Groups
Set up groups in your course site
Choose the Groups option from the More Tools menu to configure groups and how you'd students to be enrolled
Watch
Practice setting up groups in your course site. We'll demonstrate how to create groups and how to turn an assignment into a group assignment.
Pro Tip
Demystifying Categories and Groups
Categories are used to organize groups in Brightspace. Here are two examples to help you work out how to configure categories for your course.
Professor Plum has one group project. Students are grouped at the beginning of the course and stay in the same groups throughout.
In Brightspace, Professor Plum would create one category "Project Groups"
Professor Peacock mixes up the groups based on assignment/activity. There are three different groupings of students for Assignment 1, Assignment 2, and Discussion.
In Brightspace, Professor Peacock would create three categories "Assignment 1 Groups," "Assignment 2 Groups," and "Discussion Groups"
How to set up a group in your course site
Click More Tools from the navigation bar and choose Groups
Click New Category
Give the category a title
Optional: Add a description to indicate the purpose of the groups
Use the Enrollment Type menu to choose how students will be assigned
Optional: Add a Group Prefix (e.g., the prefix "Team" will result in the groups being named Team 1, Team 2, etc.)
Review Advanced Options, the options here will vary depending on the enrollment type you selected. We recommend referencing Brightspace's guide to group enrollments to figure out the options that will work best for you.
Click Save
Do you have to wait until the course officially starts to create groups?
You don't need to wait. Depending on the enrollment type you select, you can check the Auto-enroll new users box under Advanced Options. This means that if new students join/are added to your course later on, they'll automatically be assigned to the group with the fewest students.
Looking for more?
Watch an explainer video from Brightspace on how to create a group. For more detailed documentation on the Groups tool and to learn about creating group work areas for students, reference Brightspace's guide to creating groups. Use the menu on the right of the screen to navigate through the articles.
How do you turn an assignment into a group assignment?
Important to note: You'll need to do this before there are any submissions to the assignment, otherwise you won't have the option to make this change.
Navigate to Assignments
Click the arrow next to the Assignment you'd like to adjust
Choose Edit Assignment
Click the Submission & Completion box on the right of the screen
Under Assignment Type choose Group Assignment
Select the Category
Click Save