[Using Sakai] Randomly assigning students to groups

[Daphne Ogle]

Hi Marshall et al,

Berkeley has been leading an effort to allow for group creation in  
Sakai 3.  The use case you mention is high on our priority list.  In  
fact, I've been playing with some designs that will meet  the first  
half of your use case.  The idea of assigning groups a discussion  
automatically won't be something we tackle right away but could easily  
be added later.  I'll be sure to capture this on our use case page  
(under referencing groups):  http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/GROUPS/Groups+Use+Case+Matrix 
.

I'm also wondering if you could add some detail and context to the use  
case to turn it into a scenario?  You can see some examples where we  
are capturing scenarios at:  http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=16220197 
.  Basically I'm looking for a specific instance of this use case that  
includes context and details.  These become invaluable in the design  
process and I'd like to use yours (or at least the first part as part  
of the design process).  Email is fine and I can add it to the page or  
feel feel to add it to the page under Student Project Groups (and  
please let me know).

I am in the midst of making some pretty significant changes to the  
design but will share a link as soon as you can see how we envision  
the random group creation happening.

Thanks for sharing!  It's good to hear our priorities are in line with  
others in the community.

-Daphne

On Oct 1, 2009, at 9:17 AM, Josh Baron wrote:

>
> Marsh,
>
> I don't believe there is a way to automate those processes although  
> one might be able to write some code to do it (but that would  
> require modifying Sakai which may not be the best direction to take  
> on your own).  I can think of a few ways to use other tools to  
> create a random list of students and then use that to create the  
> groups but that would just be a workaround...and probably not one  
> that the faculty would receive all that well.
>
> I know this won't help you in the short-term, but I think the  
> concept of creating random groups and automatically creating  
> discussion forums for them sounds like a great idea.  You may wish  
> to post these as feature requests in the Sakai JIRA system as there  
> is current development work underway with both the group tool as  
> well as forums.  If you need help with how to get your ideas out for  
> others in the community to consider in future development work just  
> let me know.
>
> Maybe others will have better ideas than me.
>
> Josh
>
> -----------------------------
> Joshua Baron
> Director, Academic Technology and eLearning
> Marist College
> Poughkeepsie, New York  12601
> (845) 575-3623 (work)
> Twitter: JoshBaron
>
>
> From:	Marshall Feldman <marsh at uri.edu>
> To:	sakai-user at collab.sakaiproject.org
> Date:	10/01/2009 11:47 AM
> Subject:	[Using Sakai] Randomly assigning students to groups
> Sent by:	sakai-user-bounces at collab.sakaiproject.org
>
>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Our university recently converted from WebCT to Sakai. WebCT has the  
> ability to assign students to groups randomly and to create a  
> discussion topic (equivalent to a forum) automatically for each  
> group created this way. The instructor can select either the number  
> of groups or the number of students per group, and WebCT does the  
> rest.
>
> In Sakai, I know one can assign students to groups manually and  
> then, also manually, create forums for each group. But is there any  
> way to get automatic random assignment and forum creation in Sakai?
>
> Thanks.
>
>    Marsh Feldman
> -- 
> Dr. Marshall Feldman, PhD
> Director of Research and Academic Affairs
>
> Center for Urban Studies and Research
> The University of Rhode Island
> email: marsh @ uri .edu (remove spaces)
> Contact Information:
> Kingston:
> 202 Hart House
> Charles T. Schmidt Labor Research Center
> The University of Rhode Island
> 36 Upper College Road
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Daphne Ogle
Senior Interaction Designer
University of California, Berkeley
Educational Technology Services
daphne at media.berkeley.edu
cell (925)348-4372




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