Groups: Bulk Creation and Upload

Download a template spreadsheet from the inline help:

There are two templates - make sure you download the spreadsheet for Groups.

Open the spreadsheet. Make sure you leave the first row as it is. There are example groups with various settings entered for your information:

We suggest you create your groups underneath so you can refer to the examples if needed, just remember to delete the rows with example groups before uploading back to Minerva.

You do not need to enter information in every column but some are essential (marked with a *):

• Group Code* - Enter a unique code. Don't include spaces (use _ instead). Stick to letters/numbers.
• Title* - Enter a name for the Group which will make sense to your students.
• Description - Add information for students if required.
• Group Set - If you are creating many related groups, enter a common code here. Don't include spaces (use _ instead). Stick to letters/numbers.
• Available - Enter Y or N. If nothing is selected Minerva will set availability to N (so the Group will not be available to students.)
• Personalisation - Enter Y or N. If nothing is selected Minerva will set availability to N. Personalisation allows students to add a Banner or select a colour scheme for the Group area.

The remaining options are relevant if you are creating self enrol groups, otherwise they can be left blank.

• Self enrol - Enter Y if you want to create a self enrol group.
• Max Enrollment - Insert a number for the maximum number allowed on the group if applicable.
• Show Members - Enter Y if you want students to see who is in the group before they sign up.
• Sign up from Group List - Enter Y if you want students to see the group and sign up to it from the main Groups page. If you do not enter Y you will need to add a link to the specific Group(s) somewhere in your module to allow students to sign up.
• Sign up Name - Enter a name for the Sign Up Sheet
• Sign up Instructions - Add information for students if required.

Once you have added all your Groups, remove the example entries remembering to leave the first row of the spreadsheet.

Save the spreadsheet making sure the filetype is CSV. Excel may change the document type to XLSX or warn that formatting may be lost if you keep the document as a CSV. It must be a CSV to upload successfully to Minerva.

Return to the Groups area in the Control Panel and go to the Import area:

Ensure you scroll down to the Import Groups section, then browse your computer for your file and then click Submit.

You will receive an e-mail when the upload is complete. If you need to manually add students to the Groups, you can use the Bulk Upload of Members option.

Download a template spreadsheet from the inline help:

There are two templates - make sure you download the spreadsheet for members.

The template includes some examples which should be removed before upload as highlighted below:

Make sure you leave the first row as it is.

In Column A, enter the group code; if the name includes spaces you must use _gc_ where any spaces are present e.g. Group A would be Group_gc_A. If you don't know the group code it can be obtained by selecting View Options, Show Group Code on the Groups page:

Add the username in column B (you cannot enter student/staff IDs). Repeat per row for each person you need to add to a group.

Once finished save the spreadsheet making sure the filetype is CSV. Excel may change the document type to XLSX or warn that formatting may be lost if you keep the document as a CSV. It must be a CSV to upload successfully to Minerva.

Return to the Groups area in the Control Panel and go to the Import area:

In the Import Group Members section, browse your computer for your file and then click Submit. You will receive an e-mail when the upload is complete.