MMS Groups

Introduction

Groups and Group Types play an important role in module administration. They can be used to track attendance (required for UKVI compliance) and to ensure that tutors get access to the correct students and their information.

Students can belong to one group in a group type, and the default group type in MMS is the ‘Tutorial’ group type, but additional groups types can be created. Each group type can have multiple groups. Once groups have been set up students can sign up to groups using the ‘Sign up’ tool and attendance can be marked using the ‘Attendance tracking’ tool.

This guide covers:

 

Creating a group type

Each taught module has the generic ‘Tutorial’ group type, but more group types can be created. To create a group type:

Note: New group types only need created if the module will have more than Tutorial groups.

  1. Access the Module Overview (see Figure 1 for links to the module overview in MMS and MySaint https://mysaint.st-andrews.ac.uk/)
    A screenshot of links to an example module in MMS and MySaint
    Figure 1: Module overview links in MySaint (left) and MMS (right)
  2. Select the Students tab (see Figure 2).
    The links to the Student tab on a demo module
    Figure 2: From the Module overview select the 'Students' tab
  3. Scroll down to the Group Types section.‌
  4. In the New Group Type Name box enter the name of the new group, and click Add New Type (see Figure 3). The new group type will appear as a tab on the Module Overview.
    The 'Groups Type' section on the Students tab with instructions on creating a new group
    Figure 3: To add a new group type enter the name for the new group, then click the 'Add New Type' button.

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Creating new groups

To create a new group:

  1. Go to the Module Overview (see Figure 1)
  2. Select the Group Overview by selecting the group tab (see Figure 4).The Tutorial groups tab highlighted on a screenshot of the demo module
    Figure 4: Link to 'Tutorial' groups tab. Each group type will appear as a separate tab.
  3. In the Group Name field enter the name of the new group and click the Add Group button (see Figure 5).
    A screenshot of the Tutorial groups tab on a demo module with instructions on creating a new group
    Figure 5: To create a new group enter the group name and click the 'Add Group' button.
  4. The new group will appear in the table. Complete the configuration by entering a Day, Time and Location. Click Update Group Settings to save.
    A screenshot of the groups tab with the update button highlighted
    ‌Figure 6: Enter the day, time and location of the group and click the 'Update Group Settings' button to save.

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Adding staff to a group

Adding staff to a group has the following benefits:

  • Staff will only have oversight of the students they are listed against, which is increasingly important from a GDPR standpoint
  • Staff will see smaller student lists so Tool overviews will be less cluttered.

To add a member of staff to a group:

  1. Go to the Module Overview (see Figure 1)
  2. Select the Staff tab (see Figure 7)
    A screenshot of the Demo module with the Staff tab highlighted
    Figure 7: Select the staff tab from the Module Overview
  3. In the Add staff to module section enter the name or username of the member of staff. As you type MMS will provide a list of possible staff members (see Figure 8)
    A screenshot of the 'Add staff to module' section on the Module staff tab. Tags indicate how to search for a user.
    Figure 8: Enter a staff name and select them from the list of possible users.
  4. Select the member of staff by clicking on their name.
  5. From the Role dropdown list, select the required role (See Figure 9).
  6. From the Group dropdown list, select the group (See Figure 9).
  7. Click the Add button (See Figure 9).
    A screenshot of the second stage of the adding staff to a module functionality. Tags indicate where to select a role, to elect a group and highlighting the 'add' button.
    Figure 9: To add a user to a group, select the role, select the group and click Add.
  8. The new role will appear on the table in the Staff tab (see Figure 10). This table can be filtered by typing the name of the member of staff, group or role into the ‘Filter table’ field.A screenshot of the staff table on the Staff tab. Tags indicate how to search for users/roles and to indicate the Delete button
    Figure 10: All staff added to a module are listed in the Staff table on Staff tab.

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Adding Students to Groups

There are three methods of adding students to groups:

Manually Adding Students to a Group

To manually add students to a group:

  1. Go to the Module Overview (see Figure 1)
  2. Select the tab corresponding to the group type (see Figure 4)
  3. Scroll down to the Assign Students section (see Figure 11)
  4. Locate the student in the table
  5. Select the checkbox in the column corresponding to the required group
  6. Click Save Students’ Groups to save
    A screenshot of the Assign Students section on a group type tab.
    Figure 11: Use the radio buttons to assign a student to a group and click Save Students' Groups to save.

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CSV Import

To bulk add students to groups via a CSV import:

  1. Prepare a CSV file with the student’s username or matriculation number in the first column and the name of the group in the second column. Leave the group name blank to remove a student from all groups.
  2. Go to the Module Overview (see Figure 1)
  3. Select the tab corresponding to the group type (see Figure 4)
  4. Scroll down to the Import Students’ Groups from Spreadsheet (CSV) section (see Figure 12)
    A screenshot of the Import Groups from CSV section on the Groups tab, with tags to the browse and import buttons
    Figure 12: To import groups from a CSV file click the Browse button in the Import Students' Groups section
  5. Click Browse to locate and select the file
  6. Click Import Groups from CSV
  7. On the next page review the proposed changes
  8. Click Update Student Groups

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Student Group Signup

Once groups have been created (see ‘Creating new groups’) then a ‘Student sign-up’ tool can be created that allows students to sign up to the group most convenient for them. To create a Sign up tool:

  1. Go to the Module Overview (see Figure 1)
  2. Scroll down to the Tools section
  3. In Additional tools check the tick box in the Occasional section labelled Student group sign-up
  4. Click Create Tools
  5. A new tool will appear in the Tools table entitled Group Signup (see Figure 13).
    A screenshot of the Tools table on the module overview with tags indicating the group type selection options
    Figure 13: When creating a signup tool ensure that it is using the required group type
  6. Change the tool name if required
  7. Select the group type from the Group Type drop down if required
  8. Click Update Tools to save any changes
  9. Click Overview in the View column to access the tool
  10. Select Configure from the navigation panel in the left
  11. On the Configure Group Signup page (see Figure 14)
    • set a maximum number of students for a group
    • a start date (if no start date is set students can sign up straight away)
    • freeze date (after which students can’t change groups)
    • any additional configuration options (see the Student Group Signup Tool guide for further details).
  12. Click Save Configuration to save.
    A screenshot of the configuration page for the Signup tool with a tag indicating where to set up a start date
    Figure 14: The default group size, signup start date and freeze date can be defined on the Configure Group sign up page

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View changes in student group lists

Users with administration rights on the Student Group Signup tool can view changes to the group student lists over time:

  1. Select the Group Signup tool
  2. Select Configure from the navigation panel on the left
  3. Scroll down to the Changes in student lists section
  4. The table will list any changes in student lists
  5. Use the Filter table field to filter by student username, group name or date (yyyy-mm-dd)

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Emailing Groups

Staff can send an email to a particular link using the 'Send email' link under the group name.

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