Groups and Groupings in the TeachCenter
General information
Participants in a course can be divided into groups and participate in certain activities that are only accessible to their group. If students are already divided into groups on TUGRAZonline, by default they will be synchronized like this in the TeachCenter.
A grouping is a “group of groups” within a course. Groupings can be used to assign work assignments to one or more groups in the course so that these groups can work together on the assignments.
Groupings are also needed whenever students are already in a group (e.g. in the TUGRAZonline standard group) and are additionally assigned to a group. Otherwise, they will be in two groups and group assignments will not work.
The TeachCenter courses are regularly synchronized with the registrations on TUGRAZonline, i.e. groups from TUGRAZonline are also transferred. If you now also divide your students into groups in the TeachCenter, problems with group assignments may occur.
However, the synchronization of TUGRAZonline groups can be disabled if desired. Then only the groups you have created will be available. Only the support team can change this setting. So if you need a change of this kind, please contact the support team.
Otherwise, you have to create a grouping for the small groups in the course (see "How do I create a grouping") and then restrict the “assignment” activity to these groups (see "I want to create an assignment where only students of one group or grouping can submit something").
I don't have any groups in the TeachCenter course yet. How can I create and manage groups?
There are two options for creating groups: Either you create each group individually or you create a series of groups using a specific naming scheme.
On the lefthand side, in the main menu, click on Groups. Then click on Create Group.
Enter a group name in the corresponding field. Click on Save changes.
To create several groups at the same time, click on Groups in the main menu on the lefthand side, then click on Auto-create groups. Now choose a naming scheme for your groups: @ stands for the capital letters A, B, C, etc., # stands for the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. For Group/Member count, enter the desired number.
In the Group Members category, you can specify whether users should already be assigned to groups or not. If you want to make the groups subordinate to a particular grouping, you can specify this in the Grouping category.
Click on Preview to check the result of your group creation and confirm it with Submit.
To add users to the group, select a group and click on Add/Remove users.
In the right-hand column, select the users you wish to add to the group and click on Add.
You can create a group choice activity for this, but first, you have to create empty groups (see question: How can I create a group?).
To create the group choice activity In your TeachCenter course, turn editing on. Add an activity or resource in the desired section. Select Group Choice and click on Add.
In the drop-down menu, select Limit the number of responses > Enable. Enter the desired number under General limitation and click on Apply to all groups.
In the Groups section, select the groups you have created and click on Add groups.
Finally, click on Save and Display.
I want to create groups in the TeachCenter, but I already have (other) groups from TUGRAZonline.
ExpandThe groups in the TeachCenter should be the same as in TUGRAZonline: If your students are already in a group in TUGRAZonline, they will be synchronized in the TeachCenter by default. This means that you do not have to assign students to groups again.
If the groups in the TeachCenter are different from those in TUGRAZonline: If students are in two different groups, there are problems with group assignments. Therefore, you must either deactivate group synchronization with TUGRAZonline and then divide students into groups (if the TUGRAZonline groups are not needed), or you must use groupings (if the TUGRAZonline groups should also be preserved).
If you want to add groups to a grouping, proceed as follows: In your TeachCenter course, click on Groups in the main menu on the left. Click on the Groupings tab.
Create a new grouping (Create grouping) and name the grouping. Click on Save Changes. In the grouping overview, click on the person icon next to the grouping you want to edit.
In the Members column on the right, select the group(s) you want to assign to the grouping. Click on Add.
Yes, the number of groups can be extended any time.
Assignments for existing groups and groupings
My students, who are in a group in the TeachCenter, cannot submit. It says they are in two groups. What is the issue?
ExpandBy default, TeachCenter courses are set to synchronize groups from TUGRAZonline. In some TeachCenter courses, this differentiation by course or semester (or even by tutorial or exercise groups) is required. This synchronization takes place once a day. If you delete one of the synchronized groups, it will simply be added again with the next automatic synchronization. If you now create additional groups in the TC, the students will be in two groups, which can lead to problems with group submissions (error message: the student is in two groups).
However, TUGRAZonline group synchronization can be disabled when not needed. Then only the groups you created in the TeachCenter will be available. Only the support team can change this setting.
Otherwise, you have to create a "grouping" for the small groups in the course and then restrict the “assignment” activity to these groups
I want to create an assigment where only students of one group or grouping can submit something.
ExpandFirst create an assignment or other activity in your TeachCenter course. Open the activity's edit mode.
If you want to limit the activity to one or more group(s)/group(s) but students still submit individually:
In the Restrict Access section, select Add restriction > Group > Select group > Save and return to course. Note that the section says that students must match this group.
Now this activity or file is only accessible to students of the selected group. Students from other groups can see that the activity or file exists, but cannot open it. For groupings, the setting works the same way. In Add restriction, simply select Grouping instead of Group and then select the appropriate grouping.
If you want to restrict the activity to one or more group(s)/grouping(s) and students submit as a group:
In the activity's edit mode, go to the Group Submission Settings tab > Students Submit in Groups: Yes > Require group to make submission: Yes > Grouping for Student Groups > Select the desired group or grouping to limit the activity to one group/grouping.
In the edit mode of an activity, in the Restrict access section - where you can also set which group may submit something in the activity - click on the small eye symbol.
This will hide the activity for everyone who does not meet the previously defined requirements.
Separate groups and visible groups indicate the group modes of a course or a single activity and can be changed in the course settings.
Separate groups means that each group sees only the members of its own group. The other groups (and their activities, e.g. forum posts or wiki entries) are invisible. Please use this setting with caution as students will not see each other's activities, which might create problems in the forum and with activities such as BigBlueButton.
Visible groups means each group works on its own but sees the members of other groups (and their activities, but only with reading permission).
Help & Contact
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