Understanding and Using Groups

Groups are areas within Totara Social where you can join other People in discussing and sharing ideas or information to allow collaboration around particular topics. Whether you are working on an internal project or socialising, groups are a great way to do this.

Groups offer the possibility to:

• Create and discuss topics in forums.
• Create and edit pages.
• Access, upload and share group-specific files.

The Site administrator determines who can create groups.

Some groups allow anyone to join (open groups), while other groups may be by request or invitation only (approval and controlled groups).

Viewing groups

You can use the left-hand menu to quickly view groups you are a part of (by clicking My groups) or you can search your groups by clicking the magnifying glass icon. By clicking the name of a group you will be taken to that group's homepage.

If you want a fuller view or to do anything else with groups you will need to click the View all groups button, which will take you to the Groups page. 

In the middle of the groups page there is a list of the groups you are a part of, under the option My groups. Alongside each group you will see your role in the group (e.g. Member or Admin) and a cog icon which will have different function depending on you role:

• Admin: If you are an admin the cog icon will allow you to Edit the groups, Invite new members, or Delete the group.
• Member: If you are a member of a group then the cog icon will allow you to Recommend or Leave the group. 
• Trainer: There is no cog icon for this role.  

The are also two other options, All groups (where you can browse and join available group) and Groups I manage (which allows you to quickly see any group you are an admin in). 

The list of groups on each of the sections can be sorted using the Sort by dropdown to arrange the content by Name, Most recent, or Recommended (the latter is only available when viewing All groups).

Finding a group

If you want to find groups to join you can go to the Groups page (via the left-hand menu) and use the Group recommendations block on the right. Simply click Join alongside any group you like the look of or click the cross (x) to dismiss a recommendation. 

If you want to see a full list of available groups on the site, you need to follow these steps:

1. From the left-hand menu click on My Groups and then select View all groups. 
2. Click on the All groups option to see all possible groups on the site. 
3. Find the group you wish to join and click the button, it will either be:
   • Join: If the group is open, this means you will be added to it immediately. 
   • Request to join:  If the group requires approval, this means you will need to wait for a group admin to approve or reject your request. 

If you are invited to join a group you will get a notification (accessed via the envelope icon on the top right) and a new option will appear on the Group page for Group invitations. If you click this then you can see any pending invitations to groups you have, and use either the Accept or Decline button depending whether you wish to join or not. 

Creating a group

Depending on the access rights set-up by your Site administrator, you may be able to create a new Group.

To create a new group:

1. From the left-hand menu click on My Groups and then select View all groups. 
2. On this page click the Create group button, located above the table of groups. 
3. Complete the required details and settings (mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk). 
4. Select Save group.

Settings 

External feeds 

You can choose to include an external feed whilst setting up a new group. For an RSS feed you simply need to add the feed URL in the External feeds section of the group settings. 

Anders Pink briefing

Additionally you can also add an Anders Pink briefing to your group, although a Site administrator will first need to set up the API key for this. Anders Pink curates content from across the web based on simple rules or filters. It crawls millions of articles every day to find content that matches keywords, domains, RSS, and other rules. The content is then presented as a briefing, this is a collection of articles that is updated every few hours. Totara Social pulls these articles into group activity stream where they can be can discussed, shared, and liked by the group members.

To set up the Anders Pink briefing in a group you will need obtain an API key, which can be done by contacting Anders Pink via their website. You will then need a Site administrator for your Totara Social site to add the key by following these steps:

1. Once you have logged into Totara Social, click on the cog icon in the menu bar to take you through to the Admin section. 
2. Now click the Extensions tab and then Plugin administration.
3. Find the article plugin and click the Configuration link. 
4. You can now enter your API key and then click Save. 

Once the API key has been entered Anders Pink briefings can be added to any group by clicking in the AndersPink Briefing box under External feeds. When you click in this box you will see a list of available briefings appear, simply select the one you wish to add. 

If you wish to change the API key used, then simply enter the new one and click the refresh button to clear the old cached briefings. 

Creating your own custom curated briefings on any topic requires access to the Anders Pink web application, but once the briefings have been set up there, they will be available for selection in the AndersPink Briefing field.

Currently, it is not possible to create your own briefings in Totara Social. If you cannot see anything of interest to your group in the existing briefings, please contact your Site administrator who can help you with setting up new briefings.

