Groups in eClass are useful for organizing and managing students in various ways, enhancing collaboration, customization, and efficiency. Groups enable:

• students to collaborate on activities such as forums, wikis, and assignments.
• focused discussion spaces, where each group can have their own discussion.
• instructors to set restrictions so only certain groups see specific materials or activities.
• assignments and quizzes to be filtered by group, making grading easier.
• instructors to divide large cohorts into smaller groups to make communication and monitoring more manageable.
• teachers to be assigned to specific groups, allowing for multi-instructor courses with shared responsibilities.

You can manually add users to a group, or automatically have them allocated by using the auto-create option within eClass. 

How to create a group manually

1. Click Participants in the course navigation bar on the course home page.

   
   

2.  On the Participants page select Groups from the Enrolled users drop down menu.
   

   
   

3. The Groups page appears containing two columns. The left pane displays the groups in the course (initially empty). The right pane will display a list of the assigned group members in each group. Select the Create group button below the panes to set up a new group.
   

   
   

4. Enter a required name in the Group name field. An optional ID and description can also be included.
   
   
5. Set up Group Messaging for your students so they can send messages to each other using the Messaging tool in eClass.
   
   
6. Click the Save changes button to add the new group and return to Groups page. Repeat steps 3-6 to create additional groups.

Add users to your group

1. From the groups page, select the group you wish to add users to and click Add/remove users
   

   
   

2. Select or use the Search option and then click the name of the user to add from the Potential members list on the right. You can select more than one user by Ctrl+Click (Windows PC) or Cmd+Click (Mac). Once the user(s) is selected, click the Add button to move the user(s) into the group.
   

   
   
   

3. Repeat adding users as necessary. To remove a user from the Group members list, click the name of the user(s) with the left pane and then click the Remove button.
   
   
4. Click Back to groups when you have finished adding users to the group

Create your groups based on primary meets (e.g TUTR, LAB)

Once you have created groups based on primary meets, group members will sync overnight to reflect any changes to tutorial enrollment.

Auto-create groups based on primary meets is only available for the following course types: BLEN, LECI, LECT, ONLI, REMT and STDO.

1. Click Participants in the top menu bar on the course home page.
   
2. On the Participants page select Groups from the Enrolled users drop down menu.
   

   
   

3. The Groups page appears containing two columns. The left pane displays the groups in the course (initially empty). The right pane will display a list of the assigned group members in each group. Click the Auto-create groups button. The Auto-create groups options window appears.
   
4. Choose to create groups based on Meeting (e.g TUTR, LAB)

   
   

5. Click the Preview button to see a preview of groups and their members before finalizing the process. The preview will appear below the General section.
   
   
6. Click the Submit button to complete the process.

Create your groups based on specified number of groups/members

1. Click Participants in the top menu bar on the course home page.
2. On the Participants page select Groups from the Enrolled users drop down menu.

   
   

3. The Groups page appears containing two columns. The left pane displays the groups in the course (initially empty). The right pane will display a list of the assigned group members in each group. Select the Auto-create groups button below the panes. The Auto-create groups options window appears.
   
   
4. Choose to create groups based on a specific Number of groups or by Number of members in each group in the Auto create based on the drop-down list.
5. Change the Naming scheme if required.
   The @ symbol is used to create groups with names containing letters. For example "Group @" will generate groups named Group A, Group B, Group C, etc. The # symbol is used to create groups with names containing numbers. For example "Group #" will generate groups named Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, etc. The default name “Group” can also be changed by replacing it with your preferred term (e.g., "Lab @").
   
   
6. Enter a required value in the Group/member count field. This relates to the choice made in the previous step.
   
   
7. To add any new students to groups overnight, select the checkbox When a new student is enrolled in my course, automatically add them to a group.
   
   
8. Choose the role type for membership from the Select members with role drop-down list.
   
   
9. Use the Allocate members drop-down menu (within Group members settings) and choose how you want members allocated to groups. (If students will be selecting their own groups, select No allocation).
   
   
10. Select Prevent last small group if you are creating groups based on Members per group and prefer that groups have more than the specified number of members rather than a last group with fewer members.
    
    
11. Select the grouping name from the Grouping of Auto-created groups drop-down list if the new auto-created groups are to be linked to an existing Grouping.  If Groupings do not exist, you can enter a name in the Grouping name field to have it automatically created. If a Grouping will not be used, you can leave this field blank.
    
    
12. Click the Preview button to see the groups and membership before finalizing the process. The preview will appear below the configuration settings.
    
    
13. Click the Submit button to complete the process.