Pull nuanced reports on student outcomes by cohort and specialization to zone in on specific groups when needed.

 

Why Create Cohorts and Specializations in Experiential Learning Cloud? 

Adding students to cohorts and specializations in Experiential Learning Cloud will enable you to pull the group rubric and group accreditation reports for these smaller groups of students, in addition to running reports for the entire program! 

Sub-Programs are also a useful way to organize your users in Experiential Learning Cloud. Sub-Programs allow you to categorize users at another level, secondary to their program association. Find out more here.

When to Create Cohorts and Specializations

Cohorts and Specializations can be used to group students together by a common characteristic. 

You may choose to group students by some of the options listed below, but the possibilities are endless! Create groups for any and all of your reporting needs. 

• Program Delivery Method
  • For example: On Campus and Online 
• Campus Location
  • For example: East Campus and West Campus
• Matriculation Date 
  • For example: Fall 2022 admits
• Specialization/Concentration  
  • For example: Elementary Education, Secondary Education, and Special Education
• Classification/Level
  • For example: Practicum and Internship, or Generalist and Specialized  
• Perhaps you need to report based on a combination of the above factors? You can do that too!
  • For example: On Campus - Generalist 

Students should be added to their respective cohorts when their accounts are initially created in Experiential Learning Cloud. They can be added later on as well, but best practice is to take care of it right off the bat! 

How to Run Rubric and Accreditation Reports by Cohort or Specialization

1. Go to the Program Management | Supervision environment  
2. Click the Reports tab 
3. Using the categories filer, select Rubric 
4. Click Run under any of the following reports: 
   • #602 - Group Rubric Raw Data 
     • This report pulls raw data from an assessment rubric to see all of the students assessed on that rubric and their respective scores on each criterion. 
   • #603 - Group Rubric Analysis 
     • This report displays the distribution, mean, mode, and standard deviation of scores for each criterion on a rubric. 
   • #605 - Accreditation Standards - Group Analysis
     • This report displays the number of students who met, or did not meet, the minimum acceptable value on any rubric criteria aligned to assessment standards. 
   • #606 Accreditation Standards Raw data 
     • This report pulls the raw scores earned by each student on rubrics aligned to assessment standards. 
5. Select the rubric or accreditation standard you would like to report on 
6. Select the group(s) you want to pull outcomes for 
7. Uncheck the "Only get rubrics in selected class(es)" check box 
8. Fill in any additional parameters as needed 
9. Select Generate PDF or Generate Microsoft Excel (depending upon the report you've chosen)
10. Repeat steps 4-9 for any additional groups you need to report on 

 

How to Create Cohorts and Specializations

Cohorts and specializations can be created by: 

• Using the Mass-Add tool (this is the best way to do it if the users that are being added to the groups already have Experiential Learning Cloud accounts) 
• Using an Import (this is the best way to do it if the users that are being added to the groups do not already have Experiential Learning Cloud accounts) 
• Manually creating the cohorts and adding users individually (this is the "old school" way - it's not quite as quick as either of the above options)

Read on to learn how each of these options works! 

The Mass-Add Tool 

The mass-add tool allows you to copy users from one existing group to another, or to select multiple users from the Users table to add them to a group all at once. 

How to Copy Users From One Group to Another

1. Log in and go to the Program Management | Staff & Students environment. Then, navigate to the Groups workspace.
2. Create a new group with the Cohort or Specialization group type. 
3. Give the group a name. Try to use a naming convention that is as specific as possible so that there are not duplicate groups in future terms. You can also use the class term and section to further differentiate your group from others. 
4. Click on the Users tab.
5. Then, click on the Copy to this group button. 
6. You will then see a dropdown containing a list of active groups to select from.
7. After selecting the group you wish to copy users from, click on the Copy users button. A confirmation modal will appear. Click on the Yes button to add those users to the group.
8. Alternatively, you can add users to your cohort from an existing group by navigating to that group, clicking the Users tab and clicking on the Copy to other groups button instead. You will then see a dropdown containing a list of active groups with students to select from. Select the group you created in step 2 from this list. 

9. After selecting the group, click on the Copy users button. Then, click Yes in the confirmation modal to add those users to the group.

10. Once the copy is completed, you will see the users appear within the group you are working in.

How to Mass-Add Users to a Class or Group from the Users Workspace

1. Log in and go to the Program Management | Staff & Students environment. Then, navigate to the Groups workspace.
2. Create a new group with the Cohort or Specialization group type. 
3. Give the group a name. Try to use a naming convention that is as specific as possible so that there are not duplicate groups in future terms. You can also use the class term and section to further differentiate your group from others. 
4. Then, navigate to the Users workspace.
5. Select one or more users from the table. Be sure to use the filters at the top to help narrow down your list of users.
6. Once you've filtered the table to show the specific users you want to add to a group, click the box in the upper left corner of the table to select all. 
   • Alternatively, check the boxes on the left side of each user's record to select group members individually. 
7. Once you've selected all users you'd like to add to the group, scroll to the bottom of the table and click on the Add # Users to group button.

