Skip to main content

Aspen My Groups - Create your own Groups within a Class!

You may remember I announced the activation of My Groups in Aspen a few weeks ago.  My Groups allows you to see only students in a specified class while viewing the Student List located in GradeBook view>Student top tab.

With My Groups activated, teachers now have additional features they can take advantage of.  You can select a subset of students within a class, name the subset, and this teacher created-group is now available for selection in the Student top tab>Student list!

Why would I want to create my own Groups?

If you want to find information for a specific subset of your students over time, then you should consider creating your own group! 

You teach the same class and have multiple sections combined:

When Aspen creates My Groups, it automatically combines all sections of the same course.  If you want to have visibility for students in discrete sections, you can create a My Group for an individual section.  

Students on IEP's & 504 Plans:

Many teachers like to keep close tabs on the overall academic progress of their students with IEP's and 504's, monitoring how they are doing in other courses and what courses they are taking. 

Course Recommendations:

If you have a course with a mix of Juniors and Seniors, you can create a group of Juniors only.  This allows you to navigate from student to student to find the information you need to inform your course recommendation decision, without seeing students you don't need to evaluate!

Any reason that makes sense to you will do!

How do I create my own Groups?

While in GradeBook view, navigate to your Class list and select a course.

Click on the Groups side tab.



Enter the name of the subgroup you would like to create in the box, and click +Add Group.

You will see the created group without any students added:


Simply drag the photos of the students you want to appear in this group:


Navigate to the Student top tab, click the filter and select My Groups.

You now have the option to select the newly created group.


Once you click OK, Aspen will reload the student list and show only those students who are members of the Group!


Once you click on an individual student, you can use the handy arrows located at the top right of the student record to navigate to the next student!



My Groups created by Aspen (like your class roster!) are Dynamic. 
They automatically change as students enter/leave your classroom.


My Groups created by You are Static. 
If the group members need to change for any reason, you will need to navigate to GradeBook top tab>Individual course>Group side tab to edit the group membership!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Google Classroom: Why Are Students Seeing Graded Returned Work as Assigned or Late?

Are students giving you feedback that work you returned to them after grading is now showing as 'late' or 'assigned'?   The addition of the Grading module to Google Classroom has impacted this process.  Read on to understand what is happening and how to fix it! What is happening? Let's follow through the typical workflow in Google Classroom where students are submitting work to you.  You create an assignment in Google Classroom and assign the appropriate points to the assignment .   You assign the work to students, which puts the work in status ' Assigned ' in the student view.   After updating the assignment, students turn in or submit work back to you by clicking the Turn In button.   The work status changes to ' Turned in.' After grading, you return work to students.  This is a necessary step to ensure the student owns the document.   The status now changes to ' Returned ' if you placed a grade

Draftback Replays a Google Document's Changes in Video Format!

Student plagiarism can be a problem.  The world we live in makes it easy for students to copy/paste,  using works not their own. Identifying plagiarism and addressing it is a big part of students learning to be good digital citizens.  My last post outlined the new Originality Reports in Google Classroom, which check student submissions for plagiarism and incorrect or missing citations.    Occasionally, you will have a situation that needs a thorough investigation.  The Google Chrome extension Draftback is your superhero in this situation!  (Shout out to the Science Department, who discovered this gem!) Can't I see a document's version history? You may be aware that you can look at the revision history for any Google Doc or Slide.  Click File>Version History>See version history.   You are provided a right sidebar.  You can click on any revision to review the document at that time.  Changes from the previous version are highlighted in green.  The perso

Breakout EDU - Engaging Students Using Escape Room Techniques!

Have you ever heard of or participated in an Escape Room ?  They are tons of fun!  You attend with a group of family or friends.  Your goal is to work together to solve riddles and puzzles to unlock locks.  Eventually, you discover the code to ' Break out ' of the room. Amy Byron, with the support of the Parent Association, purchased both a Breakout Room kit (physical locks) and an account for Breakout Edu Digital (for digital locks).  These Breakout Edu options allow you to construct breakout experiences using YOUR CURRICULUM CONTENT!  It is a fun and engaging way to have students access and use your content. Watch this video to get a better sense of Breakout Edu: How did Amy incorporate Breakout EDU in her classroom? Think back to the first day of school.  You are a student.  What is your experience?  You move from class to class, where each teacher introduces themselves, talks about the course, class expectations, and maybe has a short activity as an