Creating a group category

Categories are a way of organizing and managing related groups. For example, you could have a different category for Assignment 1, Assignment 2, Seminars, Remedial Help, and Book Reviews.

If you want to create a new set of groups you need to set up a category and create restricted work areas for the groups first.

Create a category

1. From the Manage Groups page, click the New Category icon.
2. Enter a Category Name.
3. Enter a Description of the category.
4. Select an Enrollment Type. See Enrollment Types for more information on enrollment types.
5. Specify the Number of Groups to create or the Number of Users per group depending on the Enrollment Type you chose.
6. Select Auto-Enroll New Users if you want users to be enrolled in groups automatically.
7. Select Randomize users in groups if you want users to be placed in groups randomly. If this option is not chosen, users are placed alphabetically based on the classlist.
8. Select Setup Forums if you want to associate discussion areas with the groups in the category.
9. Select Setup Locker if you want to associate locker areas with the groups in the category.
10. Select Setup Dropbox if you want to associate dropbox folders with the groups in the category.

When you create a new category with the Setup Discussion Areas option checked, you are automatically taken to the Create Restricted Discussion Areas page. From this page you can create a separate topic for each group within an existing or new forum.

When you create a new category with the Setup Discussion Areas option checked, you are automatically taken to the Create Restricted Discussion Areas page. From this page you can create a separate topic for each group within an existing or new forum.

Create group restricted discussion areas

When you create a new category with the Setup Discussion Areas option checked, you are automatically taken to the Create Restricted Discussion Areas page. From this page you can create a separate topic for each group within an existing or new forum.

1. Select the Forum you want from the drop-down list if you have already created a forum in the Discussions tool.
2. Click the New Forum link to create a new forum for the category. (See Creating a discussion forum.)
3. Click Add Another if you want to add more than one discussion forum.
4. Click Create or Create and Next when finished.

Note  Clicking the Skip button takes you to the next page in the groups setup process without creating any restricted discussion areas.

Edit group enrollment in restricted discussion areas

You can edit group enrollment in restricted discussion forums and topics from the Groups tool. To add, edit, or delete forums or topics restricted by group you must use the Discussions tool. (See Setting group and section restrictions for a discussion forum or topic, for more information.)

1. From the Manage Groups page, click the name of the category that contains the discussion forum you want to edit.
2. From the Edit Category page, click the Edit Discussion Restrictions link.
3. Select the Forum you want to make changes to in the Forum drop-down list or select to edit multiple forums at once.
4. Use the check boxes in the Edit Restrictions grid to modify group enrollment in discussion forums and topics.
5. Select Automatically create restricted topics if you want to add topics to the forums.
6. Click Save.

Create group restricted locker areas

If you select the Setup Locker option, locker areas are automatically created for each group in the category.

To create group restricted dropbox folders

If you select the Setup Dropbox option, you are automatically taken to the Create Dropbox folders page. Creating a folder from this page creates a folder for each of the groups in the category.

Note  Clicking the Skip button takes you to the next page in the groups setup process without creating any shared dropbox folders.

Workspace Summary page

The Workspace summary page lists how many groups, discussion forums, lockers, and dropbox folders were created for the category.