Introduction and story behind the emergence of this learning activity. What was the need, what issue/problem was the teacher facing and wanted to resolve? 

We teach a large course of first-year students (>140 students) in the 6th period. Since this course was happening online, we imagined that the students would not necessarily know one another. We wanted to give students the possibility to get to know each other and to stimulate them to work together. 

• GroupTool
• On-Campus using Microsoft Teams

What has been learned after this lesson/activity has been executed ?

This tool links to the didactical principles of social learning through group work. No learning outcomes are linked to this tool as teachers can use this tool to enable students to work together. It also links to the didactical principles of social learning through group work.

Specific description and demonstration of the lesson idea/learning activity.

Students often see 4/5 different groups on their schedule so they may experience confusion about which room they need to go to. GroupTool enables a clear schedule, so students can focus on the content of the course and are not confused by practical information. When they log on to the myWURtoday app, they are able to see where they need to be. 

GroupTool was easier to use than expected because it is intuitive. It is easy to link groups and to their edit time schedule.

As we used this tool in a trial run (and therefore had to use Excel to divide groups) we are looking forward to using:

• GroupTool to filter students according to Programme, Nationality, Gender, Start year and Former education
  
  Some tips:
• Check  re-exam students are not registered as students
• Explain where students can find information on their groups  sometimes it is best to repeat this
• Students will collaborate if there is an assignment attached to it. Some students commented that they would rather work alone on exercises (and not in groups). If groups are made to stimulate students to work together on exercises it might be better to let students register for groups themselves

• Microsoft tutorials on how to set up your MS Teams page: Microsoft Support
• Manuals for adding MS Teams within Brightspace:  Brightspace Help for Lecturers
• Manuals for GroupTool in Brightspace: GroupTool
• Demo of GroupTool for assigning students according to categories: (video below)