Sakai: "private" discussions for groups of students
Some faculty set up the Discussions & Private Messages tool with specific forums for each student group (as for group projects). Before you begin, make sure you know which students will be in each group. Unfortunately, Sakai cannot yet randomly assign students to groups.
- log into Sakai from http://sakai.rutgers.edu
- click on the appropriate class tab across the top
- make sure you have both the "Sections" and the "Discussions & Private Messages" tools on the left-hand menu (if a tool doesn't appear, follow the directions to Add or remove tools).
- choose the "Sections" tool to set up the groups
- click the "Add Sections" button at the top of the screen
- select the number of groups you're creating and select type "Group"
- give each group an individual name if desired
- in most cases, ignore the other options and choose "Add Sections"
- you should now see a list of your new student groups. click "Assign Students" for the first group and select each student for the group (hold down the <ctrl> key to select multiple students), then click the right-arrow (>) to move them to the group; click "Assign Students"
- repeat for each group
- now choose the "Discussions & Private Messages" tool on the left to create a forum for each group
- click the "Manage" link along the top of the Discussions page
- click "forums" on the left and click "insert new"
- fill in the forum name (generally to match group name) and change the category if necessary
- under "Allow Access," choose "Allow Access to Selected Groups" and a list of your groups will appear
- select the appropriate group and click "update"
- repeat to create one new forum for each student group
- click "Discussion List" at the left to exit the manage view
- you should notice that each of your new restricted discussion forums is marked with a "group icon." Each student who enters the Discussion tool will see only their own group's forum.
