted course content in Canvas
• Embed a Google Doc syllabus in your Canvas course
• Add a direct link to your Google Doc syllabus
• Replace a PDF Syllabus in Canvas
• Upload and Embed a PDF Syllabus in Canvas
• Delete Content in Canvas
• Create a folder in the Files section of Canvas
• Edit a Module on Canvas
• Publish and unpublish an item or module in Canvas
• Publish a Canvas course making it viewable to students
• Find your Canvas Gradebook
• Arrange columns in the Canvas Gradebook
• Enter a grade with SpeedGrader in Canvas
• Change the status of a grade in Canvas
• Leave a comment in the Canvas Gradebook
• Create a quiz with individual questions in Canvas
• Give extra time for a quiz in Canvas
• Assign a different quiz date and time to students in Canvas
• Create a survey in Canvas
• View anonymous survey results in Canvas
• Show a link on your Canvas Course Navigation
• Hide and reorder Canvas Course Navigation links
• Change your Canvas course end date
• Change your Canvas course start date
• Set Home Page as the Modules Page in Canvas
• Enable Attendance in Canvas
• Add a TC Student (Participating Auditor) to your Canvas course
• Add a TC Student to a non-Banner Canvas course
• Accept Canvas course invitation without a TC UNI
• Reset your Canvas password
• Set your site settings to address problems recording in Canvas
• Receive an Undelivered Message in Canvas
• View average course grade analytics in Canvas' New Analytics
• Compare the Canvas course average with an assignment, section, or student in New Analytics
• Compare Student Course Grade to Course Average in Canvas
• Identify and Email Students in Canvas Based on Assignment Grades
• View weekly online activity analytics in Canvas' New Analytics
• Send a message to a student who has not viewed or participated in a Canvas resource
• Student Level Analytics in Canvas
• Quiz Analytics in Canvas
• Turn on Honorlock for a Canvas Quiz
• Create a Practice Quiz in Honorlock
• Create a Canvas Assignment
• Add Multiple Due Dates to Canvas Assignment
• Create a Group Assignment with randomly assigned students in Canvas
• Assign an assignment to individual students in Canvas
• Use the Automatically Assign Peer Reviews option to an existing Canvas Assignment.
• Use the Manually Assign Peer Reviews option to an existing Canvas Assignment.
• Create a rubric in Canvas
• Create a Canvas Discussion Board
• Post to a Canvas Discussion Board
• Mentioning other users in a Canvas Discussion Board
• Anonymize Discussion Posts
• View Canvas Discussion Board in split screen format
• Add Multiple Due Dates to Canvas Discussion Board
• Replace the cover image in the Home Page welcome presentation with the Canvas Template
• Replace a faculty picture in the Canvas Template
• Set a cover video in the Canvas Course Template Welcome presentation
• Upload a course introduction video on the Home Page with the Canvas template
• Edit text information on a Canvas template homepage
• Set the front page of a Canvas course with Canvas Template
• Replace Home Page module thumbnail images with Canvas Template
• Embed a Padlet for student introduction on the Home Page with Canvas Template
• Edit the Course Schedule in the Canvas template
• Import the Course Template and pre-populate using the Canvas Template Builder
• Enable the universal template in your Canvas course
• Fix a broken homepage thumbnail link
• Create a custom built Overview page using Canvas template
• Link learning activities to the Overview page in the Canvas template
• Remove sections of the Overview page in the Canvas template
• Customize activity rows in the Overview page of the Canvas template
• Embed a video to the Overview page in the Canvas template

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E-Campus Faculty and Staff

How-to: create collaborative group assignments in canvas with google drive.

By:  Gracia Ostendorf     

Imagine this scenario...

Professor Morgan is teaching an English Studies course online this term in which his studies are required to complete a group project analyzing a piece of literature. Since the course is online, students won’t be meeting together in person. He needs to come up with a way for the students to easily collaborate and share their ideas (ideally in a way where he can see how individual students are contributing to the assignment too)!

As a Miami instructor, Professor Morgan and all of his students have access to a Google Drive account with their Miami email addresses. And fortunately, there’s a simple way to create space for collaborative work right within the course site by integrating these two tools.

