Category: Manage Participants

Groups and Groupings are closely related but fundamentally allow for different functions within Edspora.

• Group – A combination of individual students working together on the same project/assignment in a collaborative model.
• Grouping – A collection of groups. A Grouping also provides a way to segregate Groups from each other within the same course or activity so their interaction is restricted or non-existent. A grouping can also be assigned to a particular assignment. If you plan on using multiple sets of groups in your class, groupings allow you to keep certain groups together depending on what kinds of activities you want the students in those groups to do. This is ideal for when you want students to be in multiple groups throughout the semester.

Groups can be auto-generated or manually created.  Regardless of the method used, groups primarily function in one of two ways:

• Each student in a group submits individually – Each student will make their own submission(s) and will not be able to interact or see other student’s postings. If you want students to be able to see each other’s work, consider using another type of activity.
• A group of students works together to make a common assignment submission – If you want students in a group to make a common submission that represents their joint work. The group submission will not be visible to other groups. If you want students to be able to see each other’s work, consider using another type of activity.

Groups can be used at two levels:

• Course level – The use of groups can set for the course level making it the default mode for all activities created within that course. 
• Activity level – Each activity that supports groups (such as Forums and Assignments) can also define its own use of groups.

To learn how to create and modify groups, check out the article: How To: Create and Manage Groups and Groupings.

Group scenarios and options

Create Groups with students working on the same assignment:
Do you want to break students into multiple groups to complete same assignment? (for example both Group 1 & Group 2: write a paper on the same topic)
Do you want students to able to access/view the assignment of the other group(s)?

• Yes, choose Visible groups.
• No, choose Separate groups.

If you set the group mode of an assignment to separate groups, Edspora will automatically create an assignment for each group. Each student will see the same link to the assignment. However, a student in a group will only be able to access the assignment in his particular group. (Note: The use of groups assumes the same assignment to each group.)

Create Groups with different assignments:
Do you want to break students into multiple groups to complete different assignments? (for example, Group 1: write annotated bibliography and Group 2: write abstract to the research paper)
Do you want students to able to access (view only) the assignment for the other group’s assignment?

• Yes, choose Visible groups.
• No, choose Separate groups.

Then:

• Create a Grouping for Group 1 only.
• Create a Grouping for Group 2 only.

Create a discussion forum with one topic:
Do you want to break students into multiple groups to discuss the exact same topic? (for example, both Group 1 & Group 2: Discuss which can jump higher, the dog flear or the cat flea)
Do you want students to able to view the posts of the other group?

• If Yes, choose Visible groups.
• If No, choose Separate groups.

Create a graded discussion forum with multiple topics:
Do you want to break students into multiple groups to discuss different topics? (for example, Group 1: Traditional mass transit, Group 2: Bicycles as mass transit)

To accomplish this goal, first create a single Forum, and then post/create multiple topics within that forum and in the process assign each topic to a particular group. A single forum with multiple topics allows you to have a single item/assignment in the Gradebook.

An alternate way in which to have multiple topics is to have multiple forums and assign each forum to a group. However, the downside of this is that you will have (for example) two forums but since the class participants are divided into two groups, half the class will receive a grade in Forum 1 only and the other half of the class will receive a grade in Forum 2 only. This leaves students with a grade of “0” in one of the course assignments which can be confusing from the student’s point of view. For this reason, we suggest that if you are grading the Forum, you create a single Forum and then multiple topics inside the forum. 

Instructors can use Group modes to control how groups of students interact with an activity and what students can see from other groups.

Group Mode Options

Edspora has three Group modes available for individual activities, or as course-wide settings. The chart below illustrates how each mode works.

• No groups – There are no groups. In collaborative spaces such as Forums or Wikis, all class members can participate in the activity.
• Visible Groups – Group members interact with their own group, but can also view work from other groups (e.g, students can read, but not reply to another group’s Forum posts).
• Separate Groups – Group members can only see activity made within their own group. 

Set a default Group Mode for your course

Instructors can set the default group mode for activities within the course in the course settings. When you set the default for the entire course, each activity will show the default mode; however, you can still change the group mode for individual activities.
Note: To view your gradebook filtering by group, you must choose either “Visible Groups” or “Separate Groups” as your default Group mode.

