Groups: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:04, 21 July 2020

Why use groups?

You are a teacher in a course where you have several classes and you want to filter your activities and gradebook so you only see one class at a time.
You are a teacher sharing a course with other teachers and you want to filter your activities and gradebook so you don’t see the students from your colleagues’ classes.
You want to allocate a particular activity, resource or topic section to just one class or set of users and you don’t want others to see it.

How to add groups to courses

This screencast about using groups also highlights the benefits of using groups.

Group levels

Groups settings in course settings

A group or grouping can be used on two levels:

Course level - The group mode defined at the course level is the default mode for all activities defined within that course. To use groups you need first to set a group mode in Administration > Course administration > Edit settings.

Activity level - Each activity that supports groups can also have its own group mode defined. If the course setting "Force group mode" is set to "Yes" then the option to define the group mode for individual activities is not available. If it is set to "No", then the teacher may change the group mode:

Group modes

There are three group modes

No groups - There are no sub groups, everyone is part of one big community
Separate groups - Each group can only see their own group, others are invisible.
Visible groups - Each group works in their own group, but can also see other groups. (The other groups' work is read-only.)

For example, enabling either separate or visible groups on an assignment drop-box enables staff to filter the student submissions to see only those from a particular tutor group. With visible groups, students can see which other groups are doing the same activities as they are; with separate groups, they do not know which other groups are doing the same activities.

Using groups with discussion forums allow teachers to restrict interaction between students. Separate groups mean only students in the same group can see and participate in discussions within a particular forum. Visible groups allow students to see other group's discussions, but only participate in their own group's discussions.

Note: Where visible groups are used or the participant can access all groups, the user's own group is shown first, followed by other groups:

Creating a group

Click the 'Create group' button in Administration > Course administration > Users > Groups
Add a group name and optional description (displayed above the list of group members on the participants page), enrolment key and picture (displayed on the participants page and next to forum posts)
Click the 'Save changes' button
Select the group to which you want to add participants, then click the 'Add/remove users button
In the "Potential members" list, select the users you want to add to the group. Multiple users may be selected using the Crtl key.
Click the Add button to add the users to the group

An optional group ID number (an advanced setting) may be added for matching the group against external systems. Group ID numbers are not displayed anywhere on the site. Within a course, all group ID numbers must be unique. Thus it's not possible to create a group with a duplicate group ID number.

Auto-create groups

Groups may be created automatically via the 'Auto-create groups' button in Administration > Course administration > Users > Groups. To see all the settings, click the Expand all link top right.

General

A naming scheme can be created automatically. # is replaced by sequential numbers, and @ by letters. For example:

Group @ will create group with a naming scheme Group A, Group B, Group C . . .
Group # will create group with a naming scheme Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 . . .

You can specify if you would like to create

x number of Groups or
each group contain x number of students

Prevent last small group

When selecting Members per group, depending on the number of users in the course, the last group can end up with significantly fewer members than expected. You can select Prevent last small group to avoid the situation. If the last group would be smaller than 70% of the expected size, it will not be created. Instead, Moodle will allocate additional members to existing groups rather then create a new group with few members.

Example 1:

You have a course with 80 students and you let auto-create groups with 30 members per group. There would be just 20 students in the third group which is 66% out of expected 30. Moodle will auto-create only two groups with 40 students in each.

Example 2:

You have a course with 81 students and you let auto-create groups with 30 members per group. Moodle will create three groups with 30, 30 and 21 members respectively because 21 is 70% out of expected 30.

Hint: If you need to customize the 70% ratio used in these calculations on your site, ask your administrator to set the constant `AUTOGROUP_MIN_RATIO` in the main config.php.

define('AUTOGROUP_MIN_RATIO', 0.95); // Means the smallest group will have at least 95% of the expected size.

Group members

Select members from ... allows you to choose from roles assigned within the course, available cohorts, groups or groupings. Specify and Group/Member count work together.

The setting 'Select members from cohort' lists all cohorts which users enrolled on the current course are part of. The number in brackets is the number of users enrolled on the course in that cohort.

