Setting up groups for classes in Brightspace can take a lot of time as you need to assign each student to the right group. However, it is possible to set the groups up for self enrollment so students can enroll for the right group themselves, be it a class or a project group.
How can you set up self enrollment groups and share the link for your students in your course?
Here is a step by step guide on how to create self enrollment groups which can be used to create subgroups or sub-classes in your course.
You need to take the following steps. Clicking on the step below takes you to that part of this article.
2. Create a link for your students so they can enroll for the Group
1. Create Groups
- Go to Course Admin --> Groups
- Click on New Category
- Give a name to the category (e.g. 'classes' or 'project groups') and provide a description.
- Under Enrollment Type select: Groups of # - Self Enrollment or # of Groups - Self Enrollment or # of Groups, Capacity of # - Self Enrollment (where # means number of students in the group in the first case, number of groups in the second case, and number of groups with a capacity of number of students in the third)
- Click on Save and wait for the groups to be created.
2. Create a link so students can self-enroll for the groups
Do you want to share the link to self-enrollment in the content of your course?
We recommend to add the link to self-enrollment in one of the first pages of your content. Explain to your students why you ask them to enroll for the right group, for example because they have to collaborate in these groups or to make it easier for the groups' instructor to find the group/class.
Here is how you can add the link to your content:
- Go to Content
- Do you want to add the link in an existing page? Go to the page, click the three dots on the upper right and select Edit. Go to step 4.
- Do you want to create a new page? Click on Create New --> New HTML File
- Click on Insert Quick link
- Scroll down and select Self-Enrollment Groups
- Choose the group(s) for which you want to share the link
- Click Save and Close
Repeat the steps above to create multiple links
Your students will now have two options to self enroll:
- Go to groups and Click on Join group;
- Click on the link you shared in the content of the course and enroll in the group.
Remember: by default users cannot enroll in more than group of the same category. Students will also be able to leave the group at any point in time.
Note: even if you set up self-enrollment groups you will still be able to manage students' enrollments.
Go to Course Tools --> Groups and look for the group you are interested in.
Click on the group and the edit screen will appear. Here you can still choose Enroll Users to add or remove students, or View enrollments to see the students.
Click on Enroll Users. You will now see all students that can be enrolled in the group. A check in the box means that the student is already enrolled in this group. Also have a look at How can I manage Group Enrollments within my Course? for more information.