Creating and Using Groups in Moodle

Summary

Groups have a variety of uses in Moodle. It can provide a collaborative learning environment, break up a combined course roster into the invidividual courses, or provide exclusive content to some of the students. 

Understanding Groups and Groupings

A group in Moodle is a selection of students. This may be for a group project, a specific section in a combined course, or randomized. Commonly several groups are created to portion every student into one of the various groups. While rare cases do exist where a student should be left out of any group, it is encouraged for every student to be part of a group when groups are used. This, at a minimum, shows intentionality for which group the student should exist if an issue arises. 

There are times when students need to belong to several groups. Perhaps there are two group projects during a course, and an intentional decision has been made where the students should not work with the same other students twice. When students exist in multiple groups, groupings need to be used. A grouping will define to Moodle which groups go together. Per the previous example, it may be that the first half groups are titled Group 1, Group 2, etc., and our second half groups are titled Group A, Group B, etc. When the Moodle activity is told that groups are being used, Moodle will see that students are in multiple groups and be unsure how to proceed. By creating a grouping defining all Group # together, Moodle will then be able to understand that the Group # apply.

Creating Groups

To create a group in Moodle:

1. In the Moodle course, click on the Participants tab at the top of the course.
2. Click on the drop down in the upper right, and select Groups. This page will show any currently existing groups.
3. Click on Create group.
4. Provide a Group name. The other fields are not required, but feel free to experiment. Click on Save changes. 
5. Repeat steps 1-4 as necessary until all groups have been made.

Alternatively:

1. In the Moodle course, click on the Participants tab at the top of the course.
2. Click on the drop down in the upper right, and select Groups. This page will show any currently existing groups.
3. Click on Auto-create groups.
4. Create a naming scheme such as Group #. This will create Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, etc.
5. Figure out how many groups are needed. This can be calculated based on X students per group or X number of groups. Moodle will behave slightly differently depending on which is selected. For example, if there are 7 students with 3 desired groups, Moodle will create 3 groups with one group having 3 students. Alternatively, if there are 7 students with a desired member count of 2, Moodle will create 4 groups with one group having 1 student. 
6. When auto-creating groups, it is most common for members to be allocated randomly, though other options are available. 
7. A Grouping can also be created at the same time under the Grouping settings.
8. Click Submit

Editing Groups

Editing a group means to update the group settings, not update group membership. To edit a group, select a group from the list of groups and click on Edit group settings. This will bring up the same list of options when creating a group.

A group can be deleted by selecting the group and then clicking Delete selected group. Shift or control clicking allows for the deletion of several groups at the same time. 

Group Membership

Group membership can always be updated. If a group was freshly made, it will have 0 students. To add or remove students from a group, select the group from the list and click on Add/remove users. This will bring up a menu that allows you to transfer students from the left side to the right or vice versa. Students on the left are included in the group. By shift or control clicking, several students can be added or removed at the same time. After updating a group membership, click on Back to Groups at the bottom of the page. 

Group membership can also be updated from the Enrolled users page under the Participants tab. Each user will show in which group(s) they are included with a pencil icon to the right. Clicking on the pencil icon will allow the ability to remove existing groups or adding new groups by searching for them. When the changes have been made, click on the floppy disk icon to save. 

Groupings

Groupings are only required when a student exists in multiple groups. To access the grouping menu: while under the Participants tab, click on the drop down menu in the upper right and choose Groupings. Any existing groupings will be listed on the page. To create a new grouping, click on Create grouping; define a grouping name and click save changes. This will need to be done for each grouping required. To add groups to a grouping: click on the small person logo on the far right for the grouping; this brings up a similar menu as adding students to a group. Finalize the list and click on Back to groupings. No group should be in multiple groupings. 

Using Groups for Forums

Now that groups (and groupings) exist in the course, Moodle can be told which activities will need to use groups. 

To enable groups (groupings) in a forum after the groups (groupings) have been made:

1. Navigate to the forum activity settings
2. Under Common module settings, change Group mode to Separate groups. Separate groups are encouraged as students in Group 1 will only see posts from other students in Group 1. This is easier for the student than Visible groups as students in Group 1 are only allowed to respond to other students in Group 1.  
   1. If using groupings, define which grouping will be utilized. If each student is only in one group, groupings are not required. 
3. Click save at the bottom. 

When in the forum, a new drop down settings is available right below Add discussion topic for the instructor. This drop down enables a filter for a chosen group. 

Using Groups for Assignments

Moodle can also do group submissions for assignments. Group submissions mean that only one student needs to upload the assignment for a group. All other students in the group will be able to see the submission and submisison time. When grading, one grade will be given to all students in the group. If you wish to assign grades separately, the group submission settings in Moodle should not be used. 

To enable groups (groupings) in an assignment:

1. Navigate to the assignment activity settings
2. Under Group submission settings, change Students submit in groups to Yes. 
   1. While uncommon, there is an option to enforce each group member clicking submit which would indicate a sign off on the work completed. Change Require group to make submission and Require all group members submit to Yes. 
   2. Define a grouping if needed.
3. Click save at the bottom.

The group settings under Common module settings do not enforce a group mode for assignments. Rather, they provide a filter for the instructor to filter out students by group. 

Using Groups for the Gradebook

Moodle can provide the group filter for the gradebook as well. This is particularly useful when combining multiple sections into the same course. The gradebook can then be sorted to only see students from section 1 instead of all students. 

To enable groups for the gradebook:

1. Click on Settings in the tabs across the top
2. Under Groups, change Group mode to Separate.
   1. Force group mode will update all assignments and forums to use the same group mode settings. 
   2. Define a grouping if needed.
3. Click save at the bottom. 

With that complete, a filter will appear above the Grader report to filter by group.