The 'Ignore users in groups' checkbox should be ticked to only select group members from users that are NOT already in a group in the course.

The 'Include only active enrolments' checkbox provides the option to choose whether to include suspended users in groups. The checkbox is only displayed to users with the capability to view suspended users.

Grouping

Create in grouping and Grouping name allows you to create a new grouping and allocate the new auto-created groups to be created to it.

Prior to creating the groups, you can view the groups.

Restricting an activity, resource or course topic to a particular group

Restricting an activity to a particular group

To be able to restrict an activity, resource or course topic to a group, Restrict access must be enabled. This will result in a 'Restrict access' section in the activity, resource or topic settings and a group restriction can then be added.

Groups and enrol plugins

Where groups are created automatically with enrol plugins such as IMS Enterprise, members cannot be unenrolled manually via the groups screen inside a course. This has to be done from the plugin. Additionally, when group members are owned by a plugin like this, there is information below their name on the groups screen.

Groups overview

A overview of groups and groupings is available via the Overview tab in Administration > Course administration > Users > Groups.

The table may be filtered to display particular groupings or groups and it will also display students who are not in a group:

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Course admin}}
+{{Grouping users}}
-The '''Groups''' feature allows a teacher to assign teachers and students to a group within a course. Participants in a course can belong to more than one group (Moodle 1.6 onwards).  The Groups feature can be applied to an activity, to provide sight or interaction seperation of students.
+==Why use groups?==
+*You are a teacher in a course where you have several classes and you want to filter your activities and gradebook so you only see one class at a time.
-==Groups pre-1.9==
+*You are a teacher sharing a course with other teachers and you want to filter your activities and gradebook so you don’t see the students from your colleagues’ classes.
-The Groups edit page has three columns:
+*You want to allocate a particular activity, resource or topic section to just one class or set of users and you don’t want others to see it.
-* ''People in the course'' - both assigned and unassigned participants.
+{{MediaPlayer | url = https://youtu.be/Gaq1M9-ETtQ | desc = How to add groups to courses}}
-* ''Groups'' - A list of groups available for this course.
+*This [https://youtu.be/pKAFWItexUY screencast about using groups] also highlights the benefits of using groups.
-* ''Members of selected group'' - When you select a group this column will display the members of that group
+==Group levels==
+[[File:groupmodecourse.png|thumb|Groups settings in course settings]]
+A group or grouping can be used on two levels:
-Underneath each column are the options for that column.
+*Course level - The group mode defined at the course level is the default mode for all activities defined within that course.  To use groups you need first to set a group mode in ''Administration > Course administration > Edit settings.''
-[[Image:000.jpg|frame|left|groups administration page]]
+*Activity level - Each activity that supports groups can also have its own group mode defined. If the course  setting "Force group mode" is set to "Yes" then the option to define the group mode for individual activities is not available. If it is set to "No", then the teacher may change the group mode:
-<br style="clear:both;">
-To create new groups, type the group name in the text box and click the adjacent ''Add new group'' button. You can add a description to this group using the ''Edit group settings'' button.
+===Group modes===
-To add a participant(s) to a group you need to select their name in the first column (use shift or ctrl for multiple selections), select the group you wish to add them to from the centre column, and then click the ''Add selected to group ->'' button.
+There are three group modes
-To remove participants from a group, select the appropriate group to view members, select the participants to remove and click the ''Remove selected members'' button.
+*No groups - There are no sub groups, everyone is part of one big community
+*Separate groups - Each group can only see their own group, others are invisible.
+*Visible groups - Each group works in their own group, but can also see other groups. (The other groups' work is read-only.)
-==Group modes==
+For example, enabling either separate or visible groups on an assignment drop-box enables staff to filter the student submissions to see only those from a particular tutor group. With visible groups, students can see which other groups are doing the same activities as they are; with separate groups, they do not know which other groups are doing the same activities.
