DCAD Digital Help Guides

There are 3 types of group:

1. A Custom group where specific students can be allocated to a group.
2. A Randomly Assign group where students are equally distributed between a stated number of groups.
3. A Self-enrolment group where students select the group that they wish to join.

To Create a Group Set:

1. Click Create New Group Set from the top right of the screen.
2. Enter a name for the Group Set.
3. From the drop-down list on the right select the visibility. If these are tutorial groups for example the students will need to see this Group Set. If these groups are for your own use, then you can leave them hidden.
4. For new group sets, click on the Group Students drop-down select the method of assigning students. This may be Custom, Randomly Assigned or Self–enrolment.
5. Alternatively, if you have previously set up groups, then these will be listed on this menu for reuse, simply select the relevant group from the Group Students drop-down list.
6. Click the plus sign at the bottom of the screen to begin adding Groups.
7. Give the group a name e.g. Tutorial Group 1, and add a description if required. 
8. Add as many groups as needed.

To Create Custom Groups:

If you have students who need to be in specific groups, for example if you have students who have expressed an interest in or have been identified as needing additional support for statistics and students who have expressed an interest or have been identified as needing additional support for maths, you may have a Group Set called Additional Tutorials with groups called Statistics and Maths.

To add these identified students to the groups:

1. Ensure you have selected Custom from the Group Students drop-down box.
2. Click the 3 dots (ellipses) next to the student name and select the group to which you wish to allocate the student.
3. The student will be moved to the new group. Any unallocated students will remain in the unallocated group at the top.
4. To reset, i.e. remove students from groups, click Unassign All at the top right of the screen.
5. To reassign a student to a different group, just click the 3 dots (ellipses) again and select the new group from the drop-down menu.
6. Click Save, the students in the groups should then be able to see the groups if visibility has been turned on.

To Create Random Groups:

When creating groups such as tutorial groups you may wish to allocate the students randomly.

1. Ensure you have selected Randomly Assign.
2. Select the number of groups and students per group from the top right-hand side of the screen.
3. Name the groups created below, e.g. Tutorial Group 1, Tutorial Group 2 etc. and add a description if needed, e.g. time and day of seminar. All students will then automatically be moved to one of the 2 groups.
4. If you need to move a student to a different group, perhaps they have a clash and can’t make the seminar time, then click on the 3 dots and select the new group from the list.
5. Click Save.

To Create Self-enrol Groups:

You can ask students to self-enrol in course groups. Only students may join. Students receive a course announcement and an activity stream notification about groups they need to join.

You can also add an enrolment period with a start and end date. Students are notified when the enrolment deadline (end date) approaches. When the enrolment period ends, students can no longer join groups, and any unenrolled students are automatically into groups.

This has been an issue where staff have set an end date for the self-enrolment period but they do not want the rest of the students to be automatically enrolled. In the 6th June 2024 Learn Ultra update you will have the option to check a box to permit auto-enrol – and thus avoiding auto-enrolment when not required.

1. To select Self-enrolment, you must first make the groups visible to students by selecting Visible to students on the top right corner of the New Group Set page.
2. In the Group students menu, select Self-enrolment.
3. Your students are evenly divided among the groups listed next to Number of groups. You need to create at least two self-enrolment course groups.
4. Select the plus sign wherever you want to add another group. The Number of groups updates automatically. You can add and delete groups even after students have started to join. If you delete a group that students have already joined, they’re moved to the unassigned list. You’ll need to notify them to join one of the remaining groups or add them to a group. Reminder: If you add an enrolment period, unassigned students are enrolled automatically when the period ends.
5. You can add an enrolment start and end date. Select the arrow next to Advanced options to collapse the enrolment section.
6. You can change or clear the Maximum number of members per group that appears by default. The optional maximum must be 1 or greater. If you add or delete groups, the maximum number doesn’t update. Pay attention to the maximum members per group and the number of groups. For example, if you lower the maximum number, some students won’t be allowed to enrol in a group at the end of the enrolment period. You’ll need to create new groups and enrol the students. To allow unlimited members per group, leave the Maximum number of members per group field blank. Students see the maximum number allowed when they make their group selections. If you allow an unlimited number per group, students see the total number of students in their class. You can override the maximum membership for a group. For example, you can add a newly enrolled student to a group.
7. Select Hide enrolled members if you don’t want students to see who’s already joined.
8. Edit each group name if you want to change the default naming.
9. Add optional group descriptions. You can add information to help students choose a group. You have no limit on the number of characters.
10. You can open the menu next to a group to access the management options.

Uploading Group Sets from a CSV File

If there are a large number of group sets and groups to upload, this can be done from a CSV file. A template can be downloaded from Blackboard to enable quick population.

• Group Code – this is the code of the individual group within the group set.
• Title – give the group a suitable name.
• Description (optional) – if this helps, add some information about the group, for example if the group is a seminar or tutor group then add the time and location, if this is to be a field trip, add the details of the trip. if the group is to be members of a group assignment, then add a brief assignment or case study outline.
• Group Set – add the group set name, this should be the same for all group codes in column A (see the example below).
• Self Enroll – if the groups in the group set are to be allocated manually by the department then put N for no.

Clicking on the expand button on the right will reveal the seminar groups which have been imported. Note these are currently showing no students have been allocated to the groups. This needs to be done as a separate step.

Populating Group Sets from a CSV File

Once all of the Group Sets have been created they can also be populated from a CSV file which has been created offline.

Click into the new group set, the unassigned students will be listed at the top along with the groups below.

In the top-right corner of the screen you will see the Import and Export Groups buttons. Click the Import button.

Note that the Groups can be created here if they have not already been created as in the step above using the Create groups tab. To assign members to the individual groups that exist already from the CSV file, click the Assign members tab. If the file has already been created then click Upload File. If you require the template then click the Download members template.

Check your Downloads folder for the template and save a copy.

Populate the CSV file:

• Group Code – this is the group code (SG1, SG2 and SG3 from the example above).
• Username – this is the student username, usually found on the student card, e.g. abcd12.
• Student ID (optional) – Banner ID/Z number.
• First Name – Student’s first name.
• Last Name – Student’s last name, be careful with hyphenated last names.
• Group Set – this is the group set name (Seminar Groups 2024 from the example above).

When you have completed this for all group sets and all groups, save the CSV file.

Return to the Assign members tab and click Upload File and select the CSV file containing the student names. Click Upload.

Once this has been uploaded an email confirmation will be sent. Go back into the Group Set and check to see if any students are still in the unassigned area at the top. If there are, this is most likely due to an error in the CSV file, i.e. the student has been missed or the username has been added incorrectly. This individuals can be then manually placed in groups as described above.

Exporting Group Sets

Group Sets you have previously created can be exported. Click on the Export Groups button.