Introduction
In this article we will walk you through how to use Group Formation from the perspective of a teacher.
Tool In Action
Overall student progress
When entering a Group Formation activity, the first thing that teachers will see at the top of the page will be the Overall student progress.
Overall student progress dashboard, displaying student and cohort data.
In this step, teachers can oversee the progress of the survey to ensure its smooth execution. They have access to real-time data and analytics, allowing them to track how many students have participated, identify any potential issues, and ensure that the survey is progressing as intended.
By clicking on Export analytics, teachers can download all the data and results of the survey in an .xlsx format.
Group Formation
In this step, teachers can configure the groups, manage deadlines, view the survey questions and the student progress.
Before configuring the groups, teachers can manage the deadlines by scheduling the opening/closing of the activity, or do it manually by pressing on Open now or Close now button. After closing the deadline, they can still Grant extension (read more about this feature here).
Group Formation step, displaying different interactive options: configuring groups, deadlines, viewing survey questions and data.
They can also view the survey questions by clicking on View, and see the student progress and check at a glance answers per student. Teachers can always click Fullscreen to view the dashboard and the data more comfortably.
Once all students have completed the survey, or when the deadline has arrived, teachers can click on the Configure groups button to set up their groups. The next window will appear. Again, the student progress and answers will be visible for reference when forming the groups.
Configuring groups window, before clicking on Form groups.
Once a teacher clicks on the Form groups button, students will be assigned to a group.
This suggestion can be manually overriden by teachers. To do so, teachers only need to click on the allocated group in the column Group, and select a different one from the dropdown.
After forming the groups, teachers are able to manually modify the group allocations.
Please note that any students that:
Make no progress at all, e.g. do not answer the questions or do not open the assignment, will get grouped with all the other unactive students.
Who do not get grouped, for instance, because an uneven amount of groups and students, will need to be manually assigned to a group. Otherwise, teachers can return to the Edit mode and modify the group size before proceeding to form the groups again.
Using the groups
After automatically forming and, if needed, manually adjusting the groups, teachers can use the groups for other assignments within FeedbackFruits, other LMS assignments or in-person activities.
Students will not be notified by FeedbackFruits about which group they have been assigned to. This information will be exclusive for the teacher to choose how to use that group setting and how to disclose the information to the students.
Using the groups in FeedbackFruits assignments
The groups will appear per user within their groups when choosing Collaboration options in any FeedbackFruits assignment. The will appear named as the Group Formation assignment in which the groups have been set.
Publishing to the LMS
In the near future it will be possible to publish the formed groups into their LMSs and use them for all other assignments. This process differs per LMS:
Canvas/Instructure and D2L/Brightspace: teachers can easily import the formed groups by clicking on the button Publish to LMS. Please note that for this integration, institutions need to grant integration access before we provide access to the tool. Please ask your FeedbackFruits contact person for more information about this integration and its availability.
Publish to Canvas button
Please note that after publishing the groups to the LMS, it will not be possible to modify the groups via FeedbackFruits any longer. It will still be possible within the LMS.
Confirmation to publish to the LMS
Blackboard, Moodle, Teams and other LMSs: teachers can download an export with all the groups in the Overall students progress dashboard. This export can be imported to their LMS groups. Each LMS has unique export specifications. Therefore, please adjust the download export to align with the requirements of your LMS to ensure a successful import.
Good to Know
Teachers can manually override the group formation suggested by the tool.
After a teacher publishes the groups to the LMS, the groups cannot be modified via FeedbackFruits any longer.
Read more information about the Group Formation algorithm here.