Google Groups for Courses

1. Visit groups.google.com.
2. All Google Groups for courses will follow this pattern as displayed in this example: fys150-01-fall2025@lafayette.edu.
3. Under the name of your course’s Google Group, you will see the email address for this Group. Right-click the email address, and select the choice to copy the email address.

All members of your course’s Google Group can use it in the same way.

Emailing members of the course

• Once you know the email address of your course’s Google Group, you can send email to it like you would any other email address. All members of the Google Group will receive the email.

Managing access to Google Drive resources

Using Google Groups, you can manage access to Google Drive resources like My drive folders, Shared drives, and to individual Google Docs.

When sharing a Google Drive resource, paste the email address of your course’s Google Group (or begin typing it in the window to share a Google Drive resource). Select the appropriate level of access to the Google Drive resource you want share.

• Sharing Google Drive folders
• Sharing Google Shared drives
• Sharing files (e.g., Google Docs, Sheets)

Scheduling members to Google Calendar events

• To invite the entire course to a Google Calendar event, begin typing the name of your course’s Google Group in the guest field.

Managing members in a Google Chat Space

• To invite the entire course to a Google Chat Space, begin typing the name of your course’s Google Group in the membership field. Members of your course’s Google Group will receive an email invitation to join the Chat Space.

Enrollment in your course’s Google Group is based on enrollments in Moodle. The following roles in Moodle will be added to your Google Group and every member of the Google Group has the same level of access.

• Teachers
• Librarians
• Assistants with limited grade access
• Assistant without grade access
• Students
• Auditors

Your course’s Google Group will be created shortly after your course is created in Moodle. This is the schedule:

• Fall and interim Google Group courses will be created the April prior.
• Spring and summer Google Group courses will be created the November prior.

Yes, a Google Group will be created for nearly every single Moodle course, which includes Moodle merged courses. Merged course names will follow the same pattern as a single course. Let’s say an instructor merged section 1 and 2 of FYS 150, the Google Group email address would like like this: fys150-12-fall2025@lafayette.edu

Enrollment in a Google Group for Courses is based on Moodle enrollments in the course. Like Moodle course enrollments with Banner, enrollment in a Google Group for Courses is updated hourly. The order of enrollment updates is:

• (1) Banner enrollments syncs to (2) Moodle enrollments, which sync to (3) Google Groups for Courses enrollments

You course’s Google Group will be deleted after about a year. This is the schedule:

• Fall and interim Google Group courses will be deleted the following April.
• Spring and summer Google Group courses will be deleted the following November.