12.1.2. Enabling and Configuring the Cohorts Feature

This section provides information about setting up cohorts in your course.

12.1.2.1. Overview

To use cohorts in your course, you must select a strategy for assigning your learners to cohorts: automated assignment, manual assignment, or a hybrid approach. For more information, see Options for Assigning Learners to Cohorts.

Note

Although you can change the assignment method for cohorts at any time, you should have a strategy in mind as you design your course, and only make changes to cohorts while the course is running if absolutely necessary.

You must also decide whether course-wide and content-specific discussion topics should be divided by cohort or unified for all learners.

After you decide on a cohort strategy for your course, complete these configuration steps (as applicable).

  1. Enable cohorts.
  2. Determine the method you want to use to assign learners to cohorts.
  1. Optionally, identify the discussion topics that you want to be divided by cohort.

    For information about divided discussions, see About Divided Discussion Topics.

You complete these procedures on the Cohorts and Discussions tabs on the Instructor Dashboard.

Note

On the Cohorts tab, the number of learners shown next to each cohort name in the Select a cohort list includes only learners who are enrolled in the course. The number does not include preassigned learners who either do not yet have an edX account or are not enrolled in your course.

For an optimal learner experience, you should make sure that configuration of the cohort feature is as complete as possible before the start date of your course. If you need to make changes to the way you have configured cohorts while your course is running, be aware of the implications of your changes. For more information, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

12.1.2.2. Implementing an Automated Assignment Strategy

To implement an automated assignment strategy of learners to cohorts, you enable the cohort feature for your course, and create cohorts that have the Automatic assignment method. To add learners to these cohorts, you do not need to take any action: the system automatically and randomly assigns learners to the available automatic cohorts when they first access any course content or divided discussions. Learners who access the Course page or other course pages such as a Textbook page do not receive a cohort assignment until they view course content or divided discussions.

Note

You can add learners manually to any cohort, whether it was created as an automated cohort or a manual cohort.

For a scenario using an automated assignment strategy, see Automated Assignment: Making MOOC Discussions Manageable. For a scenario using a combination of automated and manual assignment to cohorts, see Hybrid Assignment: Accommodating Small Groups Within a Course.

12.1.2.2.1. Automated Cohorts

The first time a learner views course content on the Course or Discussion page, if she is not already assigned to a cohort, she is randomly assigned to one of the automated cohorts. If no automated cohorts exist, the system creates a default cohort and assigns the learner to this cohort.

Note

The default cohort is created to ensure that every learner is assigned to a cohort. To avoid having to re-assign learners from the default cohort to other cohorts, make sure you create the automated cohorts that you want before the course starts.

12.1.2.3. Implementing a Manual Assignment Strategy

To implement a manual assignment strategy of learners to cohorts, you enable the cohort feature for your course, and create cohorts that have the Manual assignment method. Then, you manually assign enrolled learners to the appropriate cohorts.

Note

It is not a requirement that learners have enrolled in your course or registered on edx.org for you to add them to a cohort. For learners who have not yet created an edx.org account, you must provide a valid email address. For learners who have an edx.org account but have not yet enrolled in your course, you can provide either a valid email address or a recognized edx.org username.

Manual assignments should be as complete as possible before your course starts. If learners enroll after your course starts, you should assign new learners to cohorts as soon as possible. If you need to make changes to the way you have configured cohorts while your course is running, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

For a scenario using a manual assignment strategy, see Manual Assignment: Grouping by Common Characteristics. For a scenario using a combination of automated and manual assignment to cohorts, see Hybrid Assignment: Accommodating Small Groups Within a Course.

12.1.2.4. Enabling Cohorts in your Course

To enable cohorts in your course, follow these steps.

  1. In the LMS, select Instructor, then select Cohorts.
  2. Select Enable Cohorts.

You can now add cohorts to your course.

Warning

Be very careful in deciding to enable the cohort feature in a live course, because doing so affects the course experience for learners. Learners might no longer have access to course and discussion topics that were previously visible to them.

