1 Groups Tool The Groups tool is used to set up groups of students in your course. Groups allow to organize students work on projects or assignments, or to create special work areas for students with different learning needs. Students can be assigned to any number of groups in the same course. For example, a user could belong to a group for each class project and a special interest discussion group at the same time. Each group can have its own discussion forums, dropbox folders, and group locker area to work in. Members of groups can be graded as a team or individually. ACCESS THE GROUPS TOOL To access the Groups tool, do one of the following: Click Groups on the navigation bar NOTE: By default, the Groups tool is not located on the navbar. You have to create a custom course navbar (http://gsw.edu/assets/gaview/files/d2l/navbars_13.pdf) and put the Groups link on it Click Edit Course on the navbar and click Groups in the list of course administration tools Click Groups on the Course Administration widget Click the Edit Active Navbar pencil icon at top left, click Groups in the Course Admin Tool column NOTE: In most cases, it is better to set up groups after the majority of students are enrolled in your course. This gives you a better idea of how many students you are organizing and how many groups you need. Setting up groups after enrollment can also ensure better distribution of students between groups.
2 CREATE AND MANAGE GROUPS 1. Creating Group Categories If you want to create a set of groups, you have to set up a category and create work areas for groups first. From the Manage Groups page, click the New Category icon Enter a Category Name and description (optional) Select an Enrollment Type. To learn more about group enrollment types, review the Group Enrollment Types tutorial at: http://gsw.edu/assets/gaview/files/d2l/groups/group_enrollment_types.pdf Specify the Number of Groups Set up Advanced Properties. NOTE: You will be able to see this option depending on the enrollment type you selected Set up Additional Options (optional), click Create. o When you create a new category with the Set Up Discussion Areas option checked, you are automatically taken to the Create Restricted Discussion Areas page. From this page you can create a separate topic for each group within an existing or new forum.
3 Select the Forum from the drop-down list if you have already created a forum in the Discussions tool Click the New Forum link to create a new forum for the category Click the Add Another button if you want to add more than one discussion forum Click Create or Create and Next when finished or click Skip to move to the next page. o o If you selected the Set Up Locker option, locker areas are automatically created for each group in the category. See the tutorial about Group Lockers at: http://gsw.edu/assets/gaview/files/d2l/tipsweek/locker_group_locker.pdf If you select Set Up Dropbox, you should set up Folder Properties on the Create Dropbox Folders page. The group Dropbox is set up in the same way that a regular drop box. Clicking the Skip button takes you to the next page in the groups setup process without creating any shared dropbox folders. On the Workspace Summary page, review your group setting and click Done. 2. Creating and Adding Groups Once you created a group category, the groups already were created within the category. However, if you need to add more groups to the category, do the following: On the Manage Groups page, click the Create new group for icon
4 Modify the group name if you want it to be different from the default Modify the group code if you want it to be different from the one provided Enter a description (optional) and click Add. NOTE: If you add a new group with Auto-Enroll New Students turned on, new students are automatically enrolled in the new group until students are evenly distributed between it and other groups. Once it is the same size as other groups, new students are added normally. NOTE: You can add a new group from the Edit Category page: Click the specific category link and click the Add Group icon on the page action bar: 3. Editing groups and categories From the Manage Groups page, click on the name of the category or group you want to edit Update the appropriate fields. Click Save. 4. Deleting groups and categories From the Manage Groups page, do one of the following: o Select the check box next to the group or category you want to delete o Or select the check box at the top of the list to select all groups and categories if you would like to delete them all o Click the Delete icon
5 If you delete a group: If Auto-Enroll New Users is selected, students are automatically distributed in the remaining groups If groups are set up for manual enrollment, students must be added to the remaining groups using the Enroll Users in Selected Groups option under Actions Group discussion forums remain available for reference. They can be deleted using the Discussions tool Group locker areas and the files they contain are deleted Group dropbox folders and the files they contain are deleted. If you delete a category: Students are no longer enrolled in groups because they do not exist Group discussion forums remain available for reference. They can be deleted using the Discussions tool Group locker areas and the files they contain are deleted Group dropbox folders and the files they contain are deleted. ENROLLING STUDENTS IN GROUPS Students are enrolled in groups based on the enrollment type selected when you create a New Category. Use the enrollment option to: Manually enroll students in groups if you selected the # of Groups No Auto Enrollments type Manually change which group a student is enrolled in Add students who enrolled late to a group if Auto Enroll New Users is not selected Search for students who have not been assigned to a group. 1. To enroll a student: From the Manage Groups page, click the Enroll Users in Selected Groups icon Or click the specific category link and on the Edit Category page, click the Enroll Users icon In the Display: field, select whether you want to display All Groups or a specific group
6 If you would like to search for student, enter information in the Search For: field Check box for a student(s) you would like to enroll and click Save NOTE: Manually enrolling students allows you to exceed the enrollment limit for a group. 2. Moving a student to a new group: Discussion messages remain in the old group and do not count towards a user s grade if the forum or topic is associated with a grade item. The student must satisfy the discussion message requirements in the new section. You can override a grade using the Grades tool Locker files remain in the old group. Students must add any files they want to keep to the new group locker area Dropbox files submitted for the old group remain with the old group. The student receives the grade achieved by the new group on any group assignments. You can change the user s grade back to the original group s mark in the Grades tool. 3. Deleting a student from a group On the Enroll Users page, uncheck the box for the student in the Group column. Click Save. NOTE: When a student is deleted from a group, his/her files remain in the system, including: discussion messages, dropbox folders, and locker files.
7 4. Self enrollment in groups Self-enrollment allows students to enroll in groups on their own. Use this option when you want students to choose their own group members or to be a part of a group on a topic that interests them. Students can self enroll in groups by clicking the Choose Group link beside the name of a group category set up for self enrollment. The link displays at the top of the user s Groups page when selfenrollment is available. Clicking on the number listed in the Members column opens the Group Members pop-up window containing a list of current group members. NOTE: If a group is full, the number listed in the Members column appears in red with the word Full next to it. Setting up self enrollment Follow the instructions in the Creating Group Categories section above.
8 When creating a category, select Groups of # - Self Enrollment or # of Groups Self Enrollment from the Enrollment Type drop-down list. 5. Student view of the Groups tool Course participants access the Groups tool through the Groups link on the course navbar or through the Classlist tool. From the Groups page, users can: Click on the number in the Members column to view the group member list Click on a dropbox folder to view its contents (if it s set up) Click on a discussion forum to view its postings (if it s set up) Click on a link to a group s locker files (if it s set up) Click the Email Group icon to email all of the members of a group Select the Choose Group link if self enrollment is set up From the Classlist tool, student can click the view group enrollments for icon in the Action column