Diving into the world of teaching, we’ve all been there—standing in front of a classroom, trying to quickly form groups for an activity, and hoping to mix students up effectively to foster a dynamic learning environment. It’s a common scene, yet one that can be unexpectedly challenging. Hence the importance of random group generators!
These are online tools that help you easily and quickly generate random teams and injecting an element of fairness and unpredictability that can stimulate engagement and collaboration among students.
Whether it’s a high-energy debate, a complex problem-solving session, or a hands-on project, the composition of groups can significantly sway the outcome. That’s why exploring the utility and functionality of random group generators isn’t just a technical dive – it’s a step towards refining our pedagogical toolkit and enriching the educational experience.
In this post, We’ll uncover some of the best random group generators out there and show you what each of these tools has to offer.
Related: 5 Good Random Name Pickers to Use with Your Students in Class
Best Random Group Generators for Teachers
Here are some of our favourite random group generators:
1- Random Group Generator
Random Group Generator by Classtools is an example of an EdTech tool designed specifically to help teachers tap into the educational potential of group work. As its name indicates, Random Group Generator enables you to easily create random teams in your class. The process is simple and easy.
You simply input your class list and select the number of groups you want to create then click on ‘Create groups’. You can choose to create up to 20 groups. Random Group Generator is free of charge and does not require any software download.
2- Keamk
Another excellent group maker for teachers. Keamk offers two columns: one where you type in your participants and the second for teams. When you finish typing your entries click on Generate Team to let the tool assign students to random groups. You can then share the link publicly with others. In order for your to save your work, you need to be registered. Registration is free. Other interesting features provided by Keamk include the ability to:
- ‘Assign a score from 1 to 5 to your participants and get balanced teams
- Select a gender for your participants and get balanced groups.
- Export your teams and groups in Excel.
- Share your draws directly on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.
- Save your participants and teams for later reuse.
- Keep track of your draws.’
3- Random Group Creator (by Aschool)
Random Group Creator does exactly that: it creates random groups based on input data. ‘Enter a list of names with each name on a seperate line. Then select the number of names that you want to draw.
‘There is also another tool offered by Aschool called Random Group Mixer Creator “The Random Group Mixer Creator came about because of the need to randomly combine two groups of students. For example The 1st grade class is working with the 4th grade class for reading. This program will match up students in one class with students from the other class. If one class is larger some groups will be larger than pairs.”
3- Wheel Decide
Wheel Decide is a free online spinner tool that lets you design your own digital wheels for various purposes including decision making, prize giveaways, games, and many more. You can also use it as a random group generator. You simply input the names of students and click to spin.
The wheel picks a name for you. Repeat the same process to generate names for your groups. You can use Wheel Decide without having to login, However, only registered users can save their wheels
4- Random Name Picker
Random Name Picker lets you pick random names to use in the groups you create in class. Random Name Picker offers the following tools:
- Create Groups Using Team Generator: “Create Groups using the Team Generator. This makes it easy to assign somebody to a group randomly.”
- Select Name Using Name Generator: “Pick names using the Name Generator. Option includes first, middle and last names and gender.”
- The Spin Wheel: makes it easy to pick names randomly. Features includes sounds, removing winners and fast or normal spin.
- The SLoth Machine: “Allows “you pick names randomly. Features includes sounds, removing winners and simple, yet user-friendly interface.”
- Generate Bingo Cards: “Use the Bingo Card Generator to generate bingo card with your set of names. Print however many cards you like.”
- Create name Search Puzzle: “Use the Name Search Puzzle Generator to create word puzzle using your set of names. You can change the dimensions and difficulty levels.”
- Generate Name Worksheet: “Use the Name Worksheet to generate worksheet using the set of names. Select the style and print – easy-peasy.”
- Create stealing chart:“Use the Seating Chart Generator to create class seating arrangements. You can arrange by random or by alphabet.”
5- Wheel of Names
You can use Wheel of Names as a group maker in your class. Type in the names of students and spin the wheel to pick random names. You can also make the “wheel your own by customizing the colors, sounds, and spin time, click Customize at the top of the page”.
6- Picker Wheel
Another great group maker for teachers. Picker Wheel works in almost the same way as Wheel of Names and Wheel Decide. You provide the names of your students and when you are done click on spin and the wheel will randomly generate names to use in your groups.
7. Flippity Random Name Picker
The Flippity Random Name Picker is an incredibly versatile tool found on Flippity.net that offers a fun and interactive way to randomly select names from a list. This tool is perfect for classroom use, allowing teachers to easily create a digital spinner for selecting a single name, organize students into lineups, or form groups and teams of various sizes ranging from two to five.
It also provides options to display the selections in a chart format for a quick overview. Additional features such as toggling to fullscreen for better visibility, showing or hiding a timer for time-bound activities, and displaying instructions make it a highly customizable and practical tool for educators.
Whether for picking students for classroom tasks, creating random teams for group activities, or simply adding an element of surprise to the learning environment, the Flippity Random Name Picker streamlines the process in a fun and engaging manner.
Final thoughts
If you’ve ever felt stumped about how to fairly and efficiently break your class into groups, the power of technology has a solution for you. These random group generators are a godsend for educators looking to shuffle students into diverse groups without the hassle of sorting through a sea of names manually.
From Classtools’ Random Group Generator, designed specifically with classroom needs in mind, to the flexibility of Wheel Decide, these tools offer more than just randomization. They provide additional features like score-based balancing, gender inclusion, and even the capability to export and share your groups.
Plus, with most of these tools being free and requiring no sign-up, they’re a hassle-free addition to your teaching toolkit. So, next time you’re planning group work, ditch the old-school drawing-names-from-a-hat method and go digital for a smooth, efficient experience.
