Overview
One of the greatest challenges within the learning environment is Groups. This tool rears up and kicks even the most seasoned Instructors every once in a while because many things have to be just right to get this tool to play nice across all other tools.
- Some professors like to set up their class into groups for discussion board purposes. The thought is that smaller discussion groups lead to better student to student interactions which will lead to fuller discussions and perhaps on the faculty side more manageable discussions.
- Some professors love the Group Projects and setting up group discussions and assignments (for group paper/presentation submissions).
- Finally, a popular use of groups is private groups within Discussions.
- These private discussions can be used by faculty for student journaling throughout their semester.
- We have many faculty that request the setup of private discussions to replace emails for the class. If you don't like having 100 emails from your students, you may try setting up private discussions. All communications for the course then are contained within the course.
Article Sections
Creation of Groups
The Mechanics of the D2L Groups
Under Communications dropdown menu, select Groups, and, as most things goes, it starts with the blue button, in this case New Category.
Category Name
Create a Name for the Group Category. This is not the name of a particular group, this is a category name, so more generic. However, if you are going to use several different types of groups within the course, you will want to be descriptive enough that you can tell the categories apart.
We often times see Group Project, Discussion Groups, and Personal Q&A used, for example.
Description
With a good descriptive name, the actual description field is unnecessary and is often left blank.
Group Prefix
Group Prefixes are not necessary and there is no good reason to use them.
Enrollment Types
| Group Type |
Enrollment |
How to use the Group Type |
| # of Groups - No Auto Enrollments |
No Auto Enrollment |
You wish to have a specific number of groups. You will manage enrollments into these groups. |
| Groups of # |
Optional Auto Enrollment |
You wish to have a set number students in a group with auto-enrollment possible. |
| # of Groups |
Optional Auto Enrollment |
You wish to have a specific number of groups with auto-enrollment possible. |
| Groups of # - Self Enrollment |
Self Enrollment |
You wish to have student select their own group of a fixed amount. |
| # of Groups - Self Enrollment |
Self Enrollment |
You wish to have students select their own group. The problem with this type is that all students can select into one group (thus the group type below). |
| # of Groups, Capacity of # - Self Enrollment |
Self Enrollment |
You wish to have students select into their own group with a capacity limit for the group. |
| Single user, member-specific groups |
Auto Enrollment |
You wish to have private discussions one-on-one with the students. (This creates new discussion topics as enrollments change.) Works really slick. |
Restrict Enrollments to *
Leave default. Leave default. Leave Default. Which means, leave "No Restrictions" in place. If you go rogue and choose to select your section, you have doomed your discussions to fail. Leave default and move on.
Next Steps
Once you have selected your Group Type, you have a couple more options you may need to fill in depending on your selection. (With Single user there are no other options.)
Auto Enrollment options
Advanced Properties will include Auto-enroll and randomized users. If randomized users is not selected, students will be sorted alphabetically.
Advanced Self Enrollment properties
With any Self Enrollment, D2L offers an Advanced Property allowing you to set a self enrollment expiry date and the ability to allocate unenrolled users after self enrollment expiry date. It would be cruel and unusual punishment to not check both boxes if you self enrollment.
Additional Options
Set up discussion areas
Select an existing forum or create a new form to house your group discussions. If you select New Forum, you will be asked for a Title and Description of the new forum you are creating.
You will not be given other options for the forum, you will have to finish the creation and then go to the discussion forum to make changes.
You will then be able to create topics. You will be given two options:
- Create one topic per group (# of topics total)
- Create one topic with threads separated by group
If you create one topic per group you will not be able to tie these topics directly to a grade item. If you choose one topic, many threads, you can assess the entire class by groups and have the grade populated to a single grade book item. There are reasons and efficiencies for both. The single topic selection will allow you to customize the title of the topic and the description.
Set up Assignments
Select what type of submission folder you would like to create, then press Save. You will then be greeted by an Assignments creation screen.
From this wizard, you cannot create more than one submission type of Assignment, you will all have to go to the Assignments tool to create a different Assignment submission folder with a group restriction if you need more than one for your groups.
Recycle Bin
Deleting a group / group category will delete other tools associated with that group. There may be times when you need to restore a deleted group or group category. The recycle bin will allow you to restore those items. After a group is restored, you can then go restore the discussions and/or the assignment folders that were associated.
Managing Group Enrollments
Having already developed the groups, managing the group enrollments may be necessary.
This is especially true if you are using groups that do not have auto enrollment turned on. During the first two weeks, of any given semester, enrollments fluctuate so students who join may not be in a group and if the discussions are attached to these groups, the new students will not be able to participate in the discussions.
To manage group enrollments, within the Groups tool, select the drop down menu next to the group category name and choose Enroll Users.
From there you will be given a rubric with group numbers running across the top and student names running down the first column. Match the name to the desired group and make sure to select save.
There are quick visual queues if a student is not enrolled in a group (there will be no icons to the right of of their name) or if a student is enrolled in more than one group (there will be a question mark to the right of their name).
The Mechanics of Creating Individual Discussions
- From the Communications dropdown, select Groups.
- Choose Create Category (the blue button).
- For Category Name, your choice. We often see Private Discussions, Individual Discussions, Private Q&A...
- Description -- leave blank
- Enrollment Type -- from the dropdown menu select "Single user, member-specific groups"
- Restrict Enrollments To -- leave at No restrictions
- Under Additional Options, place a check box in Set up discussion areas
- Select the Link "[New Forum]"
- A popup will emerge. Enter a Title, perhaps something like Private Discussions or Individual Discussions...
- You could enter a description. I've seen some that say something to the effect of "This is a one-on-one discussion board between you and your instructor(s)."
- Select Save (D2L will close the popup)
- Select Save (leaving Assignments unchecked)
Now you have the ability to create a topic for each student (which is preferred by most faculty) or create one topic within which you can filter by the different students. Visually, "Create one topic per group (n topics total)", is going to get you the most bang for your buck. Most faculty that I have worked with prefer the individual topics for the private discussions with students.
- Select the "Create one topic per group..." radio button.
- Select Create and Next
- Select Done
- Now go see what you have created in Discussions.
It will keep up to date with enrollments and create new discussion topics as new students arrive. It will NOT remove topics from students who withdrew/dropped the course.
Additional Resources for Groups
For more information about Groups feel free to visit MinnState's knowledge base articles. (They will require Microsoft login.)
Academic Technology can help with groups. We understand that group set up is normally a one or two time event in a semester. We work in these daily. Feel free to email Academic Tech at service.center@metrostate.edu or give us a call at 651.793.1240, we are happy to help.