Groups in Aula help you organise students into smaller teams for projects and collaboration. When you create groups, you can also automatically set up matching group conversations, so students can easily communicate in their Messages panel.
- Create Set of Groups
- Create Groups
- Conversations in Groups
- Edit Groups
- Search for Participants
- Export Group Sets
Create Set of Groups
- Navigate to your Space and click on the Groups tile.
- Click on the '+ New group set' button in the top left.
- Enter the name of the set.
- If you want to hide the set from students, enable the Hide group set from students toggle.
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Confirm by clicking on the Submit button.
Create Groups
You can create groups in three different ways:
Create groups manually
Auto-generate groups
Upload a CSV file to create groups
The sections below explain each of the three group creation options in more detail.
Note
Be mindful of sensitive information when naming groups. Group names are visible to students by default, so avoid using any confidential or internal information that should not be shared with students.
Create Groups Manually
This option allows you to create groups manually and select specific students for each group. This is often best for small cohorts.
In the newly created Group set, click Add new group to the set.
Enter a name for the group.
Search for the participants and click the + icon to add them.
Click Next.
Click Create group.
Repeat these steps to create as many groups as needed.
Auto-Generate Groups
This option automatically creates groups and randomly assigns students across them.
In the newly created Group set, click Auto-generate groups.
Enter the number of groups you would like to create. The system will automatically distribute students evenly and randomly across the groups.
Click Create groups.
Upload a CSV File to Create Groups
In the newly created Group set, click Create groups with a CSV file.
Upload a CSV file containing two columns:
- Group name
- Student emailTo obtain student email addresses, go to the Participants tile and download the list of students. The downloaded file includes a Student email column.
Click Next.
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Select the column from the CSV file that should be used for:
- Participant email addresses
- Group names Click Create groups.
Conversations in Groups
While creating groups, you can also create group conversations to support collaboration and peer interaction:
Click the three dots next to the group name.
Select Create group conversation.
If you want educators to be included in the conversation, enable the toggle Add educators in this group to conversations.
Click Create conversation.
The group conversation will appear at the top of the conversations in Messages. Repeat this process on each group.
Note
If a student is added to an ongoing group conversation, they will only be able to see messages sent after they joined the conversation. Previous conversation history will not be visible to them.
Edit Groups
Once groups have been created, you can rename groups or add/remove participants:
- Click the three dots next to the group name.
- Click the pencil icon to edit the group.
- Make the required changes and click Save.
Search for Participants
You can search for participants in groups using any of the following:
First name
Last name
Full name (first and last)
Student ID (if supplied by the institution)
Email address
To search for a participant:
In the Groups tile, click the Search for participants box.
Type the participant’s name, ID, or email address.
Export Group Sets
You can export your group sets as a CSV file directly from your Aula space. The exported file lists participants organised by group.
To export a group set:
Find the group set you want to export.
Click the Download CSV icon in the top-right corner of that group set.