   • NOTE: You will only be able to add users to a group one page at a time, so it may be helpful to update the number of records displayed per page. See our article on Table Settings for more information.

8. You will then see a dropdown containing a list of active groups to select from.
9. After selecting one or more groups, click on the Add to group button.
10. Once the action is completed you can then navigate to the group you added users to and click on the Users tab. The users you added will now appear.
    • You can also confirm a user was added by expanding their user record and clicking on the Groups tab.

Class Imports

Imports allow you to create, user accounts, create cohorts and specializations, and add students to Experiential Learning Cloud en masse simultaneously! 

1. Go to the Program Management | Staff & Students environment
2. Click on the Classes tab on the left sidebar 
   • This tab may also be called Groups depending upon the custom terms used by your program
3. Click on the upload icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. Select 
5. Complete the downloaded spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. 
6. Columns A, B, C, G, H, J, L, M, and N  are all required fields in a class import.
   • Column A = Class/Group Course Number. You can create any identifier for the cohort or Specialization that you would like, using numbers and/or letters.
   • Column B = Class/Group Type. This should be either cohort or specialization. 
     • What's the difference?  
       • Cohorts can include assignments and an instructor, so they're a great way to both group students together by a common characteristic, and assign tasks to those groups. 
       • Specializations do not include assignments or an instructor, so they are used purely to group students together based on a shared characteristic for reporting purposes. 
   • Column C = Class / Group name. This should be the name by which you will identify this cohort or specialization. 
   • Column G = Class / Group Term. This could be one specific term (e.g. FA2022), or a broader time range (e.g. AY2022-2023), as applicable to this grouping.  
     • The term is important, as it allows you to distinguish one year's cohorts from another, so you can have maximum clarity in your report output. 
   • Column J = User Type. Use "student" for any member of the group. If a cohort has a supervising instructor or advisor, use "supervisor" for that individual. 
   • Column L = Enter the first name of the first member of the group. 
   • Column M = Enter the last name of the first member of the group.
   • Column N = Enter the email address of the first member of the group.
7. Enter a program name into column I if you want to associate the group with a program. 
   • Remember that a group can only be associated with one program. So, if there will be students or instructors from multiple programs associated with this group, leave this column blank. 
8. Columns AG and AJ are also required if the users being added to the class(es)/group(s) on this spreadsheet do not already have accounts in Experiential Learning Cloud. 
   • Column AF = Enter the program that the first member of the group is a member of. 
   • Column AI = Enter the role of the first member of the group
     • Students should have the role: student 
     • Instructors should have the role: class functions
       • You may want to give instructors further access through additional roles. In this case, you could enter class functions, class functions plus +, and student functions. See our article about user roles to learn more: Understanding Roles. 
9. Copy columns A-H for as many members as there are in a given group. For example: if there are 35 students in a cohort, copy the contents of cells A-G to fill 35 rows of your spreadsheet. 
10. Enter each class member's information in their own row in cells I-AL. 
11. Repeat steps 6-8 for all additional cohorts or specializations. Students who are part of more than one group will be listed multiple times on the completed spreadsheet. 
12. Once you have finished filling out your spreadsheet, be sure to save it. The file should save as a .csv file by default. 
13. Return to the Classes or Groups workspace in the Program Management | Staff & Students environment in Experiential Learning Cloud.
14. Click the upload icon once more
15.  Drag and drop your completed import file into the upload window. 
16. If there are any errors in your import, they will be flagged once the file has been uploaded. You can make updates directly in Experiential Learning Cloud to correct these errors. 
17. Next, the system will check for duplicates. If there are any existing classes or groups which have the same number, name, term, and section number as any of the classes on your spreadsheet, the system will ask if you want to keep the files from your import or if you want to leave the existing record as it is. 
    • If you choose to keep the files from your import, the members listed on the spreadsheet will be added to the existing class. 
    • If you leave the existing record as it is, the students in the spreadsheet will not be added to the existing class. 
      • Instead of either of the above options, you can also select Back to update the term or section number of the groups in your import to make them unique from the existing record. 

Manual Process

Manually adding users to a cohort or specialization is less efficient than either of the above options, but it will allow you to be methodical in your creation of these groups! 

1. Go to the Program Management | Staff & Students environment  
2. Go to the Classes Tab 
   • This tab may also be called Groups depending upon the custom terms used by your program
3. Click the (+) icon in the upper right corner to create a new Class/Group
4. In the Group Type field, select Cohort or Specialization
   • What's the difference?  
     • Cohorts can include assignments and an instructor, so they're a great way to both group students together by a common characteristic, and assign tasks to those groups. 
     • Specializations do not include assignments or an instructor, so they are used purely to group students together based on a shared characteristic for reporting purposes. 
5. Go to the Staff & Students tab and add students to the group

NOTE: Students can only be added to a class / group once their accounts have been created in Experiential Learning Cloud. Accounts can be created manually, or via import.