Groups organize users into logical entities, allowing you to treat all of them as a single entity. You can communicate to the users of a group directly, assign them courses, or see reports on them. Groups come with mass actions to synchronize its users with its courses.
The Groups section shows a tabular listing of all existing groups, allowing you to edit or delete them (1) and add a new one. You can add a group with the 'Add Group' (2) button by setting a name, selecting an optional branch, and entering a short description.
There are also some advanced options that can be set for a group, such as a unique group key (which can be shared with the Learners to allow them to register for the group’s classes) and an optional limit of the maximum key uses (for groups were a limited learner membership is desired).
After selecting a group from the list of groups, you can update its basic and advanced information and see the Users and Courses assigned to the group. You also have the option to mass-enroll all of the group users to the group’s courses.
Default Groups
When creating/updating a group, through the Advanced settings you can set it to be treated as the 'Default system group' (1). This means that every new user that is created in the system will be added to this group. Consequently, the user will be automatically enrolled in the Group's courses and curriculums.
Group keys
The group properties page, under the advanced settings section, provides the possibility to define a unique 'Group key' (1). What this does is that it allows for any user that knows this key to self-enroll to this group. This is useful if you want some of your users to be automatically enrolled in a number of courses. You can also limit the times a group key may be used by setting a value other than zero in 'Maximum key uses' (2).
Note:
To learn how to mass-enroll all the users belonging to a Group to a course, check the How to assign a set of courses to users directly article.
To learn more about the differences between Branches and Groups, you can visit the What is the difference between Branches and Groups article.