The Groups Page

Here you can view and edit current groups, assign Staff members to grade certain groups, view grades, and download student submissions.  This page is also used to select groups for the Grading page.  Some of the features described on this page may not be available to Staff members with less than Admin privilege.

To Get There: Select the assignment in the Groups menu, or click the corresponding groups link in the assignment table.



The Groups Table

This table gives you a view of all the students in the class as they're grouped for an assignment.  You can reorder the table based on a column by clicking the link at the top of the column.  The following information is available here:

• Group:  This column lists the members in each group.  Each students' NetID links to a Grading page where you can edit that student's grades for any assignment.
   
• Extension:  Shows you any extensions which have been allowed in this assignment.  For more information see Granting Extensions below.
   
• Files Rem.: This is the number of Required Submissions for this assignment which the group has not yet submitted. (Groups which have submitted all their files will show zero here)
   
• Assigned To:  This shows which Staff members are assigned to grade this group, broken down by Problem (if applicable).  You can hide this column from the table by clicking the (Hide Assigned To) link above the table.  For more information see Assigning Graders below.
   
• Grade:  Since students in the same group may be given different grades, the numbers shown in this column are the group's average grade for the assignment.  Groups for which the members have different grades will have their grades flagged here.  You can also see the group's Problem grades (if applicable) by clicking the (Show Problem Grades) link above the table.
   

Each row also has a check box associated with it, which is used for selecting multiple groups to use with some of the page's actions.  On top of the Groups table, in the box labeled Select, you can click on the following options to change the current selection:

• All:  Select every group on the page (useful for exporting files for the entire class)
   
• None:  Deselect every group
   
• Ungraded:  Select all groups which have not been given any grade for this assignment
   
• Regrade Pending:  Select all groups which have regrade requests which have not yet been responded to
   
• Range:  Specify a range of row numbers to select only those groups
   

Managing Student Groups

You can allow students to form their own groups by enabling it on the Assignment Editing page.  Any staff member with Groups privilege can also manually create or disband groups from this page.  A student's group can not be changed after the student receives a grade for the assignment.

To Create a New Group:

1. Find the text box labeled Create Group underneath the Groups table.
    
2. Enter a comma-separated list of NetIDs of students who are not currently grouped with anyone else.
    
3. Click the Create button to form the group.  Any files the students had previously submitted will belong to the group, with the most recent one being the main submisison.
    

To Disband an Existing Group:

1. Find the row for the group you want to disband in the Groups table.
    
2. Click the Ungroup link in that row to disband the group.  Each student will now be in their own group with a copy of all the files which belonged to the group.  

Downloading Group Submissions

To Download the most recent submissions for a single group: click the Files link in that group's row in the table.  (Older submitted files can be found on the Grading page)

To Download submissions for multiple groups: check the boxes of the groups you want files for and click the Files button under the Apply to Selected Groups heading at the top of the page.


Grading Groups

From the groups page, you can select groups to view on the Grading page.  This feature is only available to Staff members with Grades privilege.

To View a single group on the Grading page: click the Grade link in that group's row in the table.

To View multiple groups on the Grading page:  check the boxes of the groups you want and click the Grade button under the Apply to Selected Groups heading at the top of the page.


Assigning Graders

A Staff member with Admin privilege can assign other Staff members to grade certain groups in an assignment.  If that assignment is broken down into Problems, then different graders can be assigned to grade the different Problems for each group.  You can only assign Staff members who have Grades privilege to be graders.  If you have enabled the Assigned Graders Only option for this assignment, then Staff members who are not Admin privilege will only be able to view and edit grades for groups they're assigned to.

To Assign a Staff Member:

1. Check the boxes of the groups you want to assign to this staff member.
    
2. If this assignment uses Problems, choose a Problem from the Select Problem drop-down menu at the top of the page.
    
3. Choose a grader from the Select Grader drop-down menu, or choose <unassigned> to remove previous assignments.
    
4. Click the Assign Grader button to finalize your selection.
    

Granting Extensions


A Staff member with Admin privilege can override the standard due date/late submission deadline scheme per group.  Normally, a group can only submit files when an assignment is in the Open status and before the due date (with grace period) passes.  If a late submission deadline is enabled, then groups can continue to submit files until it has passed as long as the assignment's status remains Open.  Groups that have an extension can submit files any time before it expires, even when the assignment is in Closed or Graded status.

To Grant an Extension to a Group:

1. Click the (Add) link in that group's row of the Groups table.
    
2. Provide a date and time for the extension to expire.
    
3. Click the Grant button to finalize your choices.
    

To Change or Remove an Extension:

1. Click the (Edit) link corresponding to the extension you want to change.
    
2. Make the changes you want and click the Change button or the Remove button.
    

Importing/Exporting Grades

You can directly view and edit grades on the web using the Grading page, but for updating many grades at once it is often more convenient to use a CSV file.

To Export a CSV file of current grades:  Click the Download grades link at the bottom of the page.  (You can edit this file and use it to Import grades in the next section)

To Import Grades from a CSV file:

1. a)  If this assignment is broken down into Problems, the columns of your CSV file should be named NetID, Problem Name 1, ... , Problem Name N.  You don't need to provide a Total column, but it's fine to have one (if you're using an exported file, for example), CMSX will ignore it.
   
   b)  Otherwise, the columns of your CSV file should be named NetID and Grade.
    
2. Select your CSV file where it says Upload Grades File at the bottom of the page, and click the Upload button.  You will be prompted to confirm the parsing of the file before it is finalized.