Interacting with groups

Your role within a Group and the access rights applied by your Site administrator determine what you can and cannot do. The following describes how a standard user can interact with a group they are a member of.

• Activity: This includes the activity stream for the group and gives a brief overview of the group. You can also post to the group using the Share something box. 

• Forums: View and participate in forum discussions. You can also subscribe/unsubscribe and watch/unwatch particular forums.
  
• Pages: View and search for pages that have been shared with the group. You can also create, copy, edit or delete group pages.
• Files: Upload images, documents, and other files for the group. You can also move files by dragging and dropping the icons between folders.
  
• Blogs: Create, edit, and manage group blogs. 
• Members: View, search for and sort members of the group (if you have permission this is also where you can add or invite members).

Forums

Communication within groups is very important and the Forums feature of Totara Social is great at facilitating discussions. 

Creating a new forum

It is possible for site and group administrators to create new forums within a group. Having different forums can be a useful way of sectioning topics of conversation, for example having one forum for general team updates and another to discuss a particular project. 

To create a new forum follow these steps:

1. Go to the group you wish to add the forum to.
2. Click the Create forum button, which is located in the top right corner. 

3. Fill in the required settings. 

4. Click Save.

Creating a new topic

Within each forum you can have multiple topics. New topics are created by entering the forum you wish to add the topic to, then clicking the Create topic button and filling out the required details as such:

Once you have filled out the details (especially the mandatory ones marked with an asterisk) click the Post button. 

Editing

After creating a forum or topic you may wish to edit it, perhaps to change the title/subject or to delete it. This can all be done by clicking the cog icon that appears to the far right of the title/subject of the forum/topic. For a forum you can simply edit or delete it, but for a topic you have additional options. When clicking the cog for a forum topic you have the options to; pin, close, edit, or delete the topic. If you click into the topic itself, so that you are viewing the thread of discussion then click the cog icon in this view, you will only see the options to close, edit, or delete. 

Mentions

It is possible to tag someone in a post by mentioning them, similar to at mentioning (also referred to as @ mentioning) on social media platforms. To do this type the @ symbol followed by the name of the person you want to mention (this could be yourself), an auto-complete option should appear for the users and you can click this to add it in. 

You can tag yourself or others via mentions in updates (share something) or group forum posts.

Inviting other users to join a group

You may invite other People to join a group if you are a Group administrator of that group or if group settings are configured to allow group members to invite their connections to join.

To invite other users to join a group:

1. From the Admin cog icon in the top right corner, click Invite.  
2. Use the search and the add (>) or remove (<) arrows to choose which users to invite by moving selected user(s) from the Potential members list into the Users to be invited list (you can select multiple users by holding down the CTRL (Windows) / Command (Mac) key).
3. Select Submit to send the invitation(s).

Leaving a group

You may leave any group that you are a member of, unless the group has a controlled membership. For groups that have a controlled membership, only the group administrator can remove you.

If you wish to leave any other type of group follow these steps:

1. Find the group  and its cog icon either:
   • In the list on the Groups page (the cog will be alongside it).
   • Go to the group itself (the cog icon will be in the top right).
2. Click the cog icon and then select Leave. 
3. You will need to confirm your decision by clicking Yes. 

Using groups

There are many different ways to utilise the groups feature, below are some examples of how you might use them, and the settings required. 

Open and optional

You might want to set up a group that anyone can choose to join, for example if you have any social groups/clubs at your organisation such as a board game club or a personal development network, if so then use the settings below (other settings are optional and should be configured based on preference). 

Open and auto-join

If you want to create a group that people are automatically added to when they first login (but they can choose to leave later), for example an induction group, use the settings below (other settings are optional and should be configured based on preference). 

Closed and visible

To set up a group that anyone can see but only certain people can join, perhaps a team group you want others to see (for transparency) but not join, make sure you use the settings below (other settings are optional and should be configured based on preference). 

Closed and hidden

You can create a private group that only select people can see or be part of (they must be added to it). For example if you had a commercially sensitive project you were working on, or you'd like to set up a closed, private area for a cohort of learners to collaborate during a course. To set up a group like this you will need to be a site administrator and use the settings below (other settings are optional and should be configured based on preference).