Creating Group Category | Creating Group Discussions | Enrolling Users Into Groups | FAQs
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Creating a Group Category
Creating a Group Category will be the first step in creating groups for your course. Group categories will allow you to set the parameters regarding your groups.
1. Enroll group member(s) by selecting New Category.
2. Give your Category Name a title and provide a brief description (if desired-not needed).
3. Click on the Enrollment Type drop down menu to make a selection, according to your preference. Enrollment Type options include the following:
# of Groups - No Auto Enrollments: Choose this option if you want to specify the number of groups for the system to create and assign students to groups manually.
Groups of #: Choose this option if you want to create groups of a particular size.
# of Groups: Choose this option if you want to specify the number of groups to create.
Groups of # - Self Enrollment: Choose this option if you want to self enroll particular students to specific groups.
# of Groups - Self Enrollment: Choose this option if you want to self enroll students into specific groups.
4. Type in the Number of Groups or Number of Users, depending on your selection of Enrollment Type.
Note: None of the Enrollment types will automatically enroll the current students in the groups. You must manually place the students in the groups. See Enrolling Users into Groups.
5. Advance Properties is based on the Enrollment Type (Self Enrollment does NOT have these options) and the options are:
Auto-Enroll New Users: This option will automatically assign new students into the previously made groups. It will add the students to the group with the lowest enrollment.
Randomize Students in Groups: This option will automatically randomize new students in your class into groups that you have already created so they aren't all grouped together.
6. Additional Options include Setup Discussion Areas, Setup Locker and Setup Dropbox for each group.
7. Select Save on bottom left corner of category.
8. Select your category from the drop-down list on the Manage Groups page.
9. Select "Enroll Users" from the drop-down menu next to the group/category name.
10. To edit the name of your new groups, simply click on the name of the Group while under the Groups tab and it will give you the option of renaming them.
Enrolling Users into Groups
This area allows you to manage the Group Enrollment of your participants. If you wish to change the enrollment you must click on the Group Name, this brings you to the Edit Category window. You can view enrollment into the group by selecting, Enroll Users.
You can see all students from the Classlist and by selecting the box to the right of the student's name you can manually enroll each student into the group of your choosing. Click Save.
Creating Group Discussion Boards
1. Select Discussions from the Communications drop-down menu in the navbar.
2. Access the group forum in the drop-down list, or select new forum if creating a new one.
3. Name the forum
4. Create restrictions and add any additional properties as needed, then click Save and Add Topic
5. Name the topic and add groups under "Group Restrictions" in the Restrictions tab (you must first click the checkbox next to "restrict this topic to the following groups"), click save.
OR You can:
1. Go to the Discussions link under the Communications tab in the navbar.
2. Click on the name of the group you wish to edit and select "Edit Discussion Restrictions" beneath "Existing Workspaces."
3. Now Select either the Forum that you want to restrict or what Topic under that Forum you want to restrict and select the Groups accordingly.
4. Click Save.
FAQs
Q: How do I assign students to groups?
A: On your course page, select the Groups tab. From here, select New Category and give your group a name along with the amount of groups you will need. Click Save. Back at the top of the page you will see an Enroll Users option. Click on that and it will bring you to a page with your students in a column and the ability to click on the boxes that go with particular groups. After clicking Save, your groups you just created will be implemented.
Q: Why won't my students show up in their groups after assigning them?
A: More than likely this would be a problem with your default set number of 20 on the Groups page. If you assigned the first 20 and then went to page 2, all the data wouldn't be saved. You must either set your page to show 50 or more students or you must save before navigating away from the page you had just worked on.
