How to Enable Group-Based Discussions in Your Class


Group Based Discussion allows instructors and students to post to a subset of students in the class, suitable for when your class consists of multiple sections or project teams.

1. Click on the Manage Class button:

 

2. Click on the Create Groups tab:


 

3. You can either configure groups in your class using a CSV file, or create groups manually.


To create groups using a CSV file, create a CSV file with one row per student or instructor; the first column is the student or instructor's email address, followed by the groups the user should be enrolled in (see example below). 



Note: we also provide a sample CSV file that you can edit. You can find it by clicking 'View help instructions' under the 'Create groups from a CSV file' button:


Then click see example csv:





Then, click 'Create groups from a CSV file' to upload your group configuration.

A user must already be enrolled in your class in order to be added to any group; emails that do not belong to an enrolled user will not be added to a group. You can see which students are not enrolled in your class in the confirmation modal next to the line "Following users not enrolled, unable to assign to groups" 


New groups detected in your CSV file are automatically created (once you click Confirm group assignments button).



If you already have groups configured, you will be able to specify if you want this CSV upload to 


  1. update existing groups and group assignments, or to
  2. create new groups and group assignments (this resets all existing groups and group assignments)


4. To create groups manually, first click on Manually create groups:



You can create numbered groups (Team 1, Team 2, etc.) or custom groups.  You are also able to edit the group names:


5. Once you have created your groups you can assign students to groups by clicking on the group title:


 

6. Enroll students by pasting their email addresses into the field. Instructors are automatically enrolled in every group:


You can also allow students to join groups themselves. To do this, select Yes next to Allow students to join groups:



Students will then be able to join groups via the Resources page, as described in our Joining a Group article.

Once added to a group, students and instructors can post to members of their group by choosing Class Group in the Post to options on a new post:



 

The group post will be labeled in the feed, and only visible to members of that group: