How do I create groups?

You may create groups in your site in several different ways:

  • Manually create and assign users to a group.
  • Create joinable groups that site participants can elect to join.
  • Automatically generate groups by user role, number of groups per site, or number of users per group.
  • Import group information from a file.

Once groups are created, group aware tools such as Assignments, Email, Resources, or Tests & Quizzes have options for restricting access by group.

Go to Site Info.

Select the Site Info tool in the Tool Menu of your site.

Click on Manage Groups.

Manually create a group.

Select Create New Group.

Enter group information.

  1. Enter a Group Title for the group.
  2. Enter a Description of the group. (Optional)
  3. Check the box for Allow members to see the other members of this group if you want students to be able to see the names of their group members.
  4. You may use the Filter by group drop-down menu to filter the site member list by another group or section. For example, if you have two sections combined into one site, and you want to set up groups of students within sections, you could filter the view by section to make assigning students easier. (Note: You must have existing groups/sections for them to show up in this list.)
  5. If you would like this group to be part of a Joinable Set, select the set from the drop-down menu. (Note: You must have existing joinable groups for them to show up in this list.)
  6. In the Membership section, click on a user or users' names to select participants from the Site Member List. Then select on the right arrow button > to move the selected participant(s) over to the Group Member List area.
  7. Once you have selected all of the desired group members, click on the Add button to create the group.

Tip: You may select more than one name at a time in the participant list by using SHIFT+Click to select a range of consecutive names, or CTRL+Click to select more than one non-consecutive name.

Create a joinable group.

Select Create New Joinable Set.

Specify the joinable set details.

  1. You will need to enter a Set name for the set of groups. Each group will begin with the same name and end with a unique number.
  2. Indicate the Number of groups.
  3. Enter the Max members per groups.
  4. Click Add to create the joinable set.

Optionally, you may also select any of the following options:

  • Allow users to see group membership before joining
  • Allow members to see the other members of these groups after joining
  • Allow members to unjoin (leave) groups in this set after joining

Note: Students will need access to Site Info to see and join any joinable sets of groups.

Automatically generate groups.

Select Auto Groups.

Step 1: Select Role(s)

Select one or more roles from which you would like to create groups, and then click the Continue button.

Tip: Click the Role checkbox to select all roles at once; click the checkbox again to de-select.

Step 2: Select Section(s)

Choose the sections to be included in your groups. If your site has no sections, then all site participants will be included.

Step 3: Define Group Structure

First, you need to select if you want your groups to be created across roles and/or sections, or within roles and/or sections.

  1. Select Create groups containing a random mixture of users with the selected role(s) and/or selected section(s)/roster(s) to create groups randomly from all of the selected roles and sections.
  2. Or, select Create groups containing the members from the selected role(s) and/or selected section(s)/roster(s) to create groups that are restricted within roles or sections. For example, if you have students in multiple sections, it will only place students in groups with other students enrolled in the same sections.

    Once you have made your selection for the composition of the group, you need to choose how you want to break up the site participants.
  3. Select the Split by number of groups needed radio button to indicate the total number of groups you want.
    • Enter a Group Title. This title will serve as the basis for all of the group names. Unique numbers will be appended to the title.
    • Enter the number of groups desired.
  4. Or, select the Split by number of users needed per group to divide up the participants by a given number of group members.
    • Enter a Group Title. This title will serve as the basis for all of the group names. Unique numbers will be appended to the title.
    • Enter the number of participants per group desired.
  5. Click the Continue button to proceed.

Step 4: Preview

Preview your groups to make sure they look correct. If everything looks good, click Create to create your groups. (If you need to make a change, click Back to return to an earlier step in the process.)

Select Bulk Creation.

Select Bulk Creation.

Provide group information.

There are two methods to create or update multiple groups at once:

  1. Type or paste the group information into the text box provided.
  2. Click the Choose File button to browse for and select your import file.  
    • Your import file should be in comma-separated (CSV) format with two columns of data. The first column should contain the group title, and the second column should contain the username of the site participant. Do not include a column header row and do not include spaces.
  3. Select Continue to proceed with group creation.

Example: CSV File for Importing Groups