Creating Group Activities
Brightspace's Assignments and Discussions tool allow you to utilize its Groups tool to allow students to work in small groups for various activities. This section outlines how to set these up and grade them.
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How Group Activities Work in Brightspace
How Group Activities Work in Brightspace
The Groups tool in Brightspace uses Categories to allow you to have different arrangements of students for multiple assignments throughout the semester. For example, you could create a group category to sort your students into several groups for discussions, and another for a group project that allows students to choose the groups they want to be in for that project. Essentially, you create a group category for each instance in your course that you need to shuffle the students into a new group arrangement.
Workflow Overview
Workflow Overview
The process of creating a Group Assignment or Discussion can be broken down into to primary steps:
Create a Group Category that tells Brightspace how you want your students divided up.
Create or edit an existing Assignment or Discussion Topic and set it to use the Grade Category you created in Step 1.
Creating a Group Category
Creating a Group Category
Before you set up your group activities, ensure you have created Grade Items for them in the Grades tool.
From the Tools menu, select the Groups tool.
Click the New Category button.
When the New Category page appears, give the group category a Name and, if you wish, a Description.
Select your desired Enrollment Type. You can find a description of each type in the Enrollment Types section below.
Set either the number of groups you would like, or the number of students in each group (which one depends on what you chose for the Enrollment Type.)
If you have selected an Enrollment Type which automatically assigns students to Groups, consider also selecting the Auto-enroll new users checkbox so that new students added to your course are automatically assigned to a group.
Optional: Under Additional Options, select Set up lockers. Group Lockers are areas where students in a group can upload files to. This may be useful in large projects for students to share files between members, or for you to upload group-specific materials to your students.
Strongly Recommended
We recommend NOT using the Create Discussion Areas and Create Assignments options when creating your Group Categories. Their workflows are inconsistent, confusing, and often don't work as expected. Instead, click the Save button to finish setting up the Group Category and use the steps in the following sections according to your needs.
Manually Assigning Students to Groups
Manually Assigning Students to Groups
If you used an Enrollment type that does not automatically assign students to groups, you will need to manually add the to groups., Follow these steps to do so.
Go to the Groups tool by clicking on the Tools menu in the navbar and select Groups. The Groups tool will appear.
Click the Action Button next to the name of a Group Category and select Enroll Users.
A list of your students will appear in a column on the left. To the right of them will be a series of checkboxes in columns for each group. For each student, click one or more of the group checkboxes to put in the group(s) whose checkbox you clicked.
When you are finished, click the Save button.
Creating a Group Assignment
Creating a Group Assignment
Follow these steps to create a Discussion Topic in which students can only see and reply to posts from other members of their assigned group. Each member of a group receives their own grade.
If you haven't already, create a new Group Category as described in the Create a Group Category section above.
Click the Assessment menu in the Navbar.
Select Discussions.
Do one of the following:
If you previously created a Discussion Topic and you would like to convert it into a Group Discussion Topic, click the Action Button next to the name of the assignment and select Edit Topic. The Edit Topic page will appear.
Click the New button and select New Topic. The New Topic page will appear.
Select Availability Dates & Conditions on the right
Click Manage Restrictions under Group and Section Restrictions
If you only want students to see and respond to posts from other members of their group, select the bottom option.
From the drop-down menu below, select the Group Category you created in Step 1.
Fill in other required fields and set the options you prefer.
Click the Assessment tab.
Select the corresponding Grade Item you previously created for this discussion.
Enter a Score Out Of. This is the maximum amount of points the discussion is worth.
Click the Save and Close button.
Creating a Group Discussion
Creating a Group Discussion
Follow these steps to create a Discussion Topic in which students can only see and reply to posts from other members of their assigned group. Each member of a group receives their own grade.
If you haven't already, create a new Group Category as described in the Create a Group Category section above.
Click the Assessment menu in the Navbar.
Select Discussions.
Do one of the following:
If you previously created a Discussion Topic and you would like to convert it into a Group Discussion Topic, click the Action Button next to the name of the assignment and select Edit Topic. The Edit Topic page will appear.
Click the New button and select New Topic. The New Topic page will appear.
Select Availability Dates & Conditions on the right.
Click Manage Restrictions under Group and Section Restrictions.
If you only want students to see and respond to posts from other members of their group, select the Restrict topic and separate the threads.
From the drop-down menu below, select the Group Category you created in Step 1.
Fill in other required fields and set the options you prefer.
Click the Assessment tab.
Select the corresponding Grade Item you previously created for this discussion.
Enter a Score Out Of. This is the maximum amount of points the discussion is worth.
Click the Save and Close button.
Select Availability Dates & Conditions on the right, then click Manage Restrictions under Group and Section Restrictions.
If you only want students to see and respond to posts from other members of their group, select the bottom option under Group Selection Restrictions.
From the drop-down menu below under Group Category of Section, select the Group Category you created in Step 1.
Grading Group Assignments
Grading Group Assignments
Grading group assignments works generally the same as normal assignments with one major difference: By default, all members of a group receive the same grade, but you can override this to assign individual members of a group a different grade.
To give all members of a group the same grade
To give all members of a group the same grade
Go the Assignments tool.
Click the name of the Group Assignment.
Each group and their respective submissions for the assignment will be listed. Click a submission to bring up the assignment grading page.
In the right-hand column, enter the score you wish to give to this group for the assignment. All students in the group will receive this grade.
Enter any feedback for the group.
Click the Publish button to allow the students to see their grade and feedback, or click the Save Draft button to come back and finish grading later without releasing anything to the students.
To grade students in a group individually
To grade students in a group individually
Go to the Grades tool.
Click the Action Button in the column heading for the Group Assignment and select Enter Grades. The Grade Item page will appear.