1. On your course page, in the Administration block, click Edit settings. The Edit course settings page will open.
2. Click on the Groups heading to view and adjust group settings.
3. From the Group mode drop-down menu, choose a default group setting: No groups, Separate groups, or Visible groups.
4. (Optional) To always use the same group mode for every activity in the course, set the Force group mode drop-down menu to Yes. 
   Important! If the group mode is forced, the mode is applied to every activity in the course, and Group mode settings for individual activities will be ignored. Only force the group mode if you are certain you will use the same group mode for every activity.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.

To learn more about Groups and Groupings, please check out: Overview: Groups and Groupings in Edspora.

Opening the Groups page

1. On your course page, select Course Management, the Course Management panel will open.
2. In the Course Administration block in the left sidebar, click on Users and then click on Groups in the submenu.
3. There are three options for group creation.
   • Create groups manually, assigning by section
   • Auto create groups randomly.
   • Import groups can create your group from a spreadsheet.

Creating a Group at the course level

1. On the Groups page, click Create group. The Create group page will open.
2. For Group name, enter a name (required), and for Group description, enter a description (optional).
3. Click Save changes to create the group. You will be returned to the Groups page where your new Group will be listed in the left column, with (0) indicating the number of students in the group.

Add & modify group members

1. On the Groups page, under Groups(left column), click the group name. The group name will be highlighted, and the Members of… column (at right), will list any course members who have already been added to the group.
2. Below the Members of… column (at right), click Add/remove users. The Add/remove users page will open.
3. On the Add/remove users page, the left column lists current group members and the right column lists potential group members.
4. To Add students to a group: In the Potential members column (at right), click a Student name to highlight it.
   •  To select multiple members, hold down the CTRL (Win) or Command (Mac)key while you click.
   •  If you don’t see the student names you’re looking for, use the search bar at the bottom of the column.
   • Once you’ve selected the names you want to add, click Add to move students into the group. The students’ names will be added to the Group members list (at left) and will no longer appear on the Potential members list.
5. To remove students from a group: In the Group members column (at left), click student names, or to select multiple names, press CTRL – click (Win) or Command – click (Mac), then click Remove. The names will be removed from the group and returned to the Potential members column.
6. When you are finished modifying the group members, click Back to groups.

Auto-Creating Groups

The Auto-create groups function quickly assigns your students to multiple groups and includes the option to randomize group membership.

To use Auto-create groups:

1. On the groups page, click Auto-create groups. The Auto-create groups page will open.
2. For Naming scheme, enter the group name you would like to use for your groups. Edspora will automatically generate names based on what you enter.
   • An “@” sign will generate a letter (e.g., “Group @” will generate Group A, Group B, Group C)
   • A “#” sign will generate a number (e.g., “Group #” will generate Group 1, Group 2, Group 3)
3. From the Auto create based on drop-down menu, choose how you want to divide your students:
   • Number of groups will form groups based on the total number of groups you select
   • Members per group will form groups based on the number of members you want in a group
   • Use student names can be used if you are creating groups of one.Note: If you selectMembers per group, under the Group members settings, check Prevent last small group. If a remaining group is less than the size you set, Edspora will place these members into other groups (preventing a group of 1 student).
4. For Group/member count(required), enter the number of members you would like in each group (If creating a group based on Course member names, enter 1).
5. Under the Group members settings, from the Select members with role drop-down menu, choose whether to include only students or course members with other roles.
6. From the Allocate members drop-down menu, select how you want group members to be assigned to groups. The default setting is Randomly. You can also sort alphabetically by First name, Last name, or ID number.
7. (Optional) To create new groups within a Grouping (a group of groups, useful for assigning the same activity to multiple groups), under the Grouping settings, use the Grouping of auto-created groups drop-down menu. To create your groups within an existing grouping, select the name of that grouping, otherwise, select New grouping. 
8. Click Preview to see a preview of the groups at the bottom of the page. If you are satisfied, click Submit.

Creating Groups through Import

Before you can import groups, you must first prepare a text file containing a list of groups that you want to create. The group list has required fields needed in order for the import to be successful. The file must include “groupname” as a field, and can optionally include “description”. 

