Group administration

Cooperative and collaborative learning processes can be optimally supported between students by using assignments. Groups can be created manually in just a few steps

1. In your course, on the left-hand side menu, click on “Administrate”.

2. Under “Group Administration”, click the link “Groups and Group Members”.

3. Click on "New" in the horizontal menu bar and select "Manual" from the drop-down list.

4. Complete all required fields and the desired optional fields.

5. Select the group members by clicking the checkbox for all participants you want to add to the group.

6. Click the "OK" button.

You can create as many groups as you like and add participants to the groups. However, it is also possible to create empty groups in advance (without members) and to add the participants afterwards by editing the individual groups.

In lectures with a high number of students, it is recommended to set up the groups automatically. This saves a lot of administrative time. When creating groups automatically, you can determine either the number of groups or the number of members. Students are automatically divided into groups based on this specified value.

1. In your course, click in the left side menu on “Administrate“, to open the administration page.
2. At group administration, click on the link “Groups and Group members”.
3. In the horizontal menu bar, click on “New” and choose in the drop down list “Automatic”.
4. Define the creation mode: number of groups or number of users (i.e. members per group).
5. Fill in all mandatory fields.
6. Click at the button „OK“.

The groups are created automatically based on your entries on number of groups or number of group members per group. As group name, the system assigns a consecutive numbering of the groups. You can edit the group names in the Groups overview, by clicking on the icon “edit” . There, you can also adjust other settings.

Tip: The lecturer first has to release the groups in the group overview, so the members can see the group overview in their course on MyLEARN. 

In principle, you can give students the opportunity to assign themselves to groups both in the manual and in the automatic creation of groups. 

First option – Determine open groups in manual creation of groups:

1. In your course, click in the left side menu on “Administrate“, to open the administration home page. 
2. At group administration, click on the link “Groups and Group members”.
3. In the horizontal menu bar, click on “New” and choose in the drop down list “Manual“.
4. As “Join Policy”, choose “open. This gives the students the opportunity to enroll themselves in a group.
5. Fill all further fields. 
6. Click the button “OK“.

Second option – Determine open groups in automatic group creation: 

1. In your course, click in the left side menu on "Administrate", to open the administration page.
2. At group administration, click on the link “Groups and Group members”.
3. In the horizontal menu bar, click on “New” and choose in the drop down list “Automatic”.
4. Determine the settings by number of groups or number of members per group. 
5. As “Join Policy”, choose “open to enable the students to enroll themselves in a group.
6. Fill all further fields Click the button “OK“.

By default, newly created groups are initially invisible, i.e., students cannot see the groups which you have created yet. As a course teacher, you first have to release the groups in the groups overview and secondly release  the groups overview for everyone, so students can join these groups.

You can import already created groups in a spreadsheet program directly into the group overview using "CSV import". You need to create a correctly formatted CSV file for this.

1. Open Excel.
2. Enter the group name in the first column.
3. Enter a description of the group in the second column.
4. Enter the first name in the third column.
5. Enter the last name in the fourth column.
6. Enter the student's username (= student ID number h12344612) in the fifth column.
7. Save the file as a CSV file by clicking on, File> Save As.
8. Select the location.
9. Select the format "CSV (separator separated) (* csv)" as file type.
10. Click on “save”.

Once you've created the CSV file,

1. In your course, on the left-hand side menu, click on “Administrate” to open the administration page.
2. Under “Group Administration”, click the link to “Groups and Group Members.”
3. Click on "New" in the horizontal menu bar and select "CSV-Import" from the drop-down list.
4. Upload the correctly formatted CSV file.
5. Click the "OK" button.

You can use this option to create several groups at once. This saves you a considerable amount of time.

Caution! You can only import those group members who are also participants in the course. If the last three fields in the CSV file are empty, an empty group without group members is imported. You can add the group members afterwards by editing the individual groups.

In practice, it can happen that originally closed groups are opened, so students can join an existing group on their own. 

Basically, you have two options to open closed groups. 

First option:

1. In the page of the group overview, use the checkbox  in the table to select one or more groups.
2. Click the Button “Selected”.
3. In the dropdown list, choose “Enable opt-in“. 
4. Enter the maximum number of members who can join autonomously.
5. Click the button “OK“.

