Groups

What is Possible with ICON’s Groups Tool?

• Divide the users in a course into groups, which you may assign manually or have ICON assign at random.
• Create workspaces for the groups, such as discussion boards and dropboxes.
• Restrict access to content, quizzes, discussion boards, and other areas of your site based on group enrollment.

Note: In earlier versions of ICON, the management of groups was handled in the classlist. Now, there is a dedicated tool for creating and managing groups.

12 May 2008

What's New in 8.3?

• Group Workspaces
  • Instructors can now create shared lockers, dropbox folders, and discussion topics for groups.
  • Workspace creation is integrated into the group setup page for more convenient setup.
• Student View
  • The Groups tool now includes a student view that provides a central place for students to see their groups, contact group members, access discussions, lockers, and dropbox folders, and sign up for self-enrollment groups.
• Automatic Enrollment of New Participants
  • When a group is configured for automatic enrollment, instructors now have the option to automatically enroll new participants who join the course after the group is created.

22 May 2008

Known Issues

22 May 2008

Creating Groups

Creating Groups

You can restrict access to discussions, news postings, checklists, content modules or other course components to a selected group or category of groups.

1. Click Groups in the Navbar.

   Note: The Groups tool is not automatically visible in your Navbar. You will need to add it. See the Online Help section Changing the NavBar.

2. Create a group category (all groups must be in a category). Click Create Group Category (top) . If you already have one or more categories set up, click New Category (top).
3. Enter a Category name (e.g., Case Study Discussion Groups) and description (optional).
4. To populate the group, select one of the following from the Enrollment Type dropdown list:

If you plan to enroll students into groups manually:

1. Select # of Groups - No Auto Enrollments.
2. Enter your desired Number of Groups. ICON will create the groups without adding members.
3. If you wish, you can select one or both of the following workplace options:
   • Setup Discussion Areas - ICON will create a Discussion forum (or you can use an existing one) and the same number Topics (sub-forums), as there are groups in this category.
   • Setup Dropbox - ICON will create only one assignment Dropbox folder for all groups in the category.
4. Click Create. If you selected any workspaces, you will be prompted for details. For each workspace type you selected, enter your responses and click Done.
5. Click Enroll Users (top).
6. If you realize you need more groups than you originally chose, you can add more by clicking Add Group.
7. Click in the checkboxes to select the members for each group ICON created and click Save.

If you want ICON to enroll students for you:

1. Specify either the maximum number of students in each group (Groups of #) OR the desired number of groups (# of Groups).
2. In the Number of Users or Number of Groups textbox, enter the desired number of students or groups. 
3. Check the box(es) to indicate whether or not ICON should automatically place a student who joins the course later into the smallest group (Auto-Enroll New Users) and whether ICON should choose the enrollments randomly (Randomize users in Groups). If you leave the Randomize box unchecked, ICON will place the first names in the listing in the first group, etc.
4. If you wish, you can select one or both of the following workplace options:
   • Setup Discussion Areas - ICON will create a Discussion forum (or you can use an existing one) and the same number Topics (sub-forums), as there are groups in this category.
   • Setup Dropbox - ICON will create only one assignment Dropbox folder for all groups in the category.
5. Click Create. If you selected any workspaces, you will be prompted for details. For each workspace type you selected, enter your responses and click Done.
6. Click Save. ICON will create the groups and enroll students automatically.
7. To view the groups, click Category List (top) and then click on the group numbers in the Members column.

If you want students to enroll themselves:

1. Specify either the maximum number of students in each group (# of Groups - Self Enrollment ) OR the desired number of groups (# of Groups - Self Enrollment).
2. In the Number of Users/Number of Groups textbox, type the desired number of students or groups.
3. If you wish, you can select one or both of the following workplace options:
   • Setup Discussion Areas - ICON will create a Discussion forum (or you can use an existing one) and the same number Topics (sub-forums), as there are groups in this category.
   • Setup Dropbox - ICON will create only one assignment Dropbox folder for all groups in the category.
4. Click Create. If you selected any workspaces, you will be prompted for details. For each workspace type you selected, enter your responses and click Done.
5. Click Create.  ICON will create the groups, and students can enroll themselves following the steps outlined under Groups in the online Student Guide to ICON.
6. Click Save.
7. To view the groups, click Category List (top). The Members column will display all zeros until students enroll themselves.

Editing Group Categories or Groups

To change the group or category name or description:

1. Click Groups in the Navbar.
2. From the View Categories dropdown menu, choose the category that contains the group you'd like to edit.
3. Click the name in the listing.
4. Enter a new name or description and click Save.

To add additional groups to a category:

1. Click Groups in the Navbar.
2. Click the icon under Actions (at right).

To add additional users to groups:

1. Click Groups in the Navbar
2. Click the icon under Actions (on the right).

29 May 2008