Using Groups in Brightspace

This article is part of the LMS WEEKLY UPDATE series.

There are times when you would like your students to collaborate on activities and assignments, and this is when the Groups tool in Brightspace is very helpful.

How do I set up groups?

Whatch this video by D2L on How to Create a Group to view step by step instructions on how to create a group category and groups (Activities/Groups/New Category)

How many group enrollment options do I have?

You have the options to allow the students to self enroll in groups, or you can add them manually into each group. Watch an overview of group enrollment options.

How do I manually enroll my students into groups?

Once your groups are created, click on each group and then on Enroll Users.

How do my students submit their project when they work in groups?

You set up an assignment from Activities/Assignments and make it available for a group category. Whatch this video by D2L on How to Create an Assignment to learn how to create an assignment.

Some of my students can not access a group assignment

On the Manage Group page, from the contextual menu for the group category, choose Enroll Users. The next screen will display all your students on one page, and the group they belong to. This view will help you quickly identify students who are not part of any group.

I have two different projects in my course and students are collaborating with different classmates for each project. How do I deal with this?

You will just need to create a different group category for each project.

I have all my groups created, but I need to add an extra group to a group category.

On the Manage Groups page, click on the chevron beside the category’s name and then on Add Group