Using Collaborations + Google Drive for group assignments and detailed feedback

With Canvas’s Collaborations tool, students and instructors can create Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides directly within their Canvas course site and share them with others in the course. Between students, this makes it easy to start a collaborative brainstorming document, report, presentation, or other type of group assignment.

Instructors can also take advantage of this feature to provide detailed feedback, comments, and suggestions directly on brainstorming documents, papers, and assignment files.

To start a Collaboration:

• Click on Collaborations in the left-hand navigation menu (if this isn’t visible to students, the instructor will need to update the navigation menu options in the course settings).
• If this is your first time using Google Drive in Canvas, authorize Google by following the prompt that appears.

• Select the type of Collaboration you’d like to start from the “Collaborate using:” dropdown: Google Docs (1) or Google Apps (2). Google Apps gives you the option of creating a Document, Spreadsheet, or Presentation.

• Give your collaboration a name and a description if desired. Add collaborators by selecting their name from the list that appears on the left, then click the “Start Collaborating” button.

Important information for students on using Collaborations:

Students can view a list of all of their Collaborations at any time from the Collaborations page. Students will also be able to see the documents, spreadsheets, and presentations created in Canvas Collaborations from within their own Google Drives as well.

Note that instructors will be able to view all Collaborations created in a course, regardless of whether the instructor was specifically added as a collaborator or not.

Need instructions to share with your students to explain how they can access and work with Collaborations in Canvas? Try these step by step guides:

• How do I view Collaborations as a student?
• How do I create a Google Drive collaboration as a student?

For more information on setting up Collaborations with Google Drive, take a look at these instructor-facing guides:

• How do I create a Google Drive collaboration as an instructor?
• How do I use the Collaborations Index Page?

You may also be interested in:

We've Got Your Back

If at any point you would like support or guidance while you are teaching a distance learning course, please connect with us!  We are here to help.

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Create an assignment in canvas.

In Canvas, any activity with an associated point value is considered an Assignment and will appear on the Assignments page, as well as in the gradebook. Assignment formats include quizzes, discussions, online document submission, and no submission, and external tool assignments. You can give an assignment to everyone in the course or target it to a specific section or user.

Types of Graded Activities in Canvas

The following table lists the types of graded activities in Canvas and their strengths and weaknesses.

To Create an Assignment

On the Course Navigation menu, click Assignments

On the Assignments list page, click Add Assignment

On the Assignment edit page, create the assignment by adding a name, instructions, and specifying the assignment options

(See the Assignment Options table for details)

Assignment Options

The following table describes the options for creating assignments.

Canvas - Get Started

The following list of pages will guide you through getting started with this tool. The current page is listed in bold.

• Log into Canvas
• Notification Preferences
• Access your Course
• Create an Assignment
• Create a Quiz in Canvas
• Add a Syllabus to Canvas
• Early Course Access for Students
• Publish Your Course
• Communication
• Five Keys to Grading
• Prepare Final Grading

Canvas @ Tufts

For information about other teaching & learning tools see the Educational Technology User Guides .

• AI and Teaching
• Blue Course Evaluations
• Dental Externships
• Easy Generator
• Health Science Clinical Tools
• Kaltura Capture
• Kaltura Video Editor
• Language Placement Testing
• Poll Everywhere
• VoiceThread
• Visual Classrooms
• What are Canvas Group Sets and Course Groups?

Canvas contains 2 different types of Grouping Systems:

1. Student Created Study Groups:

These are course groups created by students. The student that creates the study group can invite other students in the course to join the group. Students can belong to multiple Student Groups.

Student Groups can:

-Share files (Group has its own Files tool) -Send and post Announcements (Group has its own Announcements tool) -Create Canvas Pages (Group has its own Pages tool) -Conduct Group Discussions (Group has its own Discussions tool) -Create collaborative Google Documents (Group has its own Collaborations tool)

By default, Instructors and TAs can access all student created groups on their site (People Tool) and can access and edit all content.

Student created study groups cannot be associated directly with a Canvas Assignment

Note: Instructors can remove the permission allowing students to create their own study groups under Settings / Course Details / More Options / Uncheck: “Let students organize their own groups”

Directions for students to create their own study groups can be found here: As a Student, How do I create a Study Group?

