A support tool for student group definition

Work in group has become increasingly important due to the various advantages presented by this pedagogical method, when it comes to learning-skill development and students´ socialization. However a teacher faces difficulties in dividing a class into groups in a quick and efficient way, which could lead to not accomplish expected educational objectives, because the teacher gives up doing the division task. This paper encloses functionalities of a software tool that aims helping the definition of groups according to students´ characteristics and to educational objectives. To define groups, a rule and a class should be chosen. Rules can be created, stored, and reused in new rule creations and/or in new group definitions. Students´ profiles are stored according to the IMS learner specification. The main objective of the software was to reduce the time that a teacher spends creating groups.