Second option:

1. Click on the respective group, in the column “Actions“, the Icon  „edit“.
2. Choose for “Join Policy: open“, so students have the option to inscribe themselves into groups. 
3. Determine the number of members.
4. Click the button “OK“.

After the publication of the group overview, students see the following table and can join the desired group:

When creating the groups, the lecturer of your course decides, if students can assign themselves to groups or are assigned by the lecturer. If students are supposed to join a group on their own, they can do so via the group overview.

1. In your course, click on „Groups“, in the left side menu to get to the groups overview. 
   
   
2. At the desired group, in the column “Actions“, click the button “Join“. 

You can see that you have joined a group successfully if the name of the chosen group shows in the left side menu, below “groups”. If you click on the group name, you get to the working space of your group.

You can prepare empty groups in the course repository, without group members, and then import them into the course, where they can be filled with participants of the course.

1. In your course repository, on the left-hand side menu, click on “Administrate”.

2. In Group Administration, click the link "Groups and Group Members".

3. In your course repository, click on “Groups” on the left side menu to open to the group overview.

4. Click “New” in the horizontal menu bar and select how you want to create the groups from the drop-down list.

If you want to create the group “manually”:

1. Click on "New" in the horizontal menu bar and select "Manual" from the drop-down list.

2. Complete all required fields and the desired optional fields.

3. Click the "OK" button.

If you want to import groups from a “CSV file":

1. Click on "New" in the horizontal menu bar and select "CSV import" in the drop-down list.

2. Upload the correctly formatted CSV file.

3. Click the "OK" button.

You will now see the empty groups created in the group overview.

1. Select "Actions" from the dropdown list "CSV export" in the horizontal menu bar.

2. Save the CSV file on your PC.

3. Navigate to the desired course and click on "Administrate" on the left side menu to open the administration page.

4. In “Group Administration”, click the link to “Groups and Group Members.”

5. Click on "New" in the horizontal menu bar and select "CSV import" in the drop-down list.

6. Select the previously saved CSV file and click the "OK" button.

In the course you will see the created empty groups in the group overview. You can now edit the groups individually and assign participants from your course to these groups.

As a student, you can see the group assigned to you on the left side menu of your course.

1. In the "Memberships" portlet, click on the desired course.

2. On the left side menu you can see the heading "Groups" and below it the group name.

3. Click on "Group" to go to the group overview.

4. Click on the group name to go directly to your group's workstation.

Note! The teacher must first release the groups in the group overview so that the individual members can also view the group overview in MyLEARN in their course.

By default, newly created groups are initially hidden, i.e. the group members of a group cannot see the group assigned to them.

To release the groups for the individual members, click on "Groups" on the left side menu of your course.

There are two options to release groups.

First Option:

1. Use the checkbox to select one or more groups in the group overview

2. Click on the "Selected Items" button.

3. Select “Release” from the drop-down list. You can now decide whether you want to notify the group members via email about their membership in a group, or to skip the notification and release the group only.

4. If you decide to send an e-mail, then edit the text if necessary and click on the „Release the group(s) and notify their members" button.

5. Otherwise, click on the „Skip notifications, just release the group(s)" button.

6. In the "Actions" column of the respective group you can now see that the box has been switched from red to green. The group is now released for the group members of the respective group and is therefore also visible.

Second Option:

1. Click the red box in the "Actions" column for the respective group.

2. You can now decide whether you would like to inform the group members via email about the release and their assignment to a group.

3. If you decide to send an e-mail, then edit the text if necessary and click on the „Release the group(s) and notify their members" button.

4. Otherwise, click on the „Skip notifications, just release the group(s)" button.

5. You can see that this box is now displayed in green. The group is now released for the group members of the respective group and is therefore visible.

The groups are shown in the table of the group overview after the release. The released groups are marked with a green box and are presented at the top of the table. The groups that have not been released are displayed below.

In principle, the groups will only be released for the respective group members, i.e. the participants see only the groups to which they have been assigned in the group overview. However, you can publish the group overview for all participants in the course. After publication, all participants in the course only see the group name, the names of the members of each group and the title of the assignment of the other groups. The access to the group workstation (including group folder and group forum) and access to the assignment is reserved for group members only.

