How to use Tracking Groups Manager

A tracking group is a cohort of students that a department follows closely, for example a sports team, a scholarship cohort, or students on academic probation. The Tracking Groups Manager shows how the group is doing in one place: grades, Canvas activity, study hours, progress reports, absence requests, and class schedules.

Overview

A group follows its cohort across terms. You choose the term when you add members, so you don't need a new group every semester.

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User Levels: What You Can Do

What you see depends on your access. Your level for each group is shown as a chip next to the group's name.

Level	Who has it	What they can do
View only	Level 0 staff in a department that owns or shares the group	Open the group and see its Dashboard, Students, Reports & Alerts, and Absence Requests
Manager	Level 1 staff, or Level 2 staff in a department the group is shared with	Everything above, plus add and remove members, tags, notes, progress report requests, absence requests, and the group's Settings tab (Additional Access and study locations)
Owner	Level 2 staff in the department that owns the group	Everything above, plus rename, share with other departments, merge, deactivate, archive, and restore the group. Level 2 staff can also create new groups for their department.
Additional Access	Someone outside the department, such as a coach, mentor, or sponsor, added to one group	View that group only. They see grades and class schedules only if the person who added them allowed it.
Administrator	System administrators	Everything, for every group

Grades and schedules: Grades show only for staff with the View Student Grades permission, or for Additional Access that includes grades. If you can't see them, the group shows a Grades hidden chip. The Schedule tab appears only if you can see class schedules.

Need access? Department levels are set by your department's administrator or a system administrator.

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Open a Group

1. Go to Students → Tracking Groups Manager in the side menu.

2. Your tracking groups lists every group you can open. You can:

   • Type in Search groups.
   • Click Filter to show groups by Status, Access, or Department.
   • Sort the list.
3. Click a group to open it.

To switch groups, click the group's name at the top, or click All groups to go back to the list.

At the top of a group you'll see its name, owner department, your access level, and a Term picker. Most tabs show the selected term.

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Create a Group (Owners and Administrators)

1. On Your tracking groups, click New group.

2. Enter a Group name. Don't put a term in the name, such as Spring 2026. One group follows the cohort across terms.

3. Choose the Department that will own it.
4. Click Create, then add members on the Students tab.

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Dashboard Tab

The Dashboard summarizes the group for the selected term:

• Headline numbers: members, members who need attention, average term and cumulative GPA, Canvas average, missing work, members inactive in Canvas for 7+ days, members not in good standing, academic alerts, study hours, and tutoring visits.

• Work turned in and Against the class: submissions and scores compared with classmates.
• Charts: last Canvas activity, score against the class, and engagement.
• Who needs attention: members grouped by attention tier, with the reasons. Select members and click Add to group email to contact them.

Use Viewing to narrow everything to one tag.

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Students Tab

The member list, with each member's tags, term GPA, cumulative GPA, low Canvas scores, missing work, and study hours.

• Switch Layout between Cards and Compact table.

• Search names, IDs, majors, or tags, or use the Tags filter (Any of, All of, or Untagged).
• On each member: Details, Contact, and the ⋯ menu for Add note, Edit tags, Download grade report, and Remove from group.
• Tick members, then email them together.

Add members (Managers and Owners)

Click Add student to add one student, or click the arrow next to it for more ways to add:

Option	Use it to add
One student	One student, from the directory
Paste IDs or emails	A list copied from a spreadsheet or roster
Copy members	Members from a previous term or another group
By course or CRN	Everyone in a class
By major	Everyone in a major
Import a CSV	IDs, with optional tag columns

Members are added to the term selected at the top.

Other actions (Managers and Owners)

These are in the same Add student arrow menu. They apply to the members you ticked, or to everyone shown if nobody is ticked.

• Request progress reports: asks the instructors of the members' classes how the students are doing. Follow the answers on the Reports & Alerts tab.
• Send absence requests: asks instructors to excuse members' absences, for example for team travel.
• Clear this term…: removes every member from the selected term.

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Reports & Alerts Tab

Use the buttons at the top to choose what to show:

• Request rounds: each set of progress report requests sent for the group, with how many were answered, are waiting, or have expired. Managers and Owners can click New request round to send another.

• All progress reports: every answer from instructors. Group them as a List, By student, or By instructor.
• Academic alerts: alerts that instructors sent about members.

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Absence Requests Tab

Lists the absence requests sent for members. Search by member or department, click Details to see one, or Cancel a request.

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Schedule Tab

Shows when members have class. Available only if you can see class schedules.

• Whose schedule: everyone, or Choose members to compare a few people.

• Classes: a weekly view of their classes.
• Free time: when all the chosen members are free. Useful for planning meetings or study hall.

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Settings Tab (Managers and Owners)

• Group: name, owner, shared departments, status, and your access. Owners can Rename, Share, Deactivate, Activate, or Archive here.

• Additional Access: click Give access to let someone outside your department, such as a coach, view the group. Search the directory or enter their name, 900#, and email. Under They can also see, choose whether they see Grades and Class schedules. You can only pass on what you can see yourself. They're emailed about the group.

• Study Hours Locations: which check-in locations count as a study session for members.
• Engage Sync: links the group to an Engage organization so members stay in sync. Click Sync now to update.

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Group Actions

Open the ⋮ Group actions menu at the top of the group. Managers see History only. Owners and administrators see everything:

Action	What it does
Rename	Changes the name for every department the group is shared with
Share with departments	Lets another department see and manage the group. Each department keeps its own Additional Access and study locations.
Merge other groups in…	Combines groups, such as one created for each term, into this one
Deactivate / Activate	Pauses the group, or turns it back on
Archive	Hides the group from every list. Restore it from Archive on the groups list.
History	Shows every change made to the group

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Quick Answers

"You do not have access to Tracking Groups."  Your department doesn't have Tracking Groups turned on for you, and no one has given you Additional Access. Ask your department's administrator.

I can see the group but can't add students.  You have View only access. Ask an Owner of the group or your department administrator.

I can't see grades.  You need the View Student Grades permission, or Additional Access that includes grades.

I don't see Rename, Share, or Archive.  Only Owners (Level 2 in the owning department) and administrators can do these.

Where did last term's members go?  Change the Term at the top. Members are kept per term. Use Copy members to bring them into the new term.