2. Instructor created Group Sets and Groups.

A Group Set is a general name or container that holds a number of Groups. For instance, an instructor might create a Group Set named “Recitations”, which might hold a number of Groups (Recitation 1, Recitation 2, Recitation 3…)

Instructors can create as many Group Sets as they want and each Group Set can contain any number of Groups. Students can be part of multiple Group Sets but can belong to only one Group within a Group Set.

Each Group , within a Group Set can:

Groups can have their own graded Canvas Assignments. Groups can have their own graded Canvas Discussions. Groups cannot have their own Canvas Quiz

Directions for Instructors (or TAs) to create Group Sets and Groups can be found here: How do I create Group Sets / Course Groups?

Directions for Instructors to assign an Assignment to a Group can be found here: How do I assign a graded Assignment to a Group?

Directions for Instructors to assign a Discussion to a Group can be found here: How do I assign a graded Discussion to a Group?

• Prev: Canvas Grading Tips and Common Mistakes
• Next: How do I create Group Sets and Course Groups?
• Spring 2024 Updates to My Media and Media Gallery
• Media storage and Student View button changes
• Course Navigation and Gradebook icon changes
• New Rich Content Editor
• Discussions and Announcements Redesign
• How do I install an external app in my course site?
• How do I add a Non-Tufts account to a Canvas course site?
• How do I associate courses with my Blueprint course?
• How do I create a Student Annotation assignment?
• How do I create an audio or video assignment?
• How do students submit an audio or video assignment?
• How do I send messages to students in my class?
• How do Announcements and Conversations work?
• How do I download a list of my student's email addresses?
• What are the recommended notification preferences for students?
• What are the recommended notification preferences for instructors?
• How do I copy content from one Canvas course site to another Canvas course site?
• How do I organize my Canvas Dashboard?
• How do I nickname my Canvas Dashboard cards?
• How do I record a video and embed it in a Discussion post?
• How do I post (and hide) student grades?
• How do I hide the "Total Grade" from students?
• How do I display a Letter Grade in the Total Grade Column?
• How do I display Total Points in the Total Grade Column?
• How do I hide student names when grading (Anonymous Grading)?
• How do I create gradebook columns from a spreadsheet import?
• How do I include student SIS IDs when I export grades?
• Student - How do I view instructor feedback on an assignment?
• Understanding Canvas Gradebook Totals and Exported Totals
• Canvas Grading Tips and Common Mistakes
• How do I create Group Sets and Course Groups?
• How do I assign a graded Assignment to a Group?
• How do I assign a graded Discussion to a Group?
• How do I create a Front Page and use it as the Home page for my Canvas site?
• What is Kaltura Capture?
• How do I install Kaltura Capture on a Mac?
• How do I install Kaltura Capture on a PC?
• How do I record with Kaltura Capture?
• How do I edit my video start and end points?
• How do I add (link) Files, Assignments, Discussions or Quizzes to a Canvas Module?
• How do I add a Canvas Page as a module item?
• How do I embed a video from My Media in a Canvas "Page" and then create a link to the Page in a Module?
• How do I add my course site "Zoom" tool as a module item?
• What are My Media and Media Gallery?
• How do I upload a video to My Media in Canvas?
• How do I record a video directly into My Media with Kaltura Capture?
• How do I edit a video uploaded or recorded with My Media?
• How do I publish a video from My Media to a course site's Media Gallery?
• How do I embed video from My Media in a Canvas text-editing window? (New)
• How do I add a My Media or Media Gallery video to a Canvas Module?
• How do I create a Playlist of Videos in the Media Gallery tool?
• How do I embed a Media Gallery Playlist in a Canvas text-editing window?
• How do users add Comments to a Media Gallery video?
• How do I remove commenting permissions from a Media Gallery video?
• How do I upload iPhone or Android phone videos (and images) to Media Gallery?
• How do I download a My Media video?
• How do I allow downloading of video from the Media Gallery?
• How do I change the ownership of a My Media video?
• How do I allow other users to edit and publish a video in My Media?
• Instructors: How do I create an Assignment allowing students to submit a video from their My Media storage? (New)
