Copy "assign to" lists
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I have some students who are assigned weekly homework lessons and some who are not. I do not want to "excuse" those students, I just want the assignment to NOT show up for them. When I copy an assignment, it does not retain the "assign to" list and within that field I can't select and ctrl-C copy. If I make a master list of groups, it treats it like a group assignment. So, I need to be able to create or copy/save an "assign to" list for use on assignments throughout the year.
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As you have already noted, "groups" are for collaborative teamwork. However, "sections' are for differentiated work. You can create two "sections" for your class: those who will be assigned the work, and those who will not be. Then, when you create (or copy) an assignment, you can simply assign it to the correct "section."
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Your situation is one that we see many requests for here in the Community. Teachers want better ways to manage differentiated assignments. The most common request is "assign to all except" where they could tell Canvas to assign this to everyone but Johnny and Sue without having to list all the other students by name. There was another thread I was responding to just last night that someone wanted the assigned list, date, and time to copy when they duplicate an assignment so they didn't have to re-enter the data.
There have also been many suggested work-arounds for Canvas' lack of functionality in this regard. You can excuse the assignment for everyone, but as you noted, they still see it -- they just access it. You can use Mastery Paths to only assign items to students who meet certain criteria, but they come with their own set of issues.
A relatively new feature is the ability to assign modules to specific sections or students. You could put all of those assignments into a module and just assign that module to those students. That module does not show up for the students it is no assigned to. Sometimes we have to be a bit creative in how we use things to get exactly what we want (and, alas, sometimes it's not possible to get exactly what we want at all.)
For example, if you have weekly modules, then instead of putting those assignments into the "Week 1" module, you could create a separate module "Week 1 Supplemental". You can repeat items in different modules, so you could put it in both, but then the other students would be able to see it.
The benefit of the module approach is that it is a quick way to assign a lot of assignments to just some students so that you don't have to go through and put in their names over and over for each assignment. You could make a "Supplemental Assignment" module (pick better names) for the whole course. You could add the assignments in there and then have students rely on the ToDo list or train those students that each week, they need to go do the extra assignment.
What Susan suggests is a great use for sections. Sometimes, we only think of sections as being officially assigned by the school. Canvas allows for a broader use and allows instructors to create their own sections. If you try to create sections and cannot, it may be because they are locked down by your institution. Our institution doesn't allow faculty to modify the sections, limiting them to the official course sections. In a case like this, you may need to ask your Canvas admin to create the sections and add the users for you. If you are able to create sections, the section names may be visible to the students. Try to avoid section names that violate FERPA or embarrass students. That is, don't go naming sections "Accommodations" or "Slackers".
