GoGuardian Teacher now supports one of our most requested features: student grouping. Student grouping allows teachers to visually organize and easily push tabs to, initiate calls, or exclude groups of students during GoGuardian Teacher sessions. Teachers now have the ability to customize the arrangement and ordering of their students' screens. This article addresses the following different aspects of student grouping:

  • Creating and editing groups

  • Student Group commands

  • Deleting a created group

  • Organizing sessions using grouping

Setting up Student Groups

Create Groups Modal

Click on the “Student Groups” button towards the top-right of the Screens view of an active classroom session to start assigning your groups.
 

 

The 'Student Groups' button highlighted in a GoGuardian Teacher class session


There are two options for creating groups:

  • Custom Groups: Teachers can craft each group to their own liking by selecting which students should belong in each group

  • Random Groups: Random combinations of students will be assigned to different groups, with the teacher selecting the number of students to place in each group.

     

Student Groups modal with two button options for random groups and custom made groups

 

Creating Customized Groups

  1. Click on the check box to the left of a student's name to add them to a custom group.
     
    Student Groups customization interface for adding students to groups

     

  2. Once all students have been selected, you will see a message that says “Added!” to the right of the student's name, confirming the student has been added to that particular group.

  3. Click on the Create a new group button towards the left of the modal to continue customizing your student groups.

    NOTE: the Next button will be clickable once ALL students in the classroom session have been selected and added to a custom group.

  4. When finalizing group settings, you can click on Edit these groups if you'd like to go back into your custom groups and rearrange them or edit the group names.

     
    Student Groups summary page highlighting the 'edit' button for editing the group

 

Creating Random Groups

  1. After selecting the option to create random student groups, enter the number of students you would like to have per group. This will separate students into different group sections. You will still be able to manually adjust and modify any students that are in random groups with this option.
    NOTE: If a student or two is leftover, they will be distributed evenly into groups so the size may be larger than selected.
     
    Creating Random Student Groups interface with a number entry for adding a certain amount of students
     
    Random Student Groups creation and editing interface

     

  2. Enter a name for the randomly-created set of random groups, then click Save & Create Groups on the far bottom-right corner of the modal.
    NOTE: Saving will not be enabled until the last student is assigned to a group. If you close out the modal in the middle of the workflow, you will first see a confirmation modal to cancel. If you choose to exit, the group will be lost.

    Random Student Groups creation page highlighting the description entry and save + create  button
     

  3. Once successfully saved, the random groups will be automatically saved for future use under Student Groups -> Enable Existing Groups. If the group was not given a name, it will automatically default to the date it was created and listed as “Random group,” i.e: 12/10/20 Random Group.
     

Using Commands With Student Groups

Once the groups are created, you will see command options that apply to each group at the top-right of each group section.

The options for each individual group are:

  • Call group

  • Open tab for group

  • Exclude group
    NOTE: You may not have access to the call feature if you do not subscribe to the video conferencing add on. Contact your account representative for details on how to add this feature to your account.

     

Command options available for student groups e.g. 'Call Group' 'Open tab' and 'Exclude'
 

To open the Commands menu bar for a specific group, check the box next to the group's name

 

The Commands menu bar options when selecting a specific group


NOTE: When more than one group is selected, commands may only be issued from the commands bar at the bottom of the page.

 

Editing Existing Student Groups

Teachers are able to enable their previous existing groups when starting their same classroom session.

  1. Click on Student Groups -> Edit Existing Groups. This provides the option to edit all of your current groups at once. Current groups will be displayed, along with the option to create more custom or random student groups. You can edit your group names, delete groups, or edit students’ group placements.


    Edit Student Groups modal for making changes to existing groups
     

  2. Another way to edit student groups is to click on the grey settings button (with the cog icon) to the right of the group label:
     
    Group editing Cogwheel button for customizing groups

     

    NOTE: You can organize classroom groups to display alphabetically or based on which students are Online/Offline within each group.

  3. Remove/edit a student's group
    NOTE: A student must be in at least one group if groups are enabled. If you wish to remove a student from a group, they must belong to a different group.

  4. Open the desired group by clicking on Student Groups -> Edit Existing Groups -> Edit (for specified group) OR clicking on the cog icon next to the desired group from the dashboard.

  5. Uncheck the box next to a student you want to remove from or place into a different group. NOTE: A student can only be in one group. And must belong to at least one group.

  6. Select or create the desired group for the student removed from the initial group in the previous step and add the student to the group by clicking the checkbox next to their name.

 

Student Groups Dropdown Options

From the Screens view of an active classroom session, clicking on the button with arrows pointing up and down (in the top-right corner of each group) will display the following options:

  • Collapse Group

  • Move Up

  • Move to the top

  • Move Down

  • Move to Bottom

     

Student Groups options page for collapsing and moving the group
 

 

Deleting an Existing Group

Want to delete an existing group that you know no longer need in your classroom?

  1. Click on Student Groups -> Existing groups, and then click Delete next to the specific group title you would like to delete.
     
    Student Groups editing modal highlighting the Delete option

     

  2. A notification will appear to confirm the deletion of the group.
     
    Group deletion confirmation page highlighting a "yes, Delete" button



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