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How do I manage groups as a Teacher?

Groups let you organize students into teams for collaborative work, differentiated assignments, and threaded discussions. This guide walks through creating group categories, setting up linked workspaces, managing enrollments, and editing or removing groups.

Creating a New Group Category

  1. From your course navbar, go to Course Admin (or Course Tools) and select Groups.
  2. Click New Category.
  3. Enter a Category Name and an optional Description.
  4. Choose an Enrollment Type from the dropdown:

          • # of Groups – No Auto Enrollments — you set the number of groups and add students manually.
          • Groups of # — Brightspace creates enough groups to fit a set number of students per group.
          • # of Groups — you set the number of groups and students are distributed automatically.
          • Groups of # – Self Enrollment — students choose their own group up to a set cap.
          • # of Groups – Self Enrollment — students self-select from a fixed number of groups.

                     

                    1. Enter the Number of Groups or Number of Users per group, depending on the type you chose.
                    2. Set enrollment options such as Auto-enroll new users and Randomize users in groups if desired.
                    3. In the same setup screen, check the boxes to create a linked Discussion area, Assignment submission folder, or Locker for each group.
                    4. Click Save. If you created workspaces, follow the prompts to configure each one, then Save again.
                    5. On the Groups page, use the View Categories dropdown to select your category.
                    6. Click Group Name to manually add or move students.
                    7. Check or uncheck the boxes next to student names under each group, then click Save.
                    8. To edit, click the dropdown arrow next to a category or group name and choose Edit Category or Edit Group.
                    9. To remove groups, select Delete from the category dropdown, choose the groups to delete, and confirm.

                        Setting Up Workspaces (Optional)

                            Managing Enrollments

                                  Editing or Deleting Groups

                                      Tips

                                      • Set up groups before linking them to graded activities so the connections carry through cleanly.
                                      • Self-enrollment groups let students pick their own teams which is useful for projects, but you should set a clear deadline.
                                      • Deleting a group category also removes its linked discussion forums and submission folders, so export any needed work first.