1. Click on "Groups" on the left side menu in your course.

2. Click on "Actions" in the horizontal menu bar and select "Release the group overview for all users".

If the group overview has been published for all participants, you will see the note in the group overview: (i) The group overview is published.

The publication can also be undone in "Actions" by clicking on "Unrelease the group overview for all users".

The possibility of file exchange between the group members is an essential part of supporting the cooperative learning processes. Accordingly, members of a group can also upload files to the group workstation and call up and edit all uploaded files there.

There are two ways to upload locally saved files to the group folder.

First option:

1. In your course, click on "Groups" on the left side menu to get to the group overview.

2. Click on the group name. You are now in the group workstation.

3. In the "Group Folder" area, marked in gray, click on "New" and then on "Upload new file".

4. Click the "Browse" button, select the file to be uploaded and click "Open".

5. Fill in all optional fields and click "OK".

Second option:

1. In your course, click on "Groups" on the left side menu to get to group overview.

2. Click on the group name. You are now in the group workstation.

3. At the same time, open the local file manager (e.g. Explorer) on your PC.

4. Select one or more locally saved files.

5. Drag the locally saved files into the marked image area in the "Group Folder" area highlighted in grey.

All group members can now access the files uploaded to the group workstation and download them one by one or in a bulk operation.

Communicating within the group is essential when working on a task together with others. A separate group forum is available for realizing a communicative process..

1. In your course, click on "Groups" on the left side menu to open the group overview.

2. Click on the group name. You are now in the group workstation.

3. In the "Group Forum" area marked in gray, click on the "Post a new message" link to create a new discussion topic, or

4. Click on a thread's link in the "Thread" column to reply to an existing post.

Communication in the group forum is only visible to those, who have access to the respective group and cannot be viewed by others.

It often proves helpful to send information to all group members by e-mail. To make this process easier for administrators, you can send e-mails to all group members directly from MyLEARN.

You have the following option to send an e-mail to all or only to individual group members:

E-mail to all group members:

1. In your course, click on "Groups" on the left side menu to go to the group overview.

2. Click on the group name. You are now in the group workstation of this group.

3. In the “Group members” area, which is marked in gray, click the “Send e-mail to all group members” link if you want to send an e-mail to all group members. Alternatively, click the e-mail icon  next to each group member if you want to send an e-mail to individual group members.

4. Fill in all mandatory fields and the desired optional fields.

5. Click the "Preview" button.

6. Check the e-mail again.

7. If you are sure that you would like to send the e-mail in this way, click on the "Send" button.

8. Afterwards you will return to the group overview.

This way you can set a future delivery date when composing the e-mails and, therefore, prepare an e-mail at an early stage.

In the e-mail archive of the administrator the following mails are archived/listed:

• e-mails sent via “Administrate“  - “Compose individual e-mail“, 
• e-mails sent via “Administrate“ – „Compose Bulk e-mail“,
• e-mails sent via “Groups Overview“ – “Actions“ – “Send e-mail to all groups“,
• e-mails sent via “Groups overview“ by clicking the e-mail symbol  in the table in the respective line in the column Actions.
• e-mails sent via "Group workstation".

As a teacher, you can send an e-mail to all groups at the same time in just a few steps.

1. In your course, click on "Groups" on the left side menu.

2. Click "Actions" in the horizontal menu bar and select "Send email to all groups" from the drop-down list.

3. Fill in all mandatory fields and the desired optional fields.

4. Click the "Preview" button.

5. Check the e-mail again.

6. If you are sure that you would like to send the e-mail in this way, click on the "Send" button.

7. Afterwards you will return to the group overview.

8. Note: E-mails sent using this method will be saved in the administrator's e-mail archive. This is also the case, if an e-mail is not sent to all groups, but only to one group via the "Actions"  of this group.

In the e-mail archive of the administrator the following mails are archived/listed:

• e-mails sent via “Administrate“  - “Compose individual e-mail“, 
• e-mails sent via “Administrate“ – „Compose Bulk E-Mail“,
• e-mails sent via “Groups Overview“ – “Actions“ – “Send e-mail to all groups“,
• e-mails sent via “Groups overview“ by clicking the e-mail symbol  in the table in the respective line in the column Actions.
• e-mails send via "Group workstation".

