iClicker Groups Faculty Guide

Group-based activities have proven pedagogical value as they encourage classroom discussion, foster peer instruction, and help students develop a sense of belonging in the course. iClicker introduces groups as a new way to engage students with polling. With this feature, the class is divided into groups and members work together to build consensus to answer polling questions.
 

Creating Groups Before Class (Groups in most classes have already been created for you)

Groups need to be created before class. Go to the People tab of the iClicker Cloud instructor site and click the Groups tab at the top. Click Create Groups.

Choose whether to create groups automatically or manually, then click Next.

In the second step, you are shown a preview that allows you to review the groups and make adjustments before saving. Here you can:

1. Add Group
2. Delete a group using the trash can icon
3. Type into the group name field to edit the group name
4. Check boxes next to student names and click Move Students to move them to a group
5. Use the search function to find a particular student or group

If you chose to create groups manually, you will start with only one empty group. Click the Add Group button to add another group. At any point while you are manually assigning users to groups, you can use the Automatically Assign Ungrouped button to automatically distribute the students not yet in groups evenly into the groups you've created.

When you're finished creating your groups, click Save Groups at the lower right.

The Groups tab will now be populated with your students and their groups. Click the Edit Groups button at the top right to make adjustments to the groups after creating them, or click Delete Groups to delete all of the groups and start over.

Running a Group Poll in Class

Important notes:

1. You must create your groups ahead of time as shown above in order to use group polling in your class session. You cannot create groups during class, but you can adjust each group's members.
2. You must be running iClicker Cloud version 5.4 or above to use the Groups feature. Make sure to update to the most recent version.

To enable group polling in a class session, click the new Groups icon on the iClicker toolbar.

Clicking the icon opens a Groups window which allows you to preview your groups with the number of Students Present alongside the Total Students. If you need to make adjustments to a group's members, for example to redistribute students who have other members of their group absent, click the Manage Groups button.

If someone checks into class but isn't assigned to a group, they will be automatically added to a group. If possible, they will be assigned to a group with fewer members to keep the number of students in the groups balanced.
 

TIP: You can return to the Groups dialog to view and adjust group memberships at any time during class by navigating back to the iClicker toolbar and clicking the Groups icon.

Click the Ready to Poll button when you are ready to continue. This button closes the Groups window and opens the polling toolbar with the question type set to ask a group multiple choice question. (Multiple Choice is currently the only question type available for groups.) A Groups icon in the question type menu is your visual indicator that the group question type is selected.

As long as Groups are active, you can switch between group and individual polling questions using the question type menu in the toolbar.

As groups submit their votes, the Results will begin to populate in a way that's similar to individual polling, but with a few key differences.

1. The Groups icon appears above the toolbar’s timer and Responses counter as well as in the results chart to help identify the poll as a group question.
2. The polling toolbar’s Responses counts the number of groups that have responded rather than individuals. During polling, a group response will only be counted if the group reaches consensus. Once you end polling, any groups that have a majority vote will also be shown in the Responses.

Group Polling Experience for Students

Group polling is very similar to the individual polling experience with some key differences:

• The student view of a group poll shows whether the group is in consensus or has differing answers. If there are differing answers, a results chart will show how everyone in the group is voting.
• Only the group answer, obtained by consensus or majority vote, is included in the student's earned performance points.

For more information on the student experience, see the iClicker Groups Student Guide.

Grading a Group Poll

Grading of group polling questions works exactly like grading individual polling questions. Though the method of grading is the same, the student's score may differ from what they would earn on an individual polling question, depending on the answer given by the group. For example, an individual can still earn performance points on the question even if they answered incorrectly or didn’t respond at all, as long as the group response is correct. Likewise, an individual can give the right answer and not earn points if the majority of the group responds incorrectly or not at all. 

The only points that are based on the group response are question performance points for correct responses. Any Session Participation points or points for responding to a question are still earned on an individual basis.
 

Using the Session Performance points settings in the image above (1.00 point for correct response and 0.50 points for responding), consider the following scenarios that illustrate group scoring:

Group A has four members, all present in class: Anika, Luis, Noah, and Sofia.

Group Question 1

• Individual Responses: Anika (A), Luis (A), Noah (A), Sophia (A)
• Group Submitted Response: A (Consensus)
• Correct Answer: A
• Q1 Performance Points: Anika (1.50), Luis (1.50), Noah (1.50), Sophia (1.50)
  • Everyone earns Performance points for correctness and points for responding.

Group Question 2

• Individual Responses: Anika (A), Luis (A), Noah (A), Sophia (No Response)
• Group Submitted Response: A (Majority Vote)
• Correct Answer: A
• Q2 Performance Points: Anika (1.50), Luis (1.50), Noah (1.50), Sophia (1.00)
  • Even though Sophia didn’t respond, everyone earns Performance points for correctness. Everyone except Sophia earns points for responding.

Group Question 3

• Individual Responses: Anika (A), Luis (A), Noah (B), Sophia (No Response)
• Group Submitted Response: No Response
• Correct Answer: A
• Q3 Performance Points: Anika (0.50), Luis (0.50), Noah (0.50), Sophia (0.00)
  • Even though Anika and Luis submitted the correct response, the group failed to reach a majority vote so no one earns Performance points for correctness. Everyone except Sophia earns points for responding.