• Students: How do I submit a video to an Assignment or a Discussion? (New)
• How do I copy Media Gallery Videos from one Canvas Course site to another Canvas Course site?
• Enabling third-party cookies
• How can I get captions on My Media videos?
• How can I see general and individual viewer statistics for videos in Media Gallery?
• How can I see aggregate video viewing statistics for the Media Gallery in my course?
• How do I remove a video from the Media Gallery?
• How do I edit a pre-existing playlist?
• How do I upload a Youtube video to My Media?
• How can I edit captions on my media videos? (New)
• How to Record Webcam Video with Express Capture
• Updated Kaltura My Media and Media Gallery Player
• How do I Add a Kaltura Video Quiz to Canvas Assignments?
• How to Create a Kaltura Video Quiz
• How do I add a custom link to my course navigation?
• How do I show hidden items in my course site navigation menu?
• Differences between Canvas Classic Quizzes and New Quizzes
• New Quizzes Introductory Videos
• How do I create a quiz using New Quizzes?
• How do I add a question to a quiz in New Quizzes?
• How do I add specific question types to a quiz in New Quizzes?
• How do I manage quiz settings in Canvas New Quizzes?
• How do I view and grade student submissions in New Quizzes?
• How do I Moderate a Quiz in New Quizzes?
• How do I create Item Banks in New Quizzes?
• How do I add questions to an existing Item Bank?
• How do I add a question from an Item Bank to a New Quizzes quiz?
• How do I add multiple questions from an Item Bank to New Quizzes quiz?
• How do I migrate a Classic Canvas quiz to New Quizzes?
• How do I set my Canvas Notification Preferences?
• How do I create a Peer Reviewed Assignment?
• How do I manage a Manual Assigned Peer Review assignment?
• How do I manage an Automatically Assigned Peer Review assignment?
• How do I manage a Group peer review assignment?
• How do I create a Peer Reviewed Graded Discussion?
• How do I manage a Manually Assigned Peer Review Discussion?
• How do I manage an Automatically Assigned Peer Review discussions?
• How do I manage a Group peer review discussions?
• Student: - How do I complete a peer review Assignment?
• Student: - How do I complete a peer review Discussion?
• How do I add pronouns to my Canvas profile?
• How do I publish (or unpublish) my Canvas course site?
• Student - How do I see if one of my Canvas course sites is Published?
• How do I create an Appointment Group (sign-up)?
• Student: - How do I sign-up for an appointment group?
• Instructor: - How do I check student sign-ups?
• How do I embed a course image in a Canvas text box?
• How do I link to a file in a Canvas text box?
• How do auto-open a preview of a linked file on a Canvas text box?
• How do I embed a webcam video in a Canvas text box?
• What are Canvas Rubrics?
• How do I create a Ratings Block Canvas Rubric?
• How Do I create a Free-form Comment Rubric?
• As a Student, How do I create a Study Group?
• Student: How do I use Google Docs to create a collaborative document in a Student Study Group?
• How do I create Canvas course site sections?
• How do I populate Canvas sections with student (and TA) accounts?
• How do I create an announcement for a section?
• How do I email a section?
• How do I post an Assignment for a section?
• How do I post a Discussion for a section?
• How do I post a Quiz or Survey for a section?
• How do I view the SpeedGrader and Gradebook by section?
• How do I limit participation in section to a start and end date?
• How do I make my course site Syllabus open to the public?
• How do I post a course syllabus?
• Instructor - How do I set a Canvas course site time zone?
• Student - How do I set my local time zone in my user account?
• How do I Restore items I have deleted from my Canvas site?
• How do I add MindTap to my course site?
• How do I get support for MindTap?
• How do I Combine (Cross-list) Canvas course sites?
• What is the Competency Checklist?
• Students - How do I navigate the Competency Checklist?
• Students - How do I complete a self-assessment?
• Students - How do I request an assessment from faculty?
• Instructors - How do I assess a student?
• What is Tufts University policy on copyright and fair use of posted materials on Canvas?
• What is Tufts University policy on the use of social media?
• Department Administrator - Delegated Access
• How do I access Canvas course sites within my delegated access sub-account?
• How do I add users to a Canvas site within my delegated access subaccount?
