How To: Assign an Activity to a Group or Grouping in Edspora

Use Groups in Edspora, to assign a particular activity (or all course activities) to groups of students. Groups can be especially useful for activities where students interact with one another. With forums, wikis, and databases, students in the same group can post and reply only to each other. Each group member always works in their own group, but you can control whether or not they can see contributions of members of other groups.

Before you begin, please note that if you are using a Edspora Assignment activity there are two ways to use groups:

• Each student in a group submits individually – If you follow the instructions below for an assignment activity, 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 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 activity.

Assign an Activity to a Grouping

Groupings are a collection of groups, and you can assign activities to specific groupings as needed.

1. To assign a specific activity to a grouping, you must first set up the grouping.
2. On your course page, click Turn editing on (top right).
3. Add the activity you will assign to groups, or if the activity has already been added to the course, click Edit (at right of activity), then Edit settings. The activity’s Settings page will open.
4. Click Common module settings to view and adjust group settings for the activity.
5. In the Group mode drop-down menu, select either Separate groups or Visible groups.
   • Visible groups allows non-group members to see the work of other groups
   • Separate groups allows only group members to see work within the group
   From the Grouping drop-down menu, select the name of the grouping you wish to use.
6. Click Save and display to save and open the assignment or click Save and return to course to return to your course page. 

Use Restrict Access to Assign an Activity to Groups

Restrict access can be used to assign an activity to a particular group without having to use a grouping. For example, you can create an activity for only one section of a multiple-section course, such as an honors or graduate section. You can also use Restrict access to assign an activity to course members who are not in a particular group or grouping, or, by adding multiple restrictions, a mix of Groups or Groupings.

1. On your course page, click Turn editing on.
2. Add the activity you will assign to groups, or if the activity has already been added to the course, click Edit (at right of activity), then Edit settings. The activity’s Settings page will open.
3. Configure the settings for the activity but do not set Common module settings as you normally would when assigning an activity to a grouping.
4. Under Restrict access, click Add restriction…. The Add restriction… pop-up opens.
5. In the Add restriction… pop-up, click Group or Grouping. A new restriction will appear on the Settings page and the pop-up will close.
6. For Access restrictions, from the Student drop-down menu, select whether the student must or must not match the group.
7. From the Group (or Grouping) drop-down menu, select the name of a group (or grouping).
8. (Optional) To add an additional restriction, click Add restriction.
9. Click Save and display to save and open the assignment or click Save and return to course to return to your course page.