Introduction
In this article we will walk you through how to use Group Formation from the perspective of a teacher.
To read more about how our Group Formation algorithm works, please check this article:
Known Issue - "0 Groups Published" in Canvas
We are aware of issues with publishing groups using the Group Formation tool (seeing "0 groups published" in the dialog with a greyed-out publishing button).
This occurs when a user copies a Group Formation activity where groups were once published and doesn't change the title of the newly copied activity - Canvas doesn't allow 2 group sets to be published with the same name, so the groups will not be published.
We are working on a fix - in the meantime, please ensure each Group Formation activity is published with a unique name.
Group Formation 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.
Teachers can also export analytics of student progress within the tool - read more about the data provided in the export here:
Step 1: Instructions
Here you can add any instructions your students may need to guide them through the group formation survey and set up your collaboration options for the assignment.
Student Collaboration: Here you can change the grouping method used and which groups from your LMS you want to participate. Click change to change the grouping method used - you can pick between form groups within selected groups or within all students enrolled in the course - and select groups to choose the groups to sync from your LMS.
Note: Within selected groups is currently only available in Canvas and Brightspace.
If you select within selected groups, you will be prompted to select groups to participate.
When you click select groups, you will be directed to the groups synced from your LMS - in this case, we are using Canvas.
From here, you will have 3 options to divide these students into groups: manually divide students in groups, automatically divide students in groups or paste groups from CSV.
Manually Divide Students in Groups
If you select this option, you'll be prompted to select:
Number of groups: adjust this to the number of groups you wish to end up with (e.g. if you would like groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, you would select 5 here).
Students who join the course later will be assigned to a group: You can choose whether to have late joiners manually or automatically assigned to a group.
All students have been assigned to a group: here you will be able to assign students to groups, see what students have been enrolled into groups and which have not yet accepted the invitation to participate.
You can also adjust whether you wish to automatically assign all students or reset all your currently set groups (start from scratch).
Click done once you're happy with your configuration options to add them to the assignment.
Automatically Divide Students in Groups
Your options here are to select a number of groups to divide students into and choose whether or not late joiners to the assignment will be added to a group manually or automatically.
Paste Groups from CSV
Note: this feature is only available if you are using our standalone platform and not directly from the LMS. You will not be able to use this feature if your FeedbackFruits integration runs through any third party integration (E.g. Canvas, Brightspace, Moodle).
If you're pasting groups from a CSV file, please make sure that you add one email addres and one group name per line. After adding this information, the groups will be automatically created and filled.
Note: the added email addresses will be automatically added to the assignment without an invitation being sent, so please double check the emails before clicking next.
Once you have pasted the CSV, you will be able to configure your group settings in the same way as manually configure groups above.
Step 2: Group Formation
Setting Up
In this step, teachers can configure the group size, 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 choose to extend the deadline by clicking Grant extension (read more about this feature here).
Teachers can also add different weight to the importance of the survey answers. This allow for more nuance in the assigned groups of students. The importance scale runs from 0-5 - a question assigned 0 importance could be something the teacher wants to know but won't take into consideration for the grouping. 5 importance is critically necessary for the intended group options.
Question-Level Grouping Preference: Teachers decide whether they want students to be grouped based on similarities or dissimilarities on the individual question level.
Multiple Answers: In scenarios where selecting multiple answers is allowed for a question, all answer contributes to the similarity or dissimilarity score.
To read more about how our grouping algorithm works, please check this article:
Active Assignment
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 choose to extend the deadline by clicking 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 overridden 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 LMS 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.