Group Assignment (Manual Approach, without Group Set)

When instructors create an assignment/GradeBook item in CN, there is now an "Enable Group Assignment" setting to select. But, if you do not want to set up a Group Set and still want to have the flexibility to manually give each group member a score and comment, you do not have to enable Group Assignment. Instead, you can follow the steps below to manually manage a group assignment by using groups and group filters in DropBox and GradeBook. Here is how it works:

STEP 1: An instructor needs to assign course members into groups using the Groups tool. Please refer to this tutorial to learn more about the Course Groups tool. In the example below, students are placed into GroupA and GroupB. 

STEP 2: Create the assignment/GradeBook item. 

We recommend instructors write detailed instructions for this assignment, such as how to collaborate on this assignment, what to submit, and who should make the submission. 

Since this group assignment will be graded, you will need to connect to a GradeBook item. The submission type can be File/Multimedia, Post, Poll, Google Drive Assignment, and even LTI tool (if you know how a specific tool is going to work). 

This article will use submit a post as an example. 

Note, since you will be using the manual grading approach, do NOT check Enable Group Assignment. 

STEP 3: Once the assignment is set up. Students will make their submissions. In this example, one member of each group submits the assignment.

STEP 4: The instructor accesses CN DropBox to assess student submission. 

CN DropBox supports group filters. To view the submission(s) of a specific group, instructors can select the group from the Select Member(s) dropdown.

After reviewing a submission, enter a grade and provide your feedback by making a reflection on the post. Every member of the team will see your feedback. You may @ a specific team member if you want to specifically address a part of the comment to that student and bring it to their attention. 

Note: If the post is made visible to the class, students of other groups will be able to read the submission and your reflection. They can comment on the post as well. If an assignment welcomes the entire class to view and comment, the Post type of assignment is the best. However, if assignment submissions should be kept private within groups, students need to make sure the visibility of their posts is their group. Or, instructors may set up the assignment with other submission types, such as File/Multimedia. 

STEP 5: The instructor goes to the course GradeBook to enter a score for every group member. Please note that after grading in DropBox, only the team member who submitted the assignment will receive the grade. You need to manually enter grades for the rest of the group. The process is fairly simple:

• From the Student "sort by" dropdown, filter the group.

• After members of a group are filtered, manually enter the same or different grade to the rest of the team. 

• In this example, we applied the same grade to everyone.