Here’s a topic from the Working with Groups in D2L workshop: Did you know that you can have students self-select into groups?
Why might you want to do this?
Well, imagine a scenario where you had a variety of possible topics for group discussion and/or group presentation or assignment submission, but you wanted to give students the option of choosing which topic they wanted to contribute to and work with. Use one of the self-enrolment options to create a set of groups, one for each topic, and let students choose which one to enrol in!
The group self-enrolment options you have in D2L are:
- Groups of # – Self Enrolment
- # of Groups – Self Enrolment
- # of Groups, Capacity of # – Self Enrolment
Note that after they self-enrol in a groups, students will have the option of leaving one group and enrolling in another if they change their mind about which group they want to work with.
Also note that in each case, you can set a self-enrolment expiry date and ask D2L to enrol any student who has not self-enrolled into a group into a group automatically (select Set Self Enrollment Expiry Date, and Allocate unenrolled users after Self Enrollment Expiry Date). In addition, once this date has passed, students can no longer leave one group and enrol in another.
Let’s look at each of these in turn.
Groups of # – Self Enrolment
With this option, you would be telling D2L how many students should be in each group. How this works is that students will enrol themselves in the group they want, and when it is full it will no longer be open for enrolment. The number of groups initially created will be the number of students in the course divided by the maximum number of students each group can contain (you can add additional groups later if you like) This is a good option for when you want to control the maximum number of students in each group.
*Note: If students are not enrolled in your course site yet, then only one group is initially created. You can use the Edit Category page to add additional groups. You might want to add additional groups even if students are already enrolled to ensure all students have options when forming groups.
# of Groups – Self Enrolment
With this option, you would be telling D2L how many group you want in this category. How this works is that students will enrol themselves in the group they want. Remember that this option is based on an established number of groups, so you may end up in a situation where more students enrol in one group than in the others.
# of Groups, Capacity of # – Self Enrolment
With this option, you would be telling D2L both how many groups there should be AND how many students should be in each group. How this works is that students will enrol themselves in the group they want, and when it is full it will no longer be open for enrolment. You will need to make sure that you have the right number of groups for the number of students in your class (given the group number limit you have assigned).
Here is what these self-enrolment options look like to students:
Want to know more? Contact desupport@camosun.ca to book an appointment with an instructional designer!