Currently there is a course setting for default grouping/group mode. This has two totally different functions:

1. When you create a new activity, these settings are set as defaults in the form (you can change them).

2. Set the grouping/groupmode when viewing course-wide information (e.g. gradebook, activity completion) that supports groups for privacy or UI reasons.

Because it may not be immediately obvious, I'll supply two real-life examples of #2 (for separate and visible group mode, respectively). This is existing behaviour, I just want to make it clear for everyone in case it comes up in discussion.

First, consider a course with multiple teachers, each one responsible for a group of students. Institution policy (and/or national privacy laws) may mean that teachers are ONLY permitted to see grades of their students and not anybody else's students. In that case, you would choose 'separate groups', and additionally - if the site uses groupings - also select the grouping that corresponds to the groups that identify students and their tutors.

Second, consider a course with 100 teachers, each in charge of one or two tutor groups of 20 students (in total over 2,000 students). Teachers may have access to all data but primarily want to see information, such as grades, from their own students. Specifying a group mode (and appropriate grouping if necessary) allows them to quickly pick out their own students (in fact the report will probably default to showing that group).

This setting basically works but the problem is that combining these two functions is not really appropriate. On our courses, we need to use this setting for the legal reason given above, but the problem is, staff creating the courses then accidentally set up activities with group mode when they didn't want it. This can lead to things like forums set up in group mode, complete with 'welcome' posts, then suddenly after the course goes live people realise it's not supposed to be split into groups and have to change it (at which point they lose the posts unless they're careful).

Proposal is to create two additional fields in course table, and change some of the references in existing code (either the gradebook & other reports, or the module creation form defaults) to point to the new options.

I can't remember whether the 'force groupmode' thing still exists but assuming it does, that would apply to the 'default groupmode' options (since it relates to the activity level and not course level).

The UI would then have two pairs of settings (approximate names given, subject to improvement):

• Default group mode for new activities
• Default grouping for new activities
• Course report group mode
• Course report grouping

Popup help for these options could be along the lines of:

• When you create a new activity on this course, it will default to this group mode. You can change it per-activity, unless the 'force' option is set above.
• This group mode controls access to user information in some course reports including the gradebook.