Teachers/Course Directors - EDSPORA

Overview: Groups and Groupings in Edspora

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.

How To: Set up and Use Group Modes in Edspora

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.

On your course page, in the Administration block, click Edit settings. The Edit course settings page will open.
Click on the Groups heading to view and adjust group settings.
From the Group mode drop-down menu, choose a default group setting: No groups, Separate groups, or Visible groups.
(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.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.

How To: Add Quiz Activity in Edspora

A Quiz in Edspora is a powerful and adaptive activity that instructors can customize in numerous ways. This page explains how to add a Quiz activity to your course and reviews the many options you can set for delivering a quiz and providing feedback, for example, how many times it may be attempted, and whether students see feedback immediately or only after the quiz is closed.

This article covers creating a Quiz activity and setting the options available on the activity settings page. Once you have added the quiz you must open it to add questions. .

Add a Quiz Activity

On your course page, select Turn editing on. Links and icons will appear on the page.
Locate the Section where you will add the Quiz. (If you are using the Collapsed topics format, open the Section.)
At the bottom-right of the Section, select + Add an activity or resource. The Activity chooser will open.
In the Activity chooser, select Quiz. The activities will be listed in the alphabetical order and a description will be displayed at right.
Select Add. The Adding a new Quiz page will open.
Configure settings for the Quiz. For detailed information on these options, see Overview: Configure Quiz Options.
At the bottom of the page, click Save and display.

Configuring a quiz activity

Quizzes in Edspora have extensive configuration options. Read more about these configuration options in the article Overview: Configure Quiz Options.

How To: Add or Edit Questions in a Edspora Quiz

This article explains how to add new questions to a Edspora Quiz that has already been added to your course. You will not be able to add Quiz questions once the Quiz activity has been attempted.

Add a New Question to a Quiz

On your course page, click the Quiz name. The Quiz summary page will open.
On the Quiz summary page, select the Actions menu, a drop-down list will open. From this list select Edit quiz. The Editing quiz page will open. If the Quiz already contains questions, they will be listed here.
Click Add (at far right, top or bottom) and from the drop-down menu, select + a new question. The Choose a question type to add pop-up opens.
In the Choose a question type to add pop-up, select a question type and click Add. The Adding a question page will open.
Note: A description of each question type is available in the right column of the Adding a question window. The description appears automatically once you choose the question type.
On the Adding a [question type] question page, if you plan to organize questions in categories, select a category from the drop-down list for Category (by default, questions are added to the Default for Course category).
Enter a Question name (students do not see it) and Question text (students do see this), and set a value for the Default points (maximum points available).
Configure the question according to the question type.
Click Save changes. You will be returned to the Editing quiz page and the new question will be listed.
To preview the question click the Preview icon. The question will open in a pop-up window.

Add Questions to a Quiz from the Question Bank

On your course page, click the Quiz name. The Quiz summary page will open.
On the Quiz summary page, select the Actions menu, a drop-down list will open. From the Action menu drop-down list select Edit quiz. The Editing quiz page will open. If the Quiz already contains questions, they will be listed here.
On the Editing quiz page, click Add (at far right) and from the drop-down menu select + from question bank. The Add from the question bank… pop-up will open.
In the Add from the question bank… pop-up, from the Select a category drop-down menu, select the category from which to add questions to the Quiz. The list of questions within that category will appear.
You can add questions to the quiz in any of the following ways:
- To add a single question to the Quiz, click the Add icon (+) located before the question name. You will be returned to the Editing quiz page and the question you added will be listed.
- To add multiple questions, select the checkboxes (left of the question), then click Add selected questions to quiz (at bottom). You will be returned to the Editing quiz page and the questions you added will be listed.
To preview a question click the Preview icon. The question will open in a pop-up window.

