Grasple can be integrated with Brightspace in such a way that you can import the groups or sections from your Brightspace course into your Grasple course.
This allows you to have one place to create your group structure (i.e. Brightspace) and use that easily within Grasple.
Read below how to use this feature and how it works.
NOTE: this feature will be extended in the future. So please provide feedback if you are missing options are are limited in what you want to achieve.
Requirements
You can use this functionality if the following requirements are met:
Your organisation has an LTI 1.3 integration with Grasple available
Your organisation has an Brightspace API integration with Grasple available
Please reach out to us to help you with those two requirements.
How to import groups/sections from Brightspace into Grasple?
Once the integration has been setup you can import the groups or sections with the following steps:
Ensure you Brightspace course and Grasple course are connected via LTI
Go to your monitor page in Grasple
Click the button in the right corner stating "LMS Settings".
You will arrive at the page which shows you to which Brightspace course your Grasple course is connected and a button to import groups.
You can click on the button to initiate an import. You will be asked which structure you want to import: Groups or Sections. You can read more about these options further down below in this article.
Important things to consider when importing groups/sections from Brightspace:
The importing of groups will not delete any groups, it will only change the group enrolment of a student in this one course.
The importing of groups will update the group names on every import.
A student can only be enrolled in one group within Grasple. See below how we determine that one group.
Only one import per course can be done at the same time. An import might take some time depending on the size of your course. So please be patient when importing groups.
Group enrolment is applied to all known users in Grasple. Users are only known to Grasple if they have accessed the course via an LTI 1.3 link at least once.
What do the options "Groups" and "Sections" mean?
Importing groups
This option imports the groups associated to the "Main Group Categories". The Main Group Categories are defined as the Group Categories within Brightspace which are not related to a section or another Group Category.
In short: the groups within groups or groups within sections are not imported at this moment.
IMPORTANT: in Grasple a student can only be enrolled in one group per course. Based on the Main Group Categories and their groups we create a list of unique group enrolments. Please read the rest of the article to understand how to determine this unique enrolment.
Importing sections
When importing the sections we use the sections you have defined in Brightspace. We do not import the groups within those sections.
Sections have a unique enrolment in Brightspace so we directly use that enrolment to create the group enrolment in Grasple.
NOTE: Sections might not be enabled within your Brightspace installation. In that case we advice you to not use this option.
One group per student: how is that determined?
Groups
We order all Groups of the Main Group Categories alphabetically based on their name. The first group encountered for a student is used.
This allows you as a teacher to change the name of the groups (e.g. with a prefix) to get the right Group enrolment in Grasple.
Sections
Sections in Brightspace already have a unique enrolment. We use that enrolment directly within Grasple.
Questions and feedback
If you have any feedback/questions about this feature, please reach out to via the chat icon in the bottom right corner.
Note: this feature is currently only available for Brightspace and not for Blackboard, Canvas or other LMS. If you are interested in such an integration, reach out to us!