TeamUp

From MoodleDocs

Do you dream of composing groups on the basis of criteria, such as gathering students on the basis of their preference for work topics or mixing students according to their orientation ? The TeamUp activity allows the teacher to define a quiz and compose groups, taking into account student responses.

Watch TeamUp demo video (in French)

The teamup.svg TeamUp activity allows first of all to compose a questionnaire with multiple choice questions with possibility of restrictions on the answers .For example, it is possible to require the student to tick exactly 2 options from the list of available options. The questionnaire is available to students on the opening date and they can respond to it. As soon as the closing date has passed, the teacher can start the group composition using four approaches :

  • group similar individuals;
  • disperse similar individuals;
  • avoid minorities ;
  • balance the skill level (based on a question with numerical options).

Several criteria can be combined to compose the groups and the tool provides a diagnosis on the number of optimal groups.

This module was developed at UCLouvain (Belgium) thanks to a pedagogical development fund.

Create a TeamUp activity

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When you create a teamup.svg TeamUP activity, you must specify the following parameters:

  • a title and an introduction to the activity;
  • an opening date from which students will be able to answer the questionnaire (as a result, the questions then can not be modified when this date is passed);
  • a closing date from which student responses will no longer be allowed;
  • the parameter "Allow updating of answers" specifies whether you allow students to modify their answers during the opening period of the questionnaire;

Create a distribution criteria questionnaire

Go to the Questionnaire tab to build the multiple-choice questions that will allow students to provide useful information for group composition.

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Type your question and define the associated restrictions on the possible answers :

  • none : the student can select any number of options, or none at all;
  • at least one check mark : the student must select at least one option;
  • exactly 1 check mark : the student must select one and only one option;
  • exactly 2 check marks : the student must select exactly 2 options;
  • exactly 3 check marks : the student must select exactly 3 options.
  • ...

When your questionnaire is finalized, you can preview it via the Preview Questionnaire tab .

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For example, your questions may include the time range for student availability for group meetings (to group them), their curriculum (to mix), their gender (to avoid minorities), their preference thematic (to group them), on their average score over the past year exam (to balance the level of the groups), ...

If you want your students to select several options from a list, for example to choose a discussions theme, we advise you to avoid questions that require you to make hierarchical choices (first choice, second choice, ... ). This type of question has two disadvantages :

  • we can not prevent a student from making the same choice 3 times and the algorithm can only attribute this choice to him;
  • the criteria based on hierarchical choices are very restrictive for the distribution algorithm, so that optimal groups are difficult to obtain and, therefore, an unfair distribution for the students.

Publish the questionnaire and collect student responses

When your questionnaire is ready, you can change its opening date to make it accessible to students. Do not hesitate to invite your students to answer the questionnaire by using the Moodle Annoucements.

You will be able to observe the answers evolution via the Compose groups tab : the students who answered are shown in blue while the students who have not yet responded are displayed in red .

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If some students do not answer the questionnaire, it do not block the groups composition. They are then randomly placed to complete the groups and you can also move them manually.

Generate groups

When students have completed the quiz, go to the Group Composition tab to start group assisted forming. You can eliminate students who have not responded if desired.

Warning ! Group composition is done in several attempts and iterations that are displayed in the Preview tab . The results at each iteration are partly from random draws. You will not get exactly the same result after each iteration. No groups are created in Moodle until you click the Create Groups button in Moodle at the bottom of the page .

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Define the naming scheme for your groups and the number of groups

The naming scheme may use #, @ or * :

  • "Group #" will create by default groups labelled "Group 1", "Group 2", "Group 3", ...
  • "Group @" will create groups labelled "Group A", "Group B", "Group C", ...
  • If you use a criterion to group similar individuals, you can bring up the associated option in the group name by using the "*" character , example of recommended group naming scheme: "Group # - *". Think to set quite short options for this criterion to avoid too long group names.

Choose the number of groups to have clear indications on how restrictive the criteria are for this number of groups.

Define the criteria (begin with grouping)

When multiple criteria are used to compose the groups, make sure to first place the Group similar individuals criteria as they are more restrictive.

When dispersing similar individuals, thik all options you want to disperse.

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When avoiding minorities, if the allocation is only to be made on the basis of some of the options offered, tick these options.

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In this example, if you want to avoid minorities of man and minorities of woman, you will have to add 2 "avoid minorities" criterion, one with "man" option thicked, ans an other with "woman" option thicked.

The Balancing Level criterion is only available for questions whose options are numbers (such as mote for a past exam); the algorithm then tries to compose groups to have equivalent average level. Note that for each added criterion, you have a some indications about the repartition feasability in the blue block.

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Note that it is possible to reorder criteria through drag and drop, to delete a criterion, to edit a criterion options trough double clicking it, but it is not (yet) possible to edit a criterion question. If you want to modify a criterion question, you have (for the moment) to delete it a to make a new criterion.

Eliminate some participants if wanted

IMAGE If you want to eliminate certain students from the composition of the groups ("ghost" students, dispensed, ...), click on the cross next to their name to make them disappear from the composition.


Iterate some previews

IMAGE (gif anime) Launch a preview of the groups and consult the report on the number of optimal groups (in green); the composition of the groups is based in part on a random draw, which is why we suggest you to revive preview several times to get an idea of ​​what's possible with your criteria; modify the criteria if they are too restrictive.

Optimize groups

IMAGE When your groups are approaching an ideal composition, you can try different actions to optimize them :

  • optimize : generates some trips to improve compliance with the criteria;
  • equalize : rebalances the size of groups after moves;
  • move manually : trough simple drag and drop, you can also move a student from one group to another;

Do not hesitate to repeat these operations several times if necessary: ​​if the composition obtained does not satisfy you, you can empty the groups and start again by clicking on the reset button .

Create groups

IMAGE When you get a good group composition, press the Create Groups button; you must associate a grouping name, that is, a series name for these groups; grouping allows you to easily create Moodle activities targeting the associated groups, it is essential as soon as the students are divided into several groups.

Control groups exist

You can verify that the group composition has been done by accessing the Overview tab of the page: Course Administration> Users> Groups via this same page, you can delete a series of groups created by mistake via the Groups tab (select groups then click on the "Delete" button); If you are testing multiple group compositions, make sure you change the group definition scheme (Group #, Group @, ..) at each test to easily delete the desired groups. After composing groups, you can download a report containing the groups and student responses through Export tab to the Team UP activity.

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Perfection is not always possible

Note that, depending on student responses, it may happen that no group composition is perfectly optimal. Manual adaptations can sometimes help to balance groups, but in some cases it is impossible to obtain validation of all criteria . Then save a partially optimal composition or possibly test another composition by lightening your criteria.