Organize students into groups

Any instructor or section instructor with the Student IDs and Groups privilege can create groups and assign students to them.

1. Select Instructor Tools then Student IDs & Groups.
2. Select  Add/Edit Groups.
3. Select  Add New Group, and then enter a name for the new group in the new row.

   Acceptable characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9, _ (underscore), - (dash), /, and spaces. Group names must begin with A-Z, a-z, 0-9, or _.

4. Create as many groups as you need by selecting  Add New Group and entering a name for each.
5. When you're done, select Save and Close.
6. Assign students to groups (see below).

For courses with many students, see instead use a spreadsheet to create groups and assign students.

1. Select Instructor Tools then Student IDs & Groups.
2. For each student, select the down arrow in the Groups column (visible only after you create a group) and select the group.
   • To assign a student to more than one group —
     Select the  Add another Group Name box for this student, then select an additional group for the student. 
   • To remove a student from a group —
     Select the  Remove this Group Name box for the student.
3. Select Save.

1. Select Instructor Tools then Student IDs & Groups.
2. Select  Add/Edit Groups.

3. Choose Remove in the row for any group you want to remove.

   To more easily find a group if there are many, sort the list by Group Name or # of Members.

4. Select Save or Save and Close.

All students remain enrolled in the course; only the group is removed.

If you request the Beta Assign-by-Group feature from your Pearson rep, you can make an assignment available to a specific group or groups of students. For example, you might want to group students who may benefit from a remedial assignment or students who may capable of more advanced work. This option works best when students are not expected to change from one section to another.

• Specialized assignments cannot be assigned by group. The Beta Assign-by-Group feature supports standard Mastering assignments only. This feature does NOT support Dynamic Study Modules, Adaptive Follow-Ups, and Learning Catalytics assignments.
• Caution: Avoid moving a student if the student has already completed work assigned by group. If you do so, the student's work and scores for those assignments are removed from the Gradebook. You can restore the work and scores by adding the student back to the same group.
• Do not use Beta Assign-by-Group for syncing Mastering assignment scores to an LMS. This feature isn't supported for courses integrated with an LMS because it causes grades to sync incorrectly. You can, however, manually export scores, time, and difficulty data for this kind of assignment from the Mastering Gradebook to a .csv file that you can import into your LMS.

To make an assignment available to a group of students

1. Request access to the BETA Assign-by-Group feature from your Pearson rep.
2. Create or open an assignment for editing.
3. From the  Dates & Follow-Up page, select Select Groups.
   The Assign to Groups window opens.
4. Choose whether you want one or more student groups to do this assignment.
   • To select one group: Use the up and down arrow to choose the group name you want. The selected group appears with a gray background.
   • To select ALL groups: Choose Select All.
   • To select NO groups: Choose Select None to deselect any selected groups.
5. Select Save.

If you must move a student after assign-by-group work is complete

By following these steps, you can "move" the student's scores, but not the student's original work:

1. As a precaution, consider exporting scores in Standard Gradebook Format from your Mastering Gradebook.

   Tip: To generate a smaller .csv file, filter the Gradebook before you export.

2. Use instructions earlier in this topic to assign the student to the group he or she is moving to, and select Save.
3. Refer to the Gradebook or to the exported .csv file to note a score that needs to be "moved" for work the student completed for an assignment given to the original group.
4. In the Gradebook, select the empty cell for the missing score for the corresponding assignment given to the group the student is being moved to. The student's Assignment Grade page opens.
5. On the Assignment Grade page, in the Adjust Total Points by (+/-) box, enter a score for the student's original work.

   Note: You can enter any number here. If the assignments given to the groups were not equivalent, you can adjust the student's score accordingly.

6. Select Save.

   The Gradebook now shows the student has credit for doing the assignment twice, but that will change after step 8, when you remove the student from the original group.

7. Repeat steps 3–6 for each score to be "moved."
8. When you are satisfied that you have captured the student's scores from the original group's assignments, use instructions earlier in this topic to remove the student from the original group.

   The student's original work and scores are never lost. They can always be restored by assigning the student back to the original group, even temporarily. But the Gradebook now accurately reflects only the manually "moved" scores—not a double set of original plus "moved" scores.