• How do I post a sub-account announcement?
• How do I access Canvas course sites using my accreditor access?
• How do I use account calendars?
• What is Echo360?
• How do I add Echo360 to my course site?
• How do I embed an Echo360 video using the Canvas text editor?
• End of the Semester options for Instructors
• Setting course site access for individual students
• How do I create a self-selected timed final exam (Essay Questions)?
• How do I create a self-selected timed final exam (File Upload Questions)?
• How do I review and grade a self-selected timed final exam (Essay Questions)?
• How do I review and grade a self-selected timed final exam (File Upload Questions)?
• Student: How do I take a self-selected timed (Essay Question or File Upload) final exam?
• How do I link (or embed) a Google Document in a Canvas text box?
• Instructor: How do I use Google Docs to create a collaborative document?
• Student: How do I submit a Google Document to an assignment?
• How do I add the Google Maps App to my Canvas course site?
• How do I embed a Google Map in a Canvas text box?
• How do I create an Office 365 Collaboration document (Word / Excel / Powerpoint)?
• How do I link to an Office 365 document in a Canvas Module?
• How do I link to an Office 365 document in a Canvas Rich Text Editor (Announcements / Assignments / Syllabus / Discussions / Quizzes / Pages)?
• Student: How do I submit an Office 365 document to an assignment?
• How do I add the Office 365 tool to my Canvas course site tool list?
• Instructor - How do I create an Office 365 Cloud assignment?
• Student - How do I edit and submit an Office 365 Could Assignment?
• What is the Piazza tool?
• How do I set up a Piazza discussion board for my site?
• How do I set up a Piazza discussion board for my site? (LTI 1.3)
• How to Link to an Existing Piazza Course with the new LTI 1.3
• How do I manage Piazza discussion board enrollments?
• As an instructor, how do I post a question in Piazza?
• How do students respond to a question posted by the instructor?
• As a student how do I post a question in Piazza?
• How do Instructors respond to student questions in Piazza?
• How do instructors and students post a poll?
• How do I edit the student anonymity settings for my Piazza site?
• How do I edit my Piazza email notifications?
• How do I embed an image in a Piazza post?
• How do I deactivate a Piazza site?
• How do I un-enroll (drop) from a Piazza discussion site?
• What is the Progress Report tool?
• How do I access the progress report tool to submit a report?
• How do I submit a progress report for a student?
• What are Canvas Reading Lists?
• How do I create a Reading List?
• How do I structure the list by weeks or topics?
• How do I add items to the reading list?
• How do I add links to electronic articles?
• How do I share the list with students?
• How do I re-use a previous semester's list?
• How can I save favorite resources to use on my lists?
• Can my teaching assistant work on my list?
• Where can I get help and training for using the Reading List tool?
• Students - Reading Lists Help
• What happens to my Canvas content when I leave Tufts?
• How do I record my screen with Kaltura Capture?
• How do I make a screen recording using QuickTime on a Mac?
• How do I edit or trim a QuickTime video on a Mac?
• What is TidyUP?
• How do I activate TidyUP?
• How do I mange my Canvas site content using TidyUP?
• Overview of Tufts Box Integration with Canvas
• Instructor: How do I link to a Tufts.Box.Com document in a Canvas text box?
• Instructor: How do I link to a Tufts.Box.Com document in a Canvas Module?
• Instructor: How do I add a link to Tufts.Box.Com to the course site navigation panel?
• Student: How do I submit a document from my Tufts.Box.Com to a Canvas Assignment?
• Student: How do I link to a document from my Tufts.Box.Com in a Canvas text box?
• Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Service
• How do I use the Turnitin plagiarism service to check the originality of student submitted papers?
• Student: How do I submit a paper to a Canvas Assignment that uses Turnitin?
• How do I view a TurnItIn Originality Report?
• How to add VoiceThread to your Canvas course
• Using VoiceThread in Your Course on Canvas
• Instructor - How do I create a webcam video in a Canvas text box?
• How do I add a webcam comment to a student's grade in the Canvas SpeedGrader?
• Student - How do I create a webcam video in a Canvas Discussion text box?
• How do I embed a YouTube video in a Canvas Page and link it in a Module?