If you must make changes to cohort configuration while your course is running, be sure you understand the consequences of doing so. For details, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

12.1.2.5. Adding Cohorts

After you enable the cohorts feature for your course, you can add cohorts. To add a cohort to your course, follow these steps.

  1. In the LMS, select Instructor, then select Cohorts.

  2. Click Add Cohort.

  3. Enter a name for the cohort.

    Note

    Learners can see the name of the cohort they are assigned to. The message “This post is visible only to {cohort name}” appears with each post in discussion topics that are divided by cohort. See Read the Group Indicator in Posts.

  4. Specify whether learners are automatically or manually assigned to this cohort.

  5. Optionally, select Select a Content Group to associate the cohort with a content group. For information about creating cohort-specific course content by associating cohorts with content groups, see Creating Cohort-Specific Course Content.

  6. Select Save.

Continue implementing your cohort strategy by creating additional cohorts as applicable, and specifying the assignment method for each cohort.

Note

By the time your course starts, you must have at least one cohort in your course that is automatically assigned. If you have not created at least one automated assignment cohort in the course by the time that the first learner accesses your course content or a divided discussion topic, edX creates a default cohort to which learners are automatically assigned.

For details about adding learners to a cohort by uploading a .csv file, see Assign Learners to Cohorts by Uploading a .csv File.

For a report that includes the cohort assignment for every enrolled learner, review the learner profile information for your course. See Download or View Learner Data.

Note

You cannot delete cohorts, but you can change their names or the way in which learners are assigned to them. If you need to make changes to the way you have configured cohorts while your course is running, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

12.1.2.6. Assign Learners to Cohorts Manually

If you have implemented a manual assignment strategy for cohorts in your course, make sure your manual assignments are as complete as possible before your course starts. If learners enroll after your course starts, you should assign new learners to cohorts as soon as possible.

Note

Making changes to cohort assignments after the course starts can affect the course experience for learners. Learners might no longer have access to course and discussion topics that were previously visible to them. For more information, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

To manually assign learners to cohorts in your course, follow these steps.

  1. View the live version of your course. For example, in Studio click View Live.

  2. Select Instructor, then select Cohorts.

  3. Scroll to the Cohort Management section at the bottom.

  4. From the Select a cohort list, select the cohort to which you want to manually assign learners.

  5. On the Manage Learners tab, under Add learners to this cohort enter the username or email address of a single learner, or enter multiple usernames or addresses separated by commas or new lines. You can copy data from a .csv file of email addresses or usernames, and paste it into this field.

    Note

    It is not a requirement that learners have enrolled in your course or registered on edx.org for you to manually add them to a cohort. For learners who have not yet created an edx.org account, you must provide a valid email address. For learners who have an edx.org account but have not yet enrolled in your course, you can provide either a valid email address or a recognized edx.org username.

  6. Select Add Learners.

    Learners you added who have edX accounts are assigned to the selected cohorts. A confirmation message indicates the number of learners who were successfully added to the cohort.

    Learners you added who do not yet have edX accounts are listed as “Preassigned” to the cohort. When preassigned learners enroll in the course, they are automatically added to the cohort.

    If some learners that you listed could not be added to cohorts, an error message lists the email addresses or usernames of learners who could not be added to the cohort.

Note

Because learners can belong to only one cohort, adding a learner to a cohort moves them from any cohort they were previously assigned to. The confirmation message indicates the number of learners who were moved from their previous cohort assignment as a result of your adding them to the current cohort.

For a report that includes cohort assignments for your course, review the learner profile information for your course. See Download or View Learner Data.

12.1.2.7. Assign Learners to Cohorts by Uploading a .csv File

Uploading a .csv file containing a list of learners and the cohorts that you want to assign them to is another way of assigning learners to cohorts manually. For details about the other manual assignment method, see Assign Learners to Cohorts Manually.

