You can make your classroom management more efficient and enhance your teaching practices with student groups.
Basic setup & use
You can use student groups to organize students into specific groups for various purposes, like targeted assignments, differentiated instruction, or collaborative activities.
Create a student group
- Go to classroom.google.com.
- Click the class People.
- At the top right, click Create Group.
- Enter a descriptive name for your group in the pop-up window. For example, "Reading Group A" or "Math Project Team."
- To select the students you want to include in your group, check the box next to each student's name.
- After you select your members, click Create to finalize your group.
Edit a student group
- Go to classroom.google.com.
- Click the class People.
- Find the group you want to edit.
- Next to the group's name, click More Edit group.
- Edit the group name, check the boxes to add or remove students, and make any necessary adjustments.
- To apply your edits, click Save.
Add or remove students
- Go to classroom.google.com.
- Click the class People.
- Find the group you want to add or remove students from.
- To expand the group and reveal the member list, select the group name.
- Check the boxes next to the student names.
- Uncheck the boxes next to the student names you want to remove.
- To apply your edits, click Save.
Delete a student group
- Go to classroom.google.com.
- Click the class People.
- Find the group you want to delete.
- Next to the group's name, click More Delete group.
- A confirmation window appears where you can review the information. To confirm, click Delete.
Delete multiple student groups
- Go to classroom.google.com.
- Click the class People.
- Check the boxes next to the groups you want to delete.
- In the “Bulk actions” menu, click Delete. Then, confirm the deletion.
Find groups
- Go to classroom.google.com.
- Click the class People.
- To expand a group and find the list of students within it, select the group name.
- To collapse a group and hide the member list, select the group name again.
Use a group
Now that you've set up your student groups, let's explore ways to use them effectively.
Create assignments for a group
- Go to classroom.google.com.
- Click the class Classwork.
- At the top, click Create Assignment.
- On the right, next to “Assign to,” click the button that lists the number of students and groups.
- To find the list of available groups, click the Groups tab.
- Check the box next to the group you want to assign the assignment to.
- To assign to multiple groups, select the groups in the “Assign to” field.
- Click Done.
- Complete the assignment details. To finalize the assignment, click Create.
Student groups: Frequently Asked Questions
License considerations
Do I need a premium license to use student groups?Yes, teachers require a premium license to create, edit (name and members), and delete student groups. However, any teacher in the class, regardless of license, can check existing groups and assign assignments to them.
Flexibility
Can students be in multiple groups?Yes, students can be members of multiple groups. This allows for flexible grouping strategies and caters to different needs.
Do students always have to be in a group?
No, students aren’t required to be in a group. You can choose to assign assignments to individual students or to a group.
Assign Guardrails
Can I assign an assignment to an empty group?No, you can’t assign an assignment to a group that has no students in it.
What happens to the assignees of an assignment if I change the group after I create the assignment?
If an assignment is saved as a draft, scheduled, or assigned right away, the assigned members will be those in the group at the time of saving. Any changes to the group after that don’t affect the assignment's members unless you explicitly update them.
Limits
Are there any limits on group size or the number of groups I can create?Currently, there’s a limit of 100 members per group and a maximum of 75 groups per class.
Are there any limits on how many students and groups I can assign to?
Currently, assignments can be assigned to at most 100 students when selected individually or as a group.
Student visibility
Can students find which groups an assignment is assigned to?No, students can’t find which groups an assignment is assigned to. They can’t find the group name or the other group members.
Mobile
Can I edit group members on a mobile device?For the initial launch, editing group members from mobile devices isn’t supported. An update to enable this functionality is planned, but the timeline is to be determined.