Groups
Groups provide a way to organize students within courses, enabling group-based activities, collaborative assignments, and flexible permission management. Each group belongs to a specific course and can be used for access control, activity organization, and course setting management.
What are Groups?
Section titled “What are Groups?”Groups are collections of students within a course that can be used for various organizational purposes. When students are enrolled in a course, they can be assigned to one or more groups. Groups help organize students into smaller cohorts, teams, or sections for better course management.
Group Membership
Section titled “Group Membership”Groups are managed through enrolments. When enrolling students in a course, you can assign them to one or more groups. Students can belong to multiple groups simultaneously, allowing for flexible organization. For example, a student might belong to both the “Section A” group and the “Project Team 1” group.
Group Structure
Section titled “Group Structure”Groups can be organized hierarchically with parent and child groups, enabling complex organizational structures such as:
- Sections - Dividing large courses into manageable cohorts
- Teams - Students organized for collaborative projects
- Lab Groups - Students assigned to specific lab sessions
- Discussion Groups - Smaller discussion cohorts
- Nested Hierarchies - Multi-level organization (e.g., “Fall 2024” → “Section A” → “Team 1”)
Use Cases
Section titled “Use Cases”Module Access Control
Section titled “Module Access Control”Groups can control which students have access to specific course modules. This enables:
- Restricting access to specific modules based on group membership
- Displaying different content to different groups
- Creating group-specific activities and resources
Group Assignments
Section titled “Group Assignments”Groups enable collaborative assignments where students within an assigned group work together. This includes:
- Group-based assignments where all group members collaborate
- Group submissions where the entire group submits together
- Peer assessment within groups using workshop activities
Group Setting Overrides
Section titled “Group Setting Overrides”Groups can override course-level settings, enabling:
- Different due dates for different groups
- Group-specific activity settings
- Customized grading scales per group
- Different access rules for different groups
Group-Based Activities
Section titled “Group-Based Activities”Groups enable various types of collaborative activities:
Group Assignments
Section titled “Group Assignments”Assignments can be configured for group work, where all members of a group collaborate on a single submission. This promotes teamwork and reduces grading workload for large classes.
Group Forums
Section titled “Group Forums”Discussion forums can be set to visible groups or separate groups mode:
- Visible Groups - Students can see other groups’ discussions but can only participate in their own group’s discussions
- Separate Groups - Students can only see and participate in their own group’s discussions
Group Quizzes
Section titled “Group Quizzes”Quizzes can be restricted to group members, enabling group-based assessment or collaborative quiz activities.
Conditional Activities
Section titled “Conditional Activities”Activities can be configured to restrict access based on group membership. This enables:
- Displaying different resources to different groups
- Creating group-specific learning paths
- Restricting access to advanced materials based on group assignment
Benefits of Groups
Section titled “Benefits of Groups”Groups provide several benefits for course management:
- Enhanced Collaboration - Students work together in smaller, more manageable teams
- Simplified Assessment - Organizing students into groups makes managing and grading large classes easier
- Diverse Interactions - Students interact with different peers in various group contexts
- Flexible Organization - Supporting multiple organizational patterns simultaneously
- Targeted Instruction - Providing different content and activities to different groups
Managing Groups
Section titled “Managing Groups”Groups are managed through the course interface, where administrators and teachers can:
- Create new groups
- Assign students to groups during enrolment
- Modify group membership
- Organize groups hierarchically
- Configure group-specific settings and permissions
Group membership is displayed as colored badges in the enrolment management interface, making it easy to see which groups each student belongs to.
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