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Assign an Activity to a Group Moodle

Using Groups in Moodle, you can assign a particular activity (or all course activities) to groups of students. Groups can be especially useful for activities where students interact. With forums, wikis, and databases, students in the same group can post and reply only to each other. Each group member always works in their own group, but you can control whether or not they can see other groups.

With assignment activities, there are two ways to use groups:

  • Each student in a group submits individually
    If you follow the instructions below for an assignment activity, each student will make their own submission(s), and will not be able to interact or see other student's postings. If you want students to be able to see each other's work, consider using a forum, wiki, or database instead of an assignment.
  • A group of students’ works together to make a common assignment submission
    See Configure & Grade Group Assignments in Moodle if you want students in a group to make a common submission that represents their joint work. The group submission will not be visible to other groups. If you want students to be able to see each other's work, consider using a forum, wiki, or database instead of an assignment.

Assign a Specific Activity to Groups

Follow the steps below when you want to assign an activity to only one group if students in a course, for example when creating an activity for only one section of a multi-section course, such as an honors or graduate section.

  1. To assign a specific activity to a group of students, you must first set up a grouping with a single group.
  2. On your Moodle course page, click Turn editing on (top right). Editing icons and links will appear.

  1. Add the activity you want to assign to groups, or if the activity has already been added, click its Edit icon (). Then EditSettings page for the activity will open.
  2. ClickCommon module settingsto view and adjust the settings.
  1. In theGroup modedrop-down menu, select eitherno groups, separategroupsorvisible groups.
  2. Visible groupsallows non-group members to see the work of other groups
  3. Separate groupsallows only group members to see work within the group

  1. In theGroupingdrop-down menu, select thename of the groupingyou wish to use.
  2. (Optional) To prevent students who are not in the grouping from seeing the activity link, selectAvailable for group members only.
  3. To preserve your changes, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.

Group Mode Icons

Note: Once you have added an activity, when editing is on, a Group mode icon shows on your course page after the link to the activity. If you click the icon, the Group mode will toggle through 3 states:

No groups: In collaborative spaces such as Forums or Wikis, everyone can see what others are posting. For Assignments, Quizzes, and other individually submitted activities, all students are assigned the same activity.

Separate groups: In collaborative spaces such as Forums or Wikis, only the members of the group (and instructors) can view submissions.

Visible groups: In collaborative spaces such as Forums or Wikis, group members can contribute only to their own group, but can view submissions made by other groups.

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Configure & Grade Group Assignments in Moodle

In Moodle you can create assignments where students submit work together in groups. For example, students in a group can submit one file that represents their joint work.

Note:This is distinct from the "Separate Groups" or "Visible Groups" options that control how students see other groups' submissions for a particular assignment

Enable Group Submission

  1. On your course page, clickTurn editing on (top right). Editing icons and links will appear.
  1. Add a new assignment activity, or click the Editicon () next to an assignment activity to configure. The New/Update Assignment page will open.
  2. Click on Group submission settingsand from the Students submit in groups drop-down menu, select Yes.
  3. Click onCommon module settings and from the Group mode drop-down menu, select Separate groups..
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and clickSave and return to course.

Grade Student Submissions

  1. On your course page, click the link to the assignment activity you want to grade. The Assignment page will open, showing the Grading summary and Submission status.
  2. ClickView/grade all submissions. The Assignment submissions page will open.

  1. From the Separate groups drop-down menu, select a Group to grade. The page will reload to show only the students from that Group.
  1. Click the Gradeicon () next to a specific student's submission from the Group. The submission Grading page will open.
  2. Provide a grade and feedback comments as you would normally.
  3. If you would like your grade and feedback to only be provided for an individual student, set theApply grades and feedback to entire group setting toNo. If set to Yes, the same grade and feedback will to be applied to all students in the group.
  4. Scroll down to the bottom and clickSave changes.