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Moodle Tip: Using groups

Monday, February 14, 2011

Using groups for an activity
Once you’ve set up your groups (click Groups link from Admin block), you can designate different activities (such as forums) be completed by groups when you set up the activities. There are three group options:

• No groups (default) - means only individual students will complete the activity
• Visible groups - groups of students will complete the activity PLUS be able to see the work of other groups (but not edit or contribute)
• Separate groups - groups of students will complete the activity AND no other groups can see their work.

If you use groups for an activity, students will access the activity by clicking on the activity link. This will take them directly to their group’s area for that activity.

Communicating with groups
Once you’ve set up your groups, you can send groups of students emails using the QuickMail block. QuickMail will detect the groups you’ve already created so you can designate groups to which to send an email.  (Note about QuickMail: When you use the QuickMail block, the formatting of the email doesn’t “stick” for those receiving the email. They end up only seeing one big paragraph of information.)

Another option for communicating with groups
Set up a separate forum for each group. When you need to communicate with them, post the message to their discussion board and select Mail now before you submit. Postings to a forum are usually received by students within the hour.