Group assignments make it possible to promote cooperative and collaborative work by students. The setting defining an assignment as a group assignment is made when creating the activity "Assignment" in the learning activities.

1. In your course, click on "Learning Activities" on the left side menu.

2. Select "New" and “Assignment”.

3. Fill in the text fields.

4. Allocate the assignment to selected groups by clicking on "Selected groups". Click the checkbox next to the groups to which you want to assign this assignment.

5. Define the assignment as an exercise or as an assignment.

6. Select the submission type.

7. Finally click on „Save".

The group assignment or group exercise now appears in three different locations. Firstly, it appears on the left side menu below "Learning activities” and is displayed in the overview of all learning activities with the annex . Secondly, the link to the group assignment or group exercise appears in the “groups overview” and, thirdly, in the “group workstation” of each group allocated to the assignment. Don´t forget to publish the group assignment. Only then, students will see the assignment.

Important! You can only allocate assignments to groups. It is not possible to allocate other types of learning activities. You can only allocate an assignment to several groups if the selected groups have different members, that is why there must be no overlap of group memberships here.

Only one person of a group can hand in the assignment for the group. In your group, therefore, make it clear who of you is handing in the assignment.

1. Within “Learning Activities ”, on the left side menu of your course, click on the group assignment. Only assignments assigned to your group will be visible here.

2. Depending on the type of submission, you can write a text in a text field or upload a file.

3. Then click on „Submit".

You can see on the left side menu of the respective learning activity the submission of the assignment with the information, when the assignment was submitted and who did the submission. The submission in assignments set as "excercises" won't be listed for course administrators. 

Students see a link to the group assignment on their MyLEARN homepage under the portlet „ToDos", in the table of the group overview and in their group workstation, if they haven't submitted the assignment yet.

The “overview of assignments” feature helps teachers keep track of the assignments submitted by students. You can use this feature to view all learning activities submitted by your students. The overview only lists completed learning activities that you have designated as “assignments” and not as "excercise".

On how to access the "Overview of assignments" via "Applications" > "Learning activities" see "Where can I view my student's submissions?".

On the submission’s management page, the “submitted” field displays all submitted assignments and, therefore, all group assignments, too. The number shown in parenthesis tells you how many students have already completed and submitted the assignment. Only one person can hand in the assignment. In order to see which group member handed the assignment in, you have to click on the assignment.

Once the assignments have been graded manually, you have to release the grades in order for your students to see them.

The grading of an assignment for a group is not different from a usual assessment of an assignment. It must be entered individually for each group and cannot be done automatically. For grading, enter the points for each group, writer a comment for the group into the comment field and/or upload a feedback file. See "How can I grade group assignments” for information on to grade assignments via "Applications" > "Learning Activities".

There are three ways you can release the grades:

1. If you would like to approve the assessment for each group individually, click in the "Actions" column for the respective group and select "Publish grade" in the drop-down list.

2. If you would like to approve the assessment for several groups, check the checkbox on the left and select "Publish grade" in the drop down list under "Selected".

3. If you want to release the assessment of all groups at the same time, click on the button "Publish all grades".

If you want to give the members of a group a different grading for the group assignment, you can change the grading of the group assignment for each group member.

1. In the rating table of the desired group, click on "Change gradings individually" under "Actions".

2. Now you will see the names of the group members listed individually in the row of the group in the "Grading" column.

3. Here, you can change the points for the individual students. You can also adjust the comment for the group and each group member or upload a (new) feedback file for the group.

4. Finally, release the assessments under the "Actions" column by clicking on "Publish grade".

Important! If you have decided to go to the "Change gradings individually" view you cannot return to the grading overview. However, if you want to give all group members the same grading, you can do this in the "Change gradings individually" view by entering the same grade for all group members.

 For this you can use the Peer Rating tool from the Learning Activities. For more information go to "Peer Rating".

If you see a different grade for a group assignment than other members of your group have, the teacher may have opted for an individual grading. It's best to ask the teacher directly about the applied grading mode and the grading criteria.

An assignment becomes a group assignment if it is assigned to a group that is in the same environment (course repository or course). If you transfer a group assignment to a course, it automatically becomes a regular assignment for all members of the course. Enter the settings of the assignment and reassign it to the group(s) manually.