Any assignments to cohorts that you specify in the .csv files you upload will overwrite or change existing cohort assignments. The configuration of your cohorts should be complete and stable before your course begins. You should complete manual cohort assignments as soon as possible after any learner enrolls, especially for enrollments that occur after your course has started. To understand the effects of changing cohort assignments after your course has started, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

Note

Be aware that the contents of the .csv file are processed row by row, from top to bottom, and each row is treated independently. If the same learner is assigned to different cohorts in different rows in the spreadsheet, the last assignment to be performed is that learner’s final assignment.

For example, if in your .csv file Learner A is first assigned to Cohort 1, then later in the spreadsheet is assigned to Cohort 2, the end result of your .csv upload is that Learner A is assigned to Cohort 2. However, the upload results file will include Learner A twice in the “Learners Added” count: once when they are added to Cohort 1, and again when they are added to Cohort 2. Before submitting a file for upload, check it carefully for duplicated learners and other errors.

If the same learner is assigned to a cohort that they already belong to, they are not included in the count of “Learners Added”.

The requirements for the .csv file are summarized in this table.

Requirement Notes
Valid .csv file

The file must be a properly formatted comma-separated values file:

  • The file extension is .csv.
  • Every row must have the same number of commas, whether or not there are values in each cell.
File size The file size of .csv files for upload is limited to a maximum of 2MB.
UTF-8 encoded

You must save the file with UTF-8 encoding so that Unicode characters display correctly.

See Creating a Unicode-encoded .csv File.

Header row You must include a header row, with column names that exactly match those specified in “Columns” below.
One or two columns identifying learners

You must include at least one column identifying learners: either “email” or “username”, or both.

To preassign learners who do not yet have edX accounts, you must provide their email addresses in an “email” column.

If both the username and an email address are provided for a learner, the email address has precedence. In other words, if an email address is present, an incorrect or unrecognized username is ignored.

One column identifying the cohort

You must include one column named “cohort” to identify the cohort to which you are assigning each learner.

The specified cohorts must already exist in Studio.

  Columns with headings other than “email”, “username” and “cohort” are ignored.

To manually add learners to cohorts by uploading a .csv file, follow these steps.

Note

To add learners who do not yet have edX accounts to cohorts using a .csv file upload, you must provide their email addresses in a column with the heading “email”. Learners without edX accounts are “preassigned” to cohorts; they are not included in the count of learners “added” to cohorts.

  1. View the live version of your course. For example, in Studio, select View Live.

  2. Select Instructor, then select Cohorts.

  3. From the Select a cohort list, select the cohort to which you are adding students.

  4. Select Assign students to cohorts by uploading a CSV file, then select Browse to navigate to the .csv file you want to upload.

  5. Select Upload File and Assign Students. A status message is displayed above the Browse button.

  6. Verify your upload results on the Data Download page.

    Under Reports Available for Download, locate the link to a .csv file with “cohort_results” and the date and time of your upload in the filename. The list of available reports is sorted chronologically, with the most recently generated files at the top.

The results file provides the following information:

Column Description
Cohort The name of the cohort to which you are assigning learners.
Exists

Whether the cohort was found in the system. TRUE/FALSE.

If the cohort was not found (value is FALSE), no action is taken for learners who you assigned to that cohort in the .csv file.

Learners Added The number of learners added to the cohort during the row by row processing of the .csv file. This number does not include learners who are not enrolled in the course.
Learners Not Found A list of the usernames of learners that could not be matched and who were therefore not added to the cohort.
Invalid Email Addresses A list of email addresses that were not valid. These learners could not be added to the cohort.
Preassigned Learners The email addresses of learners who do not yet have an edX account but who you have preassigned to a cohort using their email addresses. These learners are not included in the count of “Learners Added”. When these preassigned learners create an edX account and enroll in your course, they are automatically added to the cohorts that you preassigned them to.

For a report that includes the cohort assignment for every enrolled learner, review the learner profile information for your course. See Download or View Learner Data.

12.1.2.7.1. Creating a Unicode-encoded .csv File

Make sure the .csv files that you upload are encoded as UTF-8, so that any Unicode characters are correctly saved and displayed.

