Clever Groups is a preference-based group generator. This means that each student in a class can submit a list of preferences of who they want to be in a group with, from most to least. The teacher can then generate groups by selecting number of groups and size of each group.
This is a democratic alternative to the traditional ways of creating groups. The groups are created by a deterministic algorithm (includes no randomness) that seeks to maximize overall satisfaction based on the preferences submitted by the students.
When creating random groups there is a risk of creating dysfunctional groups. When students make their own groups, they will often only form groups with their close friends. By submitting anonymous preferences, students can break down social barriers and get into groups with people they have not tried working with before. If a group did not work out for a student, the student can always change his or her preferences.
To try and mix the groups up a bit, the algorithm takes how many times each student has been in a group with another student into account when creating the groups. For example if two students has a third student as their first priority the first student might pair up with the third student, but next time the second student will pair up with the third student instead.
To utilize this service you need to register for an account or if you don't feel like signing up just yet you can try it now with some of the features missing. There are two account types: Teacher and student. This service can also be used in other contexts than schools, but it was created with this context in mind.
The teacher creates a team for generating groups. Students with their own accounts can join the team by entering the team code or following the team link. The teacher can close the team to prevent more people from joining the team and open it again whenever they want or remove individual students from the team. The teacher can also enter the name and preferences of a student that does not have an account manually. Names and preferences can also be imported from a spreadsheet in this format.
The teacher can specify pairs of students who cannot be in a group together.
Students with their own accounts can edit their preferences for each team at any time and they can see the members of the team and their own group once the groups have been generated.
Changes made are saved automatically, except groups which must be applied. Students must remember to press the submit preferences button in order to confirm their choices