Introduction

In this article we will walk you through how to use Group Formation from the perspective of a teacher.

If you’d like more information on how this tool works, you can check out other articles here:

• Group Formation: For Teachers (Active Assignment)

• Group Formation: For Students

• Group Formation: Overview

• Group Formation: Algorithm Explainer

   

Tool In Action

How this article is structured

This article walks you through the steps of an Group Formation activity, following the same flow as the tool itself. It will describe the process of setting up the assignment. This refers to what you can configure before the assignment is published, such as instructions, settings, deadlines, and grouping rules. Students cannot access the activity at this stage. You can still edit some settings after publishing; however, once students start making progress, certain options may be locked to protect their work and data. Wherever this applies, the article will clearly note it.

Note: When you open a published activity, you’ll land on the Active Assignment view by default. To return to the setup view after publishing, click Edit in the upper-left corner of the activity.
You can see the article about the Active Assignment view of this tool here.

Accessibility

We're devoted to making our tools as accessible as possible for all learners - to read more about accessibility in FeedbackFruits tools, check this article: Accessibility: Within FeedbackFruits Tools.

How It Works

Group Formation works by providing students with a set of questions, in a survey fashion, regarding their group work preferences, availability, skills... These questions have been set up by their teacher. Depending on how they answer to these questions, students will be grouped with other peers who answered similarly (to ensure compatibility) or differently (to complement each other). Read more about the algorithm 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

Directly underneath the instructions, you can select options for 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.

You will see different options when selecting between Canvas/Brightspace or other LMS - we'll outline the differences below. 

When choosing a grouping method, there are two configurations available: Within all students enrolled in the course, and Within selected groups.

To select pre-existing LMS groups, choose Within selected groups. After selecting the groups or sections that will participate in the activity, click Done.

If you're not using FeedbackFruits with an LMS, please check this article on importing groups.

Step 2: Group formation

In this step, you can fine-tune the tool settings to align with their specific group-forming requirements. There are three main settings to configure: Survey questions, Number of students per group, and Scheduling deadlines.

Survey questions

By clicking on Configure, you can set up the question cards that will compose the Group Formation tool survey.

To add a question, you can click on the + icon at the bottom of the screen. The tool will offer two options: Multiple choice question, or Open question. Looking for some inspiration to get started? Check out our sample questions.

Multiple choice questions:

When adding this type of question, the following screen will appear (see picture below).
At the top of the question card, you can type the question. When clicking on the paper clip icon on the right side, you can also add an attachment (such as a graph, picture, or document), to be displayed along with the question.

When creating a multiple choice questions question, you will be able to edit the Settings per question:

• Allow students to select multiple answers

• Group students similarly/differently

• Question importance

  

  Multiple answers can be selected: when enabling this toggle, students will be able to select more than one option within a Multiple choice question.

  Group students based on answering this question similar/dissimilar: depending on this set up, students will be grouped with other peers who have answered this question similarly to them, or differently than them. Please note: this setting applies to every individual question, not to the entire survey.

  Question importance: you can prioritize some questions by assigning each question a level of importance. Here, you can select the importance of a question on a scale from 0 (ignored) to 5 (highest). Depending on the given importance, the question answers will have a bigger or smaller impact on the final group creating. Students will be informed of the question importance when answering each question.

  

   

  

Underneath, answers can be entered by clicking on Add answer. You can also add an attachment per answer by clicking on the paper clip icon. If needed, questions can be removed by clicking on the bin icon. When finishing writing the question, you must click the Save button.

Open Questions:

When adding an open question card, you can type the question in the text box, and if wanted, add an attachment by clicking on the paper clip icon. When finishing writing the question, you must click the Save button. For this type of question, there are no additional settings needed.

Note: Open-ended question responses cannot be processed by the algorithm and are intended for the teacher to review and assess.

To edit a question card, teachers can access the editor by clicking on the Edit button on the top right corner of a saved card.

To delete a question card, teachers can click on the three dots button at the top right corner of a saved card, or while in the question card editor. 

Number of students per group

In this setting you can indicate how many students should there be per group, so the algorithm groups them accordingly.

Please note that:

1. Students who 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 inactive students. 

2. 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.

Scheduling Deadlines

If you want to Decide when students start and stop having access, even during class, you can turn on the deadlines toggle. You will have the flexibility to decide when students can commence and conclude the task by picking a date and time. It is also possible to manually initiate and conclude the process once you exit the Edit mode.

When done configuring the Group Formation, it is crucial to click the Save button at the top right corner of the screen. 
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Good to Know

• Group Formation can be used in all LMS compatible with FeedbackFruits. 

• You can also synchronize groups with D2L/Brightspace, Canvas Instructure, Moodle and Blackboard - please ask your FeedbackFruits partner for more information on this functionality and setting it up. 

• Read more information about the Group Formation algorithm here.