New: Single user member specific groups

There is a new group enrollment type called Single user, member specific groups.


Have you ever wanted to make a specific item available to a student exclusively, or wanted to have discussions between yourself and only one student to reflect on learning or carry on a semester long project?


You can now use Single user, member specific groups to do just that.


Using this group category creates a group with a single user where the first name and last name of the student is the name of the group. When a new student is enrolled in the course a new group is automatically created for them. Instructors no longer need to rename groups of one.

Improvements to the Groups Tool

Several improvements to the Groups tool will take effect on June 17th in BOLT.

 

Save time in BOLT with these improvements:

 

Automatic creation of discussion topics for new groups.

If you have set up discussion areas for groups in a category, and new groups are created as new students enroll in the course, discussion topics for those groups will be created automatically.

 

Automatic descriptive naming of discussion topics.

If you choose to set up discussion areas for groups in the Groups tool, topics will automatically be named in the format [Category Name] - [Group Prefix] #.

 

For example, if you have a category with 3 groups called Research Project and a Group prefix of Team, your discussion topics would be:

• Research Project - Team 1
• Research Project - Team 2
• Research Project - Team 3

Groups – Enhancements to improve usability and administration

Arriving September 18, 2015, enhancements have been made to the Groups tool that enable learners to join groups more easily, and give instructors and administrators the option to set up and manage groups more efficiently. The enhancements are as follows:

• When creating or editing a group category, the Enrollment Type called # of Groups of # - Self Enrollment has been changed to # of Groups, Capacity of # - Self Enrollment to clarify its usage. 
• When creating or editing a group category, a Group Prefix field is now present. 

New Category page in Groups tool showing new enrollment type and group prefix

• When creating or editing a group category that supports self enrollment, a Set Self Enrollment Expiry Date option is now available. 
• When creating or editing a category, and when Set Self Enrollment Expiry Date is selected, the Allocate unenrolled users after Self Enrollment Expiry Date option can also be selected. 

Self Enrollment options available when editing a Category

• Once a category and groups with capacities have been created, capacity markers display (in the form x/y where x is the number of enrolled students and y is the capacity).
• Students can now see the names of the members of each group before they enroll. 
• Students can now leave a group after they have self enrolled if they choose to enroll into a different group.