Articles in this section

• Adding Zoom Recordings to Your Class
• Allow Early Access to your Course
• Announcements in Canvas
• Announcements vs. Inbox
• Badges - Becoming an Issuer
• Canvas Quick Start Guide (Instructors)
• Canvas Studio - Lecture Capture and Video in Canvas
• Canvas Teacher App
• Changing the Grading Scale
• Classic vs. New Quizzes: What's the Difference?

How to Submit Core Curriculum Assessment Through Canvas

• August 15, 2024 16:43

For each Core Curriculum course taught at SNC, information is collected on how and where our students are exposed to our College Wide Learning Outcomes (CWLO), as well as whether they meet, partially meet, or do not meet them. Canvas makes it easier to complete these assessments directly within the course that they are taught. Additional instructions for Core Curriculum Assessment can be found here , however please use the directions below for setting up your Canvas course and assessing your students.

[optional] Hide the Learning Mastery Gradebook:

To hide the Learning Mastery Gradebook, so students will not be able to see results of outcomes-based assessments, in the left navigation bar click on: Settings → Feature Option → Student Learning Mastery Gradebook → disable . 

Create an assignment:

• Click on the Assignments link in the left navigation
• Click on the +Assignment button in the upper right corner (if you do not see the text editor you may need to click on the More button)
• Name the Assignment (Recommended Name: “CWLO: Name of Outcome”, ex: “CWLO: 1 - Think Critically”)
• Description: This is optional, but you may want to include a description that would be helpful to your students. Here are a few examples:

No submission required. Does not count towards final grade.

Every course in the core curriculum is required to report on two College Wide Learning Outcomes (CWLO). This assessment does not count towards your final grade. This assignment records the assessment for CWLO “ Name the CWLO being assessed ”.

• Type in “ College Wide Learning Outcomes - No submission required ” and click Add Group
• Check the box, “Do not count this assignment towards the final grade”
• Submission Type: No Submission
• Group Assignment: leave unchecked
• Peer Reviews: leave unchecked
• Assign: Leave the default setting to “Assign to Everyone”.
• Due Date: Leave blank.
• Click Save & Publish button.  ** Note, the assignment needs to be PUBLISHED in order to assess it later on.

Add a rubric to the assignment:

• When viewing the assignment, click on the +Rubric button at the bottom of the assignment.
• Click the 🔍Find a Rubric button.
• Click St. Norbert College → Select the CWLO being assessed , scroll all the way down and click the Use This Rubric button.

Repeat steps 1-9 for the second CWLO that you will be assessing ( Note, in step 5.b., you will now select the “College Wide Learning Outcomes Group that you created. )

[optional] Hide Outcomes Assignment Grades

By following these steps, your assessment of the outcomes will be hidden from students and they will not receive notifications of your assessment.

• Click on Grades in the left navigation.
• Scroll to find the Outcomes assignment and click on the 3 dots next to the assignment name.
• Click on Grade Posting Policy
• Select Manually

Evaluate your students progress on the College Wide Learning Outcomes:

• When you are ready to assess the College Wide Learning Outcomes, open the assignment which is tied to your first outcome and click on SpeedGrader in the upper right corner.
• Click on the View Rubric button.
• Adjust your left pane of the window, dragging the divider to the left, to allow for more of your rubric to be visible.
• Select a rating for each of the CWLO indicators by clicking on the rating box within the rubric and click Save . (Note that feedback can be provided for each individual indicator, as well as overall feedback. This is all optional, however if you make overall comments you need to click the Submit button for those comments to stick.)

• Select Complete from the pull-down menu towards the top-left part of the window.
• Navigate to the next student in the upper right hand corner to continue grading and follow steps 2-5 for each student.
• Repeat these steps for the second CWLO you will be evaluating.

For additional details on Grading with a rubric using Speedgrader view this article .

You are finished evaluating College Wide Learning Outcomes for your course. You can view the overall results of your students by clicking on Grades in the side navigation and then clicking on the Gradebook drop-down menu and selecting Learning Mastery Gradebook . 

Article is closed for comments.

How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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