Preparing the Group file

1. Open Excel and create a new worksheet by clicking File > New Workbook.
2. In cell A1 enter “groupname” (case sensitive).
3. Optional: In cell B1 enter “description” (case sensitive).
4. In the rows that follow, enter names and descriptions for each of the groups (descriptions should be short with no commas).
5. To save your file, click File > Save As. In the Format drop-down menu, change the file format to Comma Separated Values (.csv). Enter a name for your file, then click Save. 

Importing the Group from a file

1. On the Groups page, click Import groups. The Import groups page will open.
2. Click Choose a file. The File Picker pop-up window will open.
3. In the File Picker pop-up window, click Upload a file. Then, click Choose File to select the CSV file from your computer. Once you select the file, the name will appear next to the Attachment box. Click Upload this file. The File Picker pop-up window will close and you will see the file listed on the Import groups page.
4. Click Import groups. The import process will begin and a confirmation page will open.
5. If your import is not successful, check your CSV file and ensure that the column headings are correct. Also, if you included groups descriptions, considering shortening them and removing any commas.

Creating a Grouping

1. On your course page, select Course Management, the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under User Links, select Manage groups. The Groups page will open.
3. Click the Groupings tab. The Groupings page will open.
4. Click Create grouping. The Create grouping page will open.
5.  Enter a name for the grouping and description (optional), then click Save changes.  The Groupings page will open and you will see the new grouping listed.

Adding Groups to a Grouping

Before you can add Groups to a Grouping, you must first create the Groups.

1. On your course page, select Course Management, the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under User Links, select Manage groups. The Groups page will open.
3. Click the Groupings tab. The Groupings page will open.
4. To add groups to the grouping, in the edit column, click the Show groups icon. The Add/remove groups page will open.
5. On the Add/remove groups page, click the names of the group(s) you want to add to the grouping from the Potential members list. Selected names will be highlighted.  To select multiple groups at once, hold the CTRL Key (Command for Mac) and click. 
6. Click Add to add the groups. Added groups will appear under Existing members. 
7. Click Back to groupings. The group(s) you added to the grouping will now be listed in the table on the Groupings page.

Existing groupings can be edited and/or deleted using the appropriate icons in the edit column of the table on the groupings page. If you delete a grouping, the groups inside it will not be deleted.

Creating Groupings using auto-create Groups

If you use Auto-create groups, you can assign the groups automatically to groupings that already exist, or you can create new groupings at the same time as you create the new groups. 

1. On your course page, select Course Management, the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under User Links, select Manage groups. The Groups page will open.
3. Click Auto-create groups. The Auto-create groups page will open.
4. Enter the information for your groups.
5. Under the Grouping heading, for Grouping of auto-created groups:
   • To create a new grouping for the groups, select New grouping from the drop-down menu, then in the Group name field, enter a name 
   • To use an existing grouping for the new groups, select the name of the grouping you want to use from the drop-down menu
6. Click Submit. This will create your groups and save them to the selected grouping. You will be returned to the Groups page.

Edspora’s Quickmail feature allows you to send emails to one or more of your students. These email messages are sent automatically to the recipients’ NCU email via BCC (recipients will not see other recipients’ email addresses). Users of Quickmail can also add attachments, create signatures, save drafts, and review a history of previously sent emails.

To learn more about Quickmail, see Overview: The Quickmail Block in Edspora.

Preliminary Steps

1. In the top right corner of the course page, select the Turn editing on button.
2. You will see a new block called Add a block on the very bottom of your course, on the lower left side of the screen. Open this drop down menu and select Quickmail from this list of options.

Composing a New Email

1. Locate your new Quickmail block and select the Compose New Email link (default location will be at the bottom of the page).
2. On the right side of this screen, in the Potential Recipients section, click on a user’s name to highlight it.
   • If you wish to select multiple users in the Potential Recipients section, highlight a name and hold down the Ctrl key while selecting another name. Keep holding the Ctrl key until you’ve selected all of your users.
3. Once you’ve highlighted all your intended users, select the Add button to move the user(s) to the Selected Recipients area on the left.
4. Scroll down and enter a title for your email in the Subject text box.
5. Type out your email in the Message area.
6. If you are using an email signature, select it from the drop down menu underneath the message area.
7. If you’d like to receive a copy of this message to be sent to your email, select the Yes option in the Receive a copy area.
8. If you are ready to send the message, select Send Email. If you’d like to save this message for another time, select the Save Draft button.