Add Random Questions to a Quiz from the Question Bank

Note: To successfully add random questions to a quiz you must have enough unused questions in your question bank to avoid reusing questions already added to the quiz. A question can only appear once in any quiz, so the more questions in the category you are drawing from, it is more likely for students to receive different questions on each attempt. When a quiz with random questions is retaken, the random questions will be different from the ones in previous attempts.

On your course page, click the Quiz name. The Quiz summary page will open.
On the Quiz summary page, select the Actions menu, a drop-down list will open. From the Action menu drop-down list select Edit quiz. The Editing quiz page will open. If the Quiz already contains questions, they’ll be listed here.
Click Add (at far right), and from the drop-down menu select + a random question. The Add a random question window will open.
In the Add a random question window, under Existing category, use the Category drop-down menu to select the category from which to draw questions.
From the Number of random questions drop-down menu, select the number of questions the quiz should pull from this category. For example, if the category has ten questions and you select “5”, each quiz attempt will take a random five questions from the ten questions in this category.
Click Add random question. The Editing quiz page will open listing the question(s) as Random (category name).
On the Editing quiz page, each time you click the Preview icon for the question, you should see a different question.

How To: Add and Edit An Assignment in Edspora

The Assignment activity allows students to upload files to the instructor for grading. As the instructor, you’ll have the entire student roster and their respective submissions all in one centralized area. Instead of having students email you their papers or projects, the Assignment feature allows you to access, grade, and provide feedback to student’s submissions quickly and easily.

Students may submit digital files (such as word-processed documents, spreadsheets, images, or audio and video clips), or type text directly into a text submission box. Assignment activities can also be used to describe and grade work students will complete offline, such as art work, performances, or classroom presentations.

Add an assignment

Click the Turn editing on button in the top right corner.
Navigate to the topic/week of your choice, and click on the + Add an activity or resource menu.
Choose the Assignment radio button located under Activities and select Add at the bottom of the window.
In the following screen, type out the Assignment name and Description areas (required fields).
- Tip: The Description area is a great location for providing assignment instructions to your students.
Below the Description area, is a bounded box where you can attach additional files. Drag and Drop files from your PC or Mac directly into this box to attach them to the assignment. This is useful when assignment instructions or rubrics are already built in a Word doc or PDF.
In the Assignment settings area, be sure to select your assignment’s Available and Due dates. Please note that Edspora uses military time.
In the Submission settings area, select your preferred options:
1. File submissions: Do you wish for students to upload files for this assignment? If so, its best to leave this option at the default (Yes).
2. Maximum number of files: Use this drop down menu to select the maximum amount of files your students can submit.
3. Maximum submission size: By default, the maximum submission size for a file is 1 GB, which is the highest option available.
4. Submission comments: Changing this option to Yes will allow students to type out a comment to the instructor.
5. Online text: Changing this option to Yes will allow students to replace the file submission area with a box for text submissions.
Continue down the page to the Grade section and choose how you would like to grade your assignment (point value is recommended). Optionally, change the maximum point value for the assignment.
Optionally, select the Grade category if you’re utilizing categories in Gradebook Setup.
Select Save and return to course to return to your main course page, or Save and display to view the assignment page.

Assignments have a significant amount of customization options. Read below to learn more about all of the options available for assignments in Edspora. Learn more about them by reviewing the article: Overview: Assignment Options.

Edit an assignment

While it is possible to edit the content or setup options for an existing assignment, proceed with caution if the assignment has already been released to students — especially if students have already submitted work. Changing some options, such as changing participants when working with groups, may result in student confusion and the loss of work that has already been submitted.

To change the content or options for an assignment you have already created:

On your course page, click Turn editing on (green pencil icon, top right).
Next to the Assignment to update, click Edit, then select Edit Settings.The assignment’s settings page will open.
The Updating Assignment page shows you the same options available on the Adding a new Assignment page. Here you may change your assignment options as needed, including changing the due date, grading information, and availability of the assignment.
Once you have finished making the necessary changes, click Save and return to course at the bottom of the page.