This refers to Moodle 4.3 from August 2024 onwards
Groups and Groupings can be a good way to restrict access to resources, activities and sections within the module. Examples where they can be used effectively include:
If Groups has been applied to an activity the following icons will be displayed next to the Edit dropdown when editing is turned on.
No groups
Separate groups
Visible groups
Both Turnitin and Moodle assignments can use Groups and Groupings to aid marking, for example if there is more than one marker, each assigned to a group of students. This can be turned on in the Common module settings within the settings of the dropbox. There are two settings, 'visible groups' and 'separate groups', it does not matter which you choose in the case of an assignment dropbox as you are not restricting access, only aiding marking.
If you organise students into groups to work on collaborative projects with the idea of a single submission e.g. a joint presentation to be submitted, then Moodle assignments is ideal. You can set up the dropbox so one group member submits and then all other students in a group have to click 'submit' to confirm they're happy with the submission or only one member of the group needs to submit on behalf of all members without official confirmation.
Groups and Groupings can only be used to aid marking in Turnitin dropboxes. If groups are enabled on a Moodle module site, then a dropdown menu will automatically appear above the Turnitin inbox, allowing you to filter the submissions by the groups which have been set up.
Groups work slightly differently within Peermark (a peer assessment activity that can be incorporated into a Turnitin dropbox). Here you can force assignment distribution. This could be a useful approach if you have a small cohort of students and want one group to assess another group's submissions, especially if they've researched different topics, as it could be a good way to get students to learn from their peers about something they have not researched, while also learning how to evaluate.
Using Groups and Groupings in a Forum, Wiki or Chat can aid a more organised collaboration. This can be useful for you as well as the students as it enables you to keep track to conversations and progress with specific pieces of work set for different groups.
Note: By default, groups work on an activity within a Moodle module. The students will see a different variation of this activity depending on which group they are in. But there is only one activity.
You may wish to make multiple activities, one per group, and use the availability settings with Moodle to make each activity visible to the relevant group. This approach is described below.
Forum
This is a good tool if you want to promote peer support within the module by breaking the students into smaller groups promoting social cohesion which will result in better discussions in class. If 'visible groups' is set within the Forum setting students will be able to see all conversations but only participate in their own.
If 'separate groups' has been set students will only be able to view 'all participants' posts but not interact, and view and participate in discussions for their own group, they will not be able to view other group's discussions or posts. This can be useful if you have multiple teaching staff responsible for teaching a particular group of students on a module as it ensures they only collaborate with their own group of students rather than bombarding all students will irrelevant information or important information being lost in the overall discussion.
If you are using 'separate groups' for a forum, in addition to collaborating with different groups of students, you could also use it as an alternative to the Announcements forum (the default forum in all modules) as the 'all participants' option works in the same way, it allows you to send out one-way communication.
Wiki
This is a good tool if a group of students need to work together to produce a single piece of work as it acts like a live document, everyone in the group can go in and make changes to what others have written in the aim of producing a collaborative piece of work. In this instance it would be better to set the wiki as 'separate groups' initially so each group can't see what the others are doing and then once the work has been submitted you could change the wiki setting to 'visible groups' so they can view the progress of all the other groups in order to compare their own.
This would be similar to a peer assessment approach but without the assessment aspect, more for self-reflection.
From Moodle 4.1 onwards, the Peer Assessment activity is available to add to your Moodle module site. This allows you to run a assessed activity where students provide feedback on a collaborative project and evaluate the contribution of their peers. Further guidance on using the Peer Assessment activity can be found below.
This refers to Moodle 4.1 from December 2023 onwards It is possible to restrict access to resources or activities or to sections in a variety of ways. 1. Go to your module and click the 'Edit mode' button to turn editing on (top right). 2. Either a. Create a new activity/ resource OR b. Click on the 'Three dots' icon by the activity / resource where you would like to add the restriction. Then select 'Edit settings' from the menu. 3. On the 'Settings' page for an activity or resource, click to open the 'Restrict access' heading to expand section. 4. Click on the 'Add restriction...' button. 5. This will open a pop up. Select from: 6. Click on the required restriction button and you will return to the section where further choices can be made to set up your restrictions. These options will vary slightly depending what restriction you are setting up. 7. If you leave the 'Eye' icon open then students will see the resource and its restriction but not be able to access it. 10. If you want to add additional restrictions, click on the 'Add restriction' button. Otherwise click on the 'Save and return to module button. 11. When you have finished, click on the 'Edit mode' slider in the top right corner to disable editing on the page. 1. In your module, click the 'Edit mode' button to turn editing on (top right). 2. Click on the 'Three dots' icon by the activity / resource where you would like to remove the restriction. Then select 'Edit settings' from the menu. 3. Scroll down the page and click on the 'Restrict access' heading to expand section. 4. To delete a restriction, click on the 'X' to the right of the restriction. 5. Click on the 'Save and return to module button. 6. When you have finished, click on the 'Edit mode' slider in the top right corner to disable editing on the page. Delete the restriction and recreate it as described above. For more information see: How to set up groups and groupings Moodle Help & Support
How to restrict access to a resource or activity or section in Moodle
To restrict access
If you click on the 'Eye' icon (see below right) the students will not see the item at all until the restriction is met.
To remove a restriction
To edit a restriction
The following other resources are also relevant to this topic:
Please contact your local elearning support team.
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If you have any comments on how you think this help can be improved then please email Learning-Technologies@nottingham.ac.uk
