Overview of Section Groups

Section Groups allow for consistent groups between classes and assignments, while only needing the groups to be set up once (e.g. before the start of a course).

Accessing Section Groups in Forum

To view Section Groups in Forum, instructors can navigate to their course and select Edit Section.

Section Groups appear at the bottom of the page.

Students are automatically placed into a Section Group but can be moved by clicking the drag handle and then dragging the student to the desired group.

To add a Section Group click Add Group and drag students to this new empty group. To remove this group, click Remove Group. This button will only be visible on the last group in the list, and will only appear if there are no students in a group. If you would like to remove a group with students, move the students to other groups, and then click Remove Group.

Note: Group numbers will always start from one. If empty groups show up on the section edit page, this will generate empty breakouts in the classroom (except for empty groups at the end, which will be ignored).

Using Section Groups in Forum Classrooms

A lesson plan may be published with breakouts grouped by Section Groups.

To use these groupings ad-hoc in the classroom, create a new breakout from the right sidebar and select Section groups in the list.

Note: Once a breakout session is in progress, changes made on the Section Edit page with the drag and drop will not be reflected in the current session, but will take effect at the next breakout using section groups.

Section-based Assignment Groups

Group assignments can also be managed through Section Groups. Please visit Navigating Group Assignments for more information.

If a student is added to the class after it starts, they will automatically be added to the least populated Section Group in the class.

If a student switches sections, they will be removed from their current group and added to a new group in the new section.

In both of the above cases, there is no automatic balancing of students amongst groups. Therefore, it is advisable to check the groups on the Section Edit page and balance them manually as needed.

Students can view their section group by visiting the Section page and clicking By Group tab of the Participants module. A student’s name is bolded in their own group (see below).