I'd like to request a feature that lets students submit a group project once, while still allowing each group member to be graded individually.
Current situation:
Populi's "groups" help organize students, but they can't be used to submit a shared work product. When students complete a group project, every student has to upload the same file separately to a File-type assignment. Instructors then open and grade each identical submission one at a time.
Problems this creates:
- Extra work for instructors, who must open, review, and grade the same file once per student.
- Risk of inconsistency, because students may upload different or outdated versions of the group's work.
- Confusion for students about who is responsible for submitting.
- Plagiarism checks (where enabled) can flag group members' identical submissions as matches to each other.
Requested functionality:
1. Let an instructor mark a File or Essay assignment as a group assignment and select a student group set.
2. Allow any one member of a group to submit on behalf of the whole group, with that submission shown to every member.
3. Give the instructor an option to grade the group as a whole (one grade applied to all members) or to grade each student individually, with the ability to adjust a single student's grade and feedback.
4. Allow rubrics to be used for both group and individual grading.
5. Make sure plagiarism checking does not flag a group's shared submission against itself.
6. Show students the group's submission, grade, and feedback on their own assignment page and in the gradebook.
Why it matters:
Group projects are a common way to build teamwork and collaboration skills, especially in programs that prepare students for team-based workplaces. Native support would save instructors significant grading time and give students a clearer, more consistent submission process.
I understand similar requests have been posted in the Populi community (for example, "Student Small Groups"), so I'd also like to add my support for this feature and ask to be notified if it is planned or released.
Thank you for considering this request.