Use the View By controls to sort the list of students by Group,
Enter the scores each student should receive for the assignment.
Click the Save and Close button.
Grading Group Discussions
Grading Group Discussions
Grading group discussions works the same way as any other Discussion Topic. All students receive their own individual grade. However there is one important aspect to keep in mind. When students post to a Group Discussion Topic, they can only see and reply to posts created by other students in their own group. However, instructors see all posts by all students. This can actually make it difficult to grade them. The section below describes how to filter the Discussions tool so you can see only a specific group's action.
To filter the view so you can see the activity of one group at a time, click the Group filter button and select the group you want to focus on, as seen in the image to the right.
Filtering the Discussion view by group
Filtering the Discussion view by group
It can be difficult to make sense of the activity in a Group Discussion Topic. To filter the view so you can see the activity of one group at a time, click the Filter by Group button and select the group you want to focus on, as seen in the image to the right.
Help Your Students Self-Enroll
Help Your Students Self-Enroll
If you’ve created a Group Category using one of the Self-Enrollment types, you will need to provide them some direction to do this. Students enroll in a group by clicking the Tools menu on the Navbar, selecting Groups and then clicking the View Available Groups button. We recommend the following technique to provide them a link to take them directly to the group selection page.
Go to the Content Tool.
Select the Module that contains the group activity which requires students to self-enroll in a group.
Click the Module Description to edit it.
Type some descriptive text, such as “Join a group for this week’s assignment.”
Highlight the descriptive text you typed in the previous step.
Click the Insert Quicklink button on the editor toolbar.
When the Insert Quicklink pop-up appears, scroll down and select Self-Enrollment Groups.
Select the Group Category you previously created for the relevant assignment or discussion.
The text you typed in step 5 will now appear as a hyperlink.
Click the Update button,
Create a Replacement for Blackboard’s “Journal” Feature
Create a Replacement for Blackboard’s “Journal” Feature
Brightspace does not have an equivalent to Blackboard’s “Journal” tool. However, you can replicate this functionality in Brightspace using a Group Category and a special enrollment type.
Make sure you have a Grade Item set up in the Grades tool for your Journal assignment.
Create a new Group Category. For the Enrollment Type, select Single user, member-specific groups. This will create a group for each student, for which they are the only member. The groups will be named using the students’ names.
In the Discussions tool, click the New button and select New Topic.
In the Availability Dates & Conditions section, select manage restrictions
Select Restrict topic and separate the threads
Select the Group Category you created in Step 2.
Enter “Journal” or something similar in the Title field, fill in the Description.
Click under the Grade out of, then In Grade Book, then choose Edit or Link to Existing
Select the Grade Item for this Journal assignment.
Under Evaluation & Feedback, set allow evaluation of individual posts so that you can assign points for individual “entries”.
Click the Save and Close button.
This discussion topic will now function as a Journal. Since students in a group discussion topic can only see the posts of other students in their group, and they are alone in their respective groups, they will only be able to see their own posts. When you grade the Journal, use the Groups filter button to select the student’s Journal you wish to view.
Group Enrollment Types
Group Enrollment Types
# of Groups
# of Groups
Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups and sorts the students automatically into the number of groups you selected. Use this enrollment type when you know how many groups you want to create, but want the system to place users in groups for you. Select this option when you want the group membership to be indiscriminate, or when classroom, resource, or teaching assistant availability restricts the number of groups you can have.
# of Groups – No Auto Enrollments
# of Groups – No Auto Enrollments
Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups, which you can add any number of students to through the Enroll Users page. Use this enrollment type when you know how many groups you want to create and which students you want in each group. Select this option when you have a teaching model that divides course participants into specific learning levels or when you want to divide users by skill or interests.
# of Groups - Self Enrollment
# of Groups - Self Enrollment
Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups, which students enroll in from the Groups page. Use this enrollment type when you want to make a specific number of groups available for students to join. Select this option when you want to organize groups on specific topics, which students can join based on interest, or for creating groups that are responsible for specific aspects of a larger project, which students can join based on knowledge or task preferences.
Groups of #
Groups of #
Selecting this option creates the minimum number of groups needed to place students in groups of a specified maximum size in a randomized order. More groups are created when they are needed to accommodate students. Be sure to check the Auto-enroll new users option so that students added to the course are automatically assigned to a group. Use this enrollment type when you know how many users you want in each group. Select this option when you have assignments that require work to be divided between a specific number of users, or when you can only accommodate a set number of users in a lab or work area at one time.
Groups of # – Self Enrollment
Groups of # – Self Enrollment
Selecting this option creates the minimum number of groups needed to accommodate students in groups of a specified maximum size automatically. Students choose the group they want to enroll in from the Groups page. Use this enrollment type when you know how many students you want in each group, but you want to allow students to choose their own groups. Select this option when you want students to choose their groups based on friendship, learning style, schedules, or geographic location.
Note If there are no students enrolled in your course at the time of creation, then only one group is initially created. You can use the Edit Category page to add additional groups. Add additional groups if you want to ensure all students have options when forming groups.
Single user, member-specific groups
Single user, member-specific groups
Using this option creates a group with a single student where the first name and last name of the learner is the name of the group. When a new student is enrolled in the course a group is automatically created for them. You can use this type to implement a Journal in your course using a Discussion Topic that is tied to a Group Category of this type.
# of Groups, Capacity of # - Self Enrollment
# of Groups, Capacity of # - Self Enrollment
Selecting this option creates a specified number of groups with a specified number of students per group. Users choose the group they want to enroll in from the Groups page. Use this enrollment type when you know how many students you want in each group, you want to allow students to choose their own groups, and you want each group to have a maximum number of users. Select this option when you want students to choose their groups based on areas of interest or responsibility in larger projects, but you want to limit membership in each group to a certain number of users.
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