Create Effective Group Category Configuration

• Guide Overview
• Create Group Categories
• Default Groups to Open
• Adjust Group Category Visibility
• Enable/Disable Group Creation Within a Group Category

Groups are nested within Group Categories to provide organization in the left-hand menu. Group categories can be ordered to ensure the most important Groups appear at the top of the menu.

Example Use: A “Student Services” Group category may contain Groups titled “Career Development,” “Counseling Center,” “Academic Support Center,” and “Bookstore."

Group categories can be marked to default open, allowing users one-click access to the groups within that category. If there are many group categories in the menu, portal Admin may want to default some group categories to closed, so users do not have to scroll too far down the page to find a specific group.

Group categories and the groups that fall within each category can be made visible to certain roles. A group category titled “Faculty Resources” may viewable to faculty, and hidden from the student role, as the groups within this category pertain to faculty, not students. 

Example Use: Faculty and staff may take advantage of group creation for many different purposes, including academic groups for interdisciplinary research, or groups centered around community building, in the form of a “Lunch and Learn” group.

Group creation within certain group categories can be enabled or disabled. 

Example Use: An institution may restrict the student role from creating groups within a “Student Services” group category, as groups that fall under this category provide vital information straight from the institution to student users. 

Example Use: An institution may enable the student role to create groups within an “Extracurricular” group category as this can promote community..