How to Create Groups

You can use the Groups tool to arrange your students into groups for assignments, discussions, and activities, or to group your students by section when two course sections are merged into one. Groups should not be used for accommodations as all students will be able to see group members. To create a group assignment, first create the groups and then create/edit the assignment in the Assignments tool, selecting Group Assignment and then the Group Category that you have made for that assignment.

To create your groups:

  1. Open your course site in Brightspace.
  2. From the Navbar, go to Course Tools  and select Groups. If you removed Groups from your Course Tools, click Course Admin and you will find Groups there.
    Click Course Tools to see drop-down menu and click Groups
  3. Click New Category. A category organizes your groups of students so you can have different groupings of students from different purposes. For example, if you would like to change group members between different assignments, you can create a category named Assignment 1 and another called Assignment 2 so that the groups are different for each assignment. If you do not need different groups for different assessments or learning activities, simply create only one category.
    New Category button
  4. Fill in the Category Name and an optional Description.
  5. Select the desired Enrolment Type.
    Screenshot of group types:
# of Groups - No Auto Enrolments
Groups of #
# of Groups
Groups of # - Self Enrolment
# of Groups - Self Enrolment
# of Groups, Capacity of # - Self Enrolment
Single User, member-specific groups

# of Groups–No Auto Enrollments: This option creates a specified number of groups, for which you can add any number of users manually

Groups of #: This option creates a minimum number of groups needed to place users in groups of a specified maximum size. User can be auto enrolled or manually enrolled.

# of Groups : This option creates a specified number of groups. Learners can be auto enrolled or manually enrolled.

Groups of # – Self Enrollment : Similar to second group type; however, learners can enroll themselves into groups.

# of Groups – Self Enrollment : Similar to third group type; however, learners can enroll themselves into groups.

# of Groups, Capacity of #  - Self Enrollment : This option creates a specified number of groups with a specified number of enrollments per group. Learners can enroll themselves.

Single user, member-specific groups : 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. This is mostly used to create a journal type groups with a single member.

  1. Depending on the enrolment type selected, you may need to enter the number of users and/or groups.
  2. Restrict Enrollments To*: Use this option to create subgroups within an existing group.
  3. Group Prefix: Use this option to modify group prefix (i.e., write “Team” to have the first group called "Team 1" instead of "Group 1")
  4. Advanced Group Options: What appears here will depend on what was selected in step 5.
    1. Auto-Enrol New Users: When new users are enrolled in the course after groups are set up, they are automatically added to the group with the fewest users.
    2. Randomize users in groups: Selecting this option enrolls users in a random order. Clearing this option enrolls users based on their order in the classlist.
      Example of students enrolled into 3 groups by classlist order:

Student A in Group 1
Student B in Group 2
Student G in Group 3
Student J in Group 1
Student T in Group 2
Student Z in Group 3

  1. Make category and group descriptions visible to group members: Students will be able to see the Category Name and whatever you entered into the Description text box.
    Advance Properties Groups Options
Check boxes for Auto-Enrol New Users, Randomize users in Groups and Make category and group descriptions visible to group members.
  2. Set Self Enrollment Start Date: Users will be able to see the available groups, but unable to self-enroll prior to the start date, or after the expiry date. Manual enrollment by the instructor can occur at any time. Not choosing a date means the group is available for enrollment at any time after creation.
  3. Set Self Enrollment Expiry Date: Users will be able to see the available groups, but unable to self-enroll prior to the start date, or after the expiry date. Manual enrollment by the instructor can occur at any time. Not choosing a date means the group is available for enrollment at any time after creation.
  4. Allocate unenrolled users after Self Enrollment Expiry Date: This control will automatically and randomly assign students to a group if they are not already assigned by the expiry date provided. Capacity will be ignored.
    Advance Properties
Groups Options
Check boxes for Set Self Enrollment Start Date, Set Self Enrollment Expiry Date, and Allocate unenrolled users after Self Enrollment Expiry Date
  5. Additional Options - Create Workspace: You can choose to create group-specific assignments (a different assignment for each group), provide lockers for the group members to share documents, and group discussion areas.
    1. Discussion Areas provide a discussion space for each group using a new or already created forum.  Users in the group can create new topics to discuss with their group.
    2. Lockers provide a place to store all the group’s files and documents.
    3. Assignments allows for assignments to be assigned to either all users of a group, or to individual users.  (If everyone/every group in the class is completing the same assignment, leave this unchecked and edit the assignment in the Assignments tool and change the Assignment Type to Group Assignment instead of Individual Assignment in the Submission & Completion area.)
      Screenshot of Create Workspace options with check boxes for Set up discussion areas, set up lockers, and Set up assignments.
  6. Click the Save button to finalize all the selected options.  You will see a chart of your groups and the selections made.
    Title: Group Information - Description: Lists all the groups, member count, and any assignments, discussions, or lockers associated with them.

If you have created multiple categories of groups, select the one you’d like to edit or manage in the View Categories drop-down menu, then click on the chevron next to the name of the category to view the pop-up. Select the appropriate action from the pop-up.

Screenshot of manage categories page

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