-The group mode can be defined at two levels:
+Using groups with discussion forums allow teachers to restrict interaction between students. Separate groups mean only students in the same group can see and participate in discussions within a particular forum. Visible groups allow students to see other group's discussions, but only participate in their own group's discussions.
-* Course level - the group mode defined at the course level is the default mode for all activities defined within that course. This is determined in the course [[Settings|settings]]
+'''Note:''' Where visible groups are used or the participant can access all groups, the user's own group is shown first, followed by other groups:
-* Activity level - each activity that supports groups can also have its own group mode defined. If the course  setting "Force group mode" is set to "Yes" then the option to define the group mode for individual activities is not available i.e. there is no Groups icon [[Image:Groupn.gif]] next to activities on the course page.
+[[File:mygroupsfirst.png]]
-There are three group modes:
-;No groups
+==Creating a group==
-:There are no sub groups, everyone is part of one big community.
+#Click the 'Create group' button in ''Administration > Course administration > Users > Groups''
+#Add a group name and optional description (displayed above the list of group members on the participants page), [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] and picture (displayed on the participants page and next to forum posts)
+#Click the 'Save changes' button
+#Select the group to which you want to add participants, then click the 'Add/remove users button
+# In the "Potential members" list, select the users you want to add to the group. Multiple users may be selected using the Crtl key.
+# Click the Add button to add the users to the group
-;Separate groups
+An optional group ID number (an advanced setting) may be added for matching the group against external systems. Group ID numbers are not displayed anywhere on the site. Within a course, all group ID numbers must be unique. Thus it's not possible to create a group with a duplicate group ID number.
-:Each group can only see their own group, others are invisible.
-;Visible groups
+==Auto-create groups==
-:Each group works in their own group, but can also see other groups.
+[[File:autocreategroups.png|thumb|Auto-create groups]]
+Groups may be created automatically via the 'Auto-create groups' button in ''Administration > Course administration > Users > Groups''. To see all the settings, click the ''Expand all'' link top right.
-==Groups in Moodle 1.9 onwards==
+===General===
-{{Moodle 1.9}}
+A '''naming scheme''' can be created automatically.  # is replaced by sequential numbers, and @ by letters.  For example:
+*''Group @'' will create group with a naming scheme Group A, Group B, Group C . . .
+*''Group #'' will create group with a naming scheme Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 . . .
-An attempt to add groupings to Moodle 1.8 was made; however, it was decided to remove this functionality until it can be better tested and integrated with other parts of Moodle (i.e. modules, gradebook, etc.). The initial interface has been modified so that groupings no longer appear as part of the user interface in Moodle 1.8.
+You can specify if you would like to  create
+*x number of Groups or
+*each group contain x number of students
-In Moodle 1.9, the concept of Groupings will be introduced: a way of organizing various groups in a hierarchical structure. While this approach may prove to be more powerful, using groups is no longer as intuitive. For example, a teacher teaches four sections of the same class. The teacher could have 4 groupings (i.e. one for each section). Within those sections the teacher could assign various students to various groups within the groupings.
+=== Prevent last small group ===
-=== How to add students to groups in Moodle 1.9 ===
+When selecting '''Members per group''', depending on the number of users in the course, the last group can end up with significantly fewer members than expected. You can select '''Prevent last small group''' to avoid the situation. If the last group would be smaller than 70% of the expected size, it will not be created. Instead, Moodle will allocate additional members to existing groups rather then create a new group with few members.
-To add students to a group, the teacher must follow these steps.
-# [[Create grouping|Create a grouping]]
-## Click the "Create grouping" button.
-## Enter the "Grouping name" and optionally a description.
-## Click the "Create grouping" button.
-# [[Create group|Create a group]] in the grouping
-## Select the title in "Groupings" that you just created.
-## Click the "Create group in grouping" button.
-## Enter the "Group name" and optionally a description.
