Getting started with class email groups
Instructors and teaching assistants: Class groups let you easily email an entire course section with a single email address. Learn how to activate groups, modify roles, change group settings and more.
By Brianna Kuhn
Class groups make it easy for an instructor or teaching assistant to contact every student in a course section using a single email address (e.g., zoology152-1-s25@g-groups.wisc.edu).
Even if you primarily communicate through another tool such as Canvas, activating your email groups provides a reliable backup channel so you can quickly reach your students during unexpected outages.
To learn more about class groups, see the list of frequently asked questions below.
Questions about creating and viewing email groups
No. Class groups are Google Groups made using data from the Office of the Registrar’s Student Information System (SIS). You do, however, need to activate the group (more on that below).
To view your class groups, visit the Class Groups admin site (you will need to log in with your NetID and password).
On the admin site, you’ll see “Classes with email groups” and “Classes without email groups.” Those without email groups haven’t been activated yet. Click the “Create email group” button to activate it.
The class group is made when at least one student registers for the class. If you don’t see a class group listed, it’s possible that no students have registered for the course section yet. You will receive an email notice when a new group is available for you.
Questions about group membership & permissions
Yes, if you are listed as the Instructor in SIS, you are automatically added to the group as a manager.
If the TA is listed as an instructor in SIS, they will be automatically added. If they are not a listed instructor, then an existing instructor can add the TA using the “Add or remove guests” feature on the Class Groups admin site.
No. This information is updated in SIS every few hours. Students will automatically be added or removed.
You can either log into the Class Groups admin site and click the email address for the class group, or you can view members in Google Groups.
No. The default setting for the group is that instructors are managers and students are members. But those in the manager role can change group permissions to allow students to email the group, too. For more information, see the “Default settings when a class group is created” section of the Class Groups KB article.
Have more questions?
If you have additional questions, see the KnowledgeBase (KB) articles linked below or contact the Help Desk.