How do I use groups?

Groups are subsets of participants for a given site. Groups can be created on an ad-hoc basis by instructors in course sites or by owners or administrators in collaboration sites. Groups are useful to organize study groups, project teams, and other non-official subsets of site participants. In course sites, each course roster section behaves like a group. i.e., group-aware tools recognize the section as a group.

You can use groups to make site content available to specific site participants.  For example, a private announcement can be made available to a group and email notification can be sent to members of that group.  You can also use groups to create group assignments, or limit access to a test or quiz with settings for specific groups.

For information on creating and editing groups, see How do I create groups?

Note: If an assignment or assessment has been released to specific groups, changing which groups have access to the assignment, or modifying/deleting a group after students have begun work is not allowed.

Which tools use groups?

You can use groups with the tools listed below.  The descriptions of how groups can be used are linked to Help articles that show how to enable group access.

Assignments

  1. Create group assignments, where one member of the group submits on behalf of the group (pictured above).
  2. Restrict access to an assignment to specific groups.

Note: If an assignment has been created as a group assignment or released to groups, changing the groups who can submit it, or modifying or deleting a group after students have begun work on the assignment is not allowed.