Note

Some spreadsheet applications (for example, MS Excel) do not allow you to specify encoding when you save a spreadsheet as a .csv file. To ensure that you are able to create a .csv file that is UTF-8 encoded, use a spreadsheet application such as Google Sheets, LibreOffice, or Apache OpenOffice.

12.1.2.8. Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course

The configuration of cohorts should be complete and stable before your course begins. Manual cohort assignments should be completed as soon as possible after any learner enrolls, including any enrollments that occur while your course is running.

If you decide that you must alter cohort configuration after your course starts and activity in the course discussion begins, be sure that you understand the consequences of these actions.

12.1.2.9. Change Learner Cohort Assignments

After your course starts and learners begin to contribute to the course discussion, each post that they add is visible either to everyone or to the members of a single cohort. When you change the cohort that a learner is assigned to, there are three results.

  • The learner continues to see the posts that are visible to everyone.
  • The learner sees the posts that are visible to his new cohort.
  • The learner no longer sees the posts that are visible only to his original cohort.

The visibility of a post and its responses and comments does not change, even if the cohort assignment of its author changes. To a learner, it can seem that posts have “disappeared”.

To verify the cohort assignments for your learners, download the student profile report for your course. If changes are needed, you can assign learners to different cohorts manually in the LMS by selecting Instructor and then Cohorts, or upload cohort assignment changes in a .csv file.

12.1.2.10. Rename a Cohort

You can change the name of any cohort, including the system-created default cohort.

To rename a cohort, follow these steps.

  1. View the live version of your course. For example, in Studio select View Live.
  2. Select Instructor, then select Cohorts.
  3. From the Select a cohort list, select the cohort whose name you want to change.
  4. On the Settings tab, in the Cohort Name field, enter a new name for the cohort.
  5. Select Save. The name for the cohort is updated throughout the LMS and the course, including learner-visible views.

12.1.2.10.1. Delete a Cohort

You cannot delete cohorts. However, you can rename a cohort, change its assignment method, or move learners to other cohorts.

If you decide that you must alter cohort configuration after your course starts and learners begin viewing the course and the discussion topics, be sure that you understand the consequences of these actions. For more details, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

12.1.2.11. Changing the Assignment Method of a Cohort

Although you can change the assignment method of a cohort at any time after you create it, you should have a strategy in mind as you design your course, and only make changes to cohorts while the course is running if absolutely necessary. Be aware of the implications of changing cohort configuration while your course is running. For more information, see Options for Assigning Learners to Cohorts and Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

Note

When your course starts, you must have at least one cohort in your course that has automatic assignment. If you have not created at least one automated assignment cohort in the course by the time that the first learner accesses your course content, edX creates a default cohort to which learners are automatically assigned. If the default group is the only automated assignment cohort in your course, you cannot change its assignment method to Manual.

To change the assignment method of a cohort, follow these steps.

  1. View the live version of your course. For example, in Studio select View Live.

  2. Select Instructor, then select Cohorts.

  3. From the Select a cohort list, select the cohort whose assignment method you want to change.

  4. On the Settings tab, the current assignment method is selected. Change the assignment method by selecting the other option, either Automatic or Manual.

  5. Select Save.

    The cohort assignment method is updated.

Note

Changing the cohort assignment method has no effect on learners who are already assigned to this and other cohorts. Learners who access the course after you make this change are assigned to cohorts based on the new assignment method of this cohort combined with the assignment methods of all other cohorts.

12.1.2.12. Disable Cohorts in Your Course

Warning

Be very careful in deciding to disable the cohort feature if you previously had it enabled in a live course, because doing so affects the course experience for learners. Course materials and discussion posts that were shared only with members of particular cohorts are now visible to all learners in the course.

If you must make changes to the way you have configured cohorts while your course is running, be sure you understand the consequences of doing so. For details, see Altering Cohort Configuration in a Running Course.

To disable cohorts in your course, follow these steps.

  1. In the LMS, select Instructor, then select Cohorts.
  2. Clear the Enable Cohorts option.

All course content and discussion posts that were previously divided by cohort immediately become visible to all students.