-## Optionally, enter an Enrollment key. (If you define a '''group enrolment key''' then not only will entering that key let the user into the course, but it will also automatically make them a member of this group.)
-## Click the "Create group" button.
-# [[Assign users to group|Assign users to the group]].
-## Select the title in "Groups in: Groupings" that you just created
-## Click the "Add/remove users" button.
-## In the "Potential members" list, select the students you want to add to the group.
-## Click the arrow button that points towards the "Existing members" list.
-## That's all
-### Click the "Back to groups" button to return for more editing.
-### Click the "Participants" link to see the participants list and the pull-down menu to see "Separate groups."
-=== Screen shot (Beta Version?)===
+Example 1:
-It looks slightly different now.
+:You have a course with 80 students and you let auto-create groups with 30 members per group. There would be just 20 students in the third group which is 66% out of expected 30. Moodle will auto-create only two groups with 40 students in each.
-[[Image:Groups_screenshot_18.jpg|frame|left|groups administration page]]
+Example 2:
-<br style="clear:both;">
+:You have a course with 81 students and you let auto-create groups with 30 members per group. Moodle will create three groups with 30, 30 and 21 members respectively because 21 is 70% out of expected 30.
-When the user clicks on the Add/Remove users button, they are brought to the [[Assign users to group]] page with a list of the potential users that can be added to the group. The user then has the option of hitting the return button to go back and view the groupings, groups in groupings and the members of the groups.
+Hint: If you need to customize the 70% ratio used in these calculations on your site, ask your administrator to set the constant `AUTOGROUP_MIN_RATIO` in the main config.php.
-===Orphan groups===
+ define('AUTOGROUP_MIN_RATIO', 0.95); // Means the smallest group will have at least 95% of the expected size.
-Groups can be created outside of groupings. A pseudo-grouping is provided as "Not in a grouping", and contains all groups that do not belong to any grouping (i.e. orphan groups). This functionality is there to handle imports of groups from previous versions or other sources. It is advised that all groups created using this interface are created within groupings.
+===Group members===
+''Select members from ...'' allows you to choose from roles assigned within the course, available cohorts, groups or groupings.
+'''Specify''' and '''Group/Member count''' work together.
+The setting 'Select members from cohort' lists all cohorts which users enrolled on the current course are part of. The number in brackets is the number of users enrolled on the course in that cohort.
+The 'Ignore users in groups' checkbox should be ticked to only select group members from users that are NOT already in a group in the course.
+The 'Include only active enrolments' checkbox provides the option to choose whether to include suspended users in groups. The checkbox is only displayed to users with the [[Capabilities/moodle/course:viewsuspendedusers|capability to view suspended users]].
+===Grouping===
+'''Create in grouping''' and '''Grouping name''' allows you to create a new grouping and allocate the new auto-created groups to be created to it.
+Prior to creating the groups, you can view the groups.
+==Restricting an activity, resource or course topic to a particular group==
+[[File:group restriction.png|frame|Restricting an activity to a particular group]]
+To be able to restrict an activity, resource or course topic to a group, [[Restrict access]] must be enabled. This will result in a 'Restrict access' section in the activity, resource or topic settings and a group restriction can then be added.
+==Groups and enrol plugins==
+Where groups are created automatically with enrol plugins such as  IMS Enterprise, members cannot be unenrolled manually via the groups screen inside a course. This has to be done from the plugin. Additionally, when group members are owned by a plugin like this, there is information below their name on the groups screen.
+==Groups overview==
+A overview of groups and groupings is available via the Overview tab in ''Administration > Course administration > Users > Groups''.
+The table may be filtered to display particular [[Groupings|groupings]] or groups and it will also display students who are ''not'' in a group:
+[[File:notinagroup1.png|center]]
+==Groups capabilities==
+*[[Capabilities/moodle/course:managegroups|Manage groups]]
+*[[Capabilities/moodle/site:accessallgroups|Access all groups]]
+*[[Capabilities/moodle/calendar:managegroupentries|Manage group calendar entries]]
 ==See also==
-*[[Groups FAQ]]
+*[[Upload users]] - for importing users into groups
-*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=1490 Using Moodle: Groups] forum
+*[[Enrolment key]]
-[[Category:Groups]]
+[[de:Gruppen]]
+[[es:Grupos]]
 [[fr:Groupes]]
+[[it:Gruppi]]
 [[ja:グループ]]

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