Make Groups in Moodle

Creating groups through Moodle is an excellent was to organize your course for group projects and other events. Follow the article below to learn how to create different types of groups. For information beyond this article, please visit Moodle documentation here.

1. Navigate to the course where you would like to create groups. Select "Participants".

2. From the drop-down menu, select "Groups".

3. Select your group creation method.

• Create group: This will create one group for you, and you will have to manually add users to this group.
• Auto-create groups: This will have Moodle randomly create groups for you.
• Import groups: Use this to import any groups you may have saved from previous course backups.

4. Configure your requested group type. Make sure to save the group once you are finished.

A. If you selected "Create groups", you will manually configure one group.

• Group name: Enter the group name. This will be the identifier for that group, so choose a name that will make sense to you and/or other instructors. If students can see or self-assign these groups, please ensure that names are easy for students to understand.
• Group description: If a group description is necessary, please enter that here.
• Enrollment key: You can enter an optional enrollment key here. This will restrict the group to only people who have that key. If someone uses that enrollment key, it will make them a part of the course as well as that group.
• Group messaging: If enabled, group members can send each other messages through Moodle.
• New picture: Upload a photo if necessary.

B. If you selected "Auto-create groups", you will configure multiple groups at the same time.

• Naming scheme: This will set how your groups are named. The at symbol (@) may be used to create groups with names containing letters (for example Group @ will generate groups named Group A, Group B, Group C, etc). The hash symbol (#) may be used to create groups with names containing numbers (for example Group # will generate groups named Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, etc).
• Auto create based on: Decide if you would like the groups created based on the number of groups or the amount of members per group.
• Group/member count: Indicate the amount of groups to be created, or the amount of members that should be in each group. This is based on the "Auto create" selection above.
• Group messaging: If enabled, group members can send each other messages through Moodle.
• Select members with role: Select which members of the course should be in the groups; students, teachers, etc.
• Select members from group: If enabled, you can use this to create subgroups from another group.
• Allocate members: You can allocate members randomly, alphabetically, etc.
  • Prevent last small group: If checked, this will prevent one of the groups from being excessively smaller than the others. If the last group would be smaller than 70% of the expected size, it will not be created. Instead, Moodle will allocate additional members to existing groups rather than create a new group with few members.
  • Ignore users in groups: If checked, this group auto-creation will only select group members from users that are NOT already in a group in the course.

C.If you selected "Import groups", you will import groups using a backup file.

• Use the drop box to drag and drop a file, or click the "Choose a file" button to browse files on your computer.

5. If needed, configure the members for your groups.

A. If you manually created groups using "Create groups", select the group you would like to add members in. In the adjacent box, you will see the name of the group which you are configuring. If you auto-created groups and would like to edit them, select and edit your groups in the same way.

B. All users within the group will be shown in the rightmost box. An empty group will show no names. Click "Add/remove users" to add users. You can also use this to remove users later.

C. Select users, or search for them using the search bar. Once you have selected the user, use the "Add" button to add them to the group. Removing users from the group is done by selecting them, and then clicking "Remove".

D. Select "Back to groups" once you are done. Your edits will be saved automatically.

6. To edit group settings or delete a group, select the group and then click "Edit group settings" or "Delete selected group" below.