Groups

Groups create opportunities for students to engage and interact with each other. In UB Learns, students can be placed into groups to collaborate on assignments and projects or to participate in discussions with a smaller subset of their classmates. Additionally, by creating groups in which only one student is a member, the Discussions tool can be used to create a journaling space in which students can reflect on their learning experiences and ask questions.

Creating and Editing Groups

To organize and manage related groups, use categories. For example, you can have a category for Assignment 1, Assignment 2, Seminars, etc.

On the navbar, click Instructor Only and select Course Admin.
Click Groups.
Click New Category.
Enter a Category Name and Description.
Select an Enrollment Type from the drop-down menu. Based on your selection, you can set the Number of Groups and Number Of Users. See the Group Enrollment Types section on this page for additional information.
Use the Restrict Enrollments To drop-down menu to include all the students from the course (default) or only those from specific sections.
Enter a distinctive prefix in the Group Prefix field, which will be added to the names of the groups and the group codes. This makes groups management easier.
Click Show Advanced Properties under Advanced Properties. Depending on the option you selected in the Enrollment Type drop-down menu, you may see one or more of the following:
- Click Auto-enroll new users to automatically add students who enroll in the course after the groups are created.
- Click Randomize users in groups. to randomly enroll students in groups. If you do not choose this option, students are placed alphabetically based on the Classlist.
- Click Make category and group descriptions visible to group members to make the description of the groups visible to students.
- Click the Set Self Enrollment Start Date and Set Self Enrollment Expiry Date check boxes if you selected an Enrollment Type that supports self-enrollment.
We recommend you do not set up assignments or discussions under Additional Options. Instead, add groups when creating assignments (Submission & Completion) or discussions (Availability Dates & Conditions).
Click Save.

After clicking Save, the Groups tool displays the category and a message that your groups are being created in the background. You will receive an update (a red dot will appear on the bell icon in the minibar) when the process is finished.

On the navbar, click Instructor Only and select Course Admin.
Click Groups.
Select the group category containing the appropriate groups from the View Categories drop-down menu.
Click the chevron next to the group category name and select Enroll Users.
Click the check boxes in the group name columns to add students.
If necessary, use theSearch For field and Show Search Options to find students you want to enroll in the groups. UseNot Enrolled under Show Search Options to see a list of students that haven't been enrolled.
Click Save.

When you delete students from a group, all their files remain in the system, including discussion posts and assignments submissions.

On the navbar, click Instructor Only and select Course Admin.
Click Groups.
Select the group category containing the appropriate groups from the View Categories drop-down menu.
Click the chevron next to the group category name and select Enroll Users.
Click the check boxes in the group name columns to remove students.
If necessary, use theSearch For field and Show Search Options to find students you want to remove from the groups.
Click Save.

On the navbar, click Instructor Only and select Course Admin.
Click Groups.
Select the group category name from the View Categories drop-down menu.
Click the chevron next to the group category name and select Add Group.
Change the group name, group code or description if necessary.
Click Save.

Group Enrollment Types

The following descriptions explain the enrollment type options when creating a group category to help you decide which type is best to suit your needs.

Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups, for which you can add any number of users using the Enroll Users page.
Use this enrollment type when you know how many groups you want to create and which users you want in each group.

Selecting this option creates the minimum number of groups needed to place users in groups of a specified maximum size. More groups are created when they are needed to accommodate users.
Use this enrollment type when you know how many users you want in each group.

Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups.
Use this enrollment type when you know how many groups you want to create but want the system to place users in groups for you.

Selecting this option creates the minimum number of groups needed to accommodate users in groups of a specified maximum size automatically. Users choose the group they want to enroll in from the Groups page.
Use this enrollment type when you know how many users you want in each group, but you want to allow users to choose their own groups. By default, users cannot self-enroll in more than one group.

Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups, which users enroll in from the Groups page.
Use this enrollment type when you want to make a specific number of groups available for users to join.
By default, users cannot self-enroll in more than one group at one time.

Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups with a specified number of enrollments per group. Users choose the group they want to enroll in from the Groups page.
Use this enrollment type when you know how many users you want in each group, you want to allow users to choose their own groups, and you want each group to have a maximum number of users.

Using this option creates a group with a single user where the first name and last name of the learner is the name of the group. When a new learner is enrolled in the course a group is automatically created for them.

Considerations for Creating Groups

The maximum number of groups in a group category is 200. If you need more that 200 groups, you can create new group categories; there is no limit on the number of group categories in a course.
Users can belong to multiple groups within the same course but cannot self-enroll in more than one group. Instructors can add users to other groups at any time.
Grade members of groups individually or as a team.
Before setting up groups, know how you want to organize them. The following factors can affect how users enroll in groups:
- Setting groups up before or after you've enrolled users.
- Enabling auto-enrollment in groups.
- Enabling randomization of users in groups.
- Enabling self-enrollment in groups.
- The Enrollment Type you choose.
Set up groups after the majority of users enroll in your course. This gives you a better idea of how many users you are organizing and how many groups you need. Setting up groups after enrollment can also ensure better distribution of users between groups.