Creating a Signature

A signature is an “email footer” attached to the bottom of each email you create. This is not required to utilize the Quickmail feature.

1. Locate the Quickmail block on your course page and select the Signatures link.
2. Type out a title for your new signature in the Title text box.
3. In the Signature area, create your email signature text. You may use the formatting toolbar to add color, images, or hyperlinks.
4. If you’d like this to be your default signature select the Default check box.Select the Save changes button to save your email signature. When you create a new message, you will always have the ability to choose a different signature.   
5. Select the Save changes button to save your email signature.

Instructors can use the Announcements Forum in Edspora to send important notifications to students. All messages posted in the Announcements Forum are automatically sent to each student’s email, and students cannot unsubscribe from these notifications.

Read more about Announcement/Forum behavior and Edspora Quickmail

• How To: Manage Email Notifications in Edspora for Instructors
• Overview: Communication Tools in Edspora
• How To: Edit your Edspora Profile and Preferences

Students are unable to reply within the Announcements Forum, but can still read posted messages. Attachments to forum posts are not included in email notifications but can be accessed from the Edspora course directly. 

Posting an announcement

1. On your course page, click the Announcements link. The Announcements page will open, showing the description you provided when you set up the activity, and if any posts have been made, they will be listed here. If no topics or posts have been added, you’ll see a message “(No news has been posted yet.)”On the next page, click the Add a new topic button  
2. Enter a Subject and a Message (both are required).
3. If subscription is set to Optional in the forum’s settings, you can use the Subscription drop-down menu to choose whether or not to receive email copies of posts made to this forum. (This will affect you, not your students.)
4. You may choose to add an attachment.
5. Select the Mail now checkbox if you do not want the standard 30-minute delay before subscribers receive an email.
6. Select the Pinned checkbox if you want to highlight your Post to be at the top of your Announcements list.
7. Click Post to forum to post your message. A “success” message appears. Click Continue to return to the Announcements forumpage. 

Edit announcements settings

1. On your course page, click Turn editing on (at top right). Editing icons and links will appear next to editable items.
2. Locate the Announcements forum, click Edit (at right), then select Edit Settings. The Updating Forum page will open.
3. To rename the activity from Announcements, in the Forum name box, enter a new name.
4. To add a description, enter text in the Description box, and to have the description display on the course page under the Announcements link, select the checkbox for Display description on course page.
5. To change whether class members receive emails of posts, click to open Subscription and tracking, and from the Subscription mode drop-down, select a new option: 
   • Optional subscription – Participants can choose whether to be subscribed. 
   • Forced subscription (Default) – Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe. 
   • Auto subscription – Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time. 
   • Subscription disabled – Subscriptions are not allowed..
6. Read tracking allows your course members to see a highlighted message next to the forum if they have unread posts. The default setting is Optional.
7. The remaining settings are common to all forums but not useful for Announcements and can be ignored.
8. To save your changes, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Save and return to course.

Delete Announcements

If you want to delete Announcements from your course, you must first remove the Latest news block, otherwise Announcements link will automatically regenerate after you delete it.

1. On your course page, click Turn editing on. The page will refresh showing editing icons and links.
2. On the Latest news block, click the Edit icon and select X Delete Latest news block. When asked if you are sure you want to delete this block, click Yes. The page will refresh and the block will no longer be in your course.
3. To the right of Announcements, click Edit , then select X Delete. A Confirm pop-up will open asking if you are sure you want to delete the forum; click Yes. The page will refresh and the forum will no longer be in your course.

Replace a deleted announcements forum

If you ever want the Announcements forum back in your course, you’ll find out that Announcements is the only Edspora activity that does not appear in the Add an activity or resource menu! To recover your Announcements:

1. You must first add the Latest news block back to your course
2. In the Latest news block click Add a new topic… . The Announcements forum will automatically reappear in the top section of your course whether you click Post forum or click Cancel.