Groups | How to create a Brightspace Group
Using the Groups in Brightspace you are able to create different groups for your course. These are organized into categories, which serve as containers for topic-related groups. There is no limit on the number of group categories in a course.
This article will explain:
- how to create groups in Brightspace
Creating Groups
In your course navigate to the green navigation bar, then
- ClickĀ Communication
- ClickĀ Groups

The homepage Manage Groups now opens.
First, a group category is needed.Ā
A group category can hold multiple groups. Several categories can exist simultaneously.
For example, there is a Group Category for tutorials and a Group Category for practicals. For tutorials, students are divided into 4 groups of 20 persons; for the practicals, students are divided into 8 groups of 10 persons.
- Click the blue buttonĀ New Category to add a Group Category
In the first section Category Information do the following:
- Enter a [Category Name]
- (Optional) Add a Description of the Group Category
- Select [Enrolment Type] - how you want the users to be enrolled in the Groups
- There are seven possibilities for Enrolment Types in a Group Category.
- You can assign students yourself (manually or automatically) to a group, or allow them to assign themselves (Self Enrolment).
- Fill in [Number of Groups] and/or [Number of Users] (linked to the enrolment type you choose in Step 6)
- Decide how many groups there should be (# of Groups) and/or the amount of students per group (Groups of #).
- (Optional) Give name to the [Group Prefix]
- this option lets you customize the general name of the groups in the Group Category (e.g. using prefix Study group will create the number of groups specified in Step 7 with the name Study group + by system added number - Study group 1, Study group 2, etc).
In this example, Ā Groups of # Ā is chosen.
- Consequently, in section Advance Properties you can check the Selectbox of the following options:
- Auto-Enrol New Users
- Randomise users in Groups (checked by default)
- Make category and group descriptions visible to group members

- (Optional) In the section Additional Options click the Selectbox(es) if you want to:
- Set up discussion areas
- Set up lockers
- Set up assignment
The discussion areas, the locker, and the group assignment(s) can always be set up later, and not right away when setting up the group.
- Click the blue button Save to finish the setting up of the group

You have created a Brightspace group now and it will appear in the homepage of Manage Groups.
Additionally, if you have a self enrolment type of group you can add a self-enrollment link to Content.
You now know how to create groups in Brightspace!