Random Group Generator
Split a list of names into balanced random groups or teams.
Currently in the order you typed. Press Shuffle to randomise — names are then dealt round-robin, so group sizes never differ by more than one.
- Ada
- Elif
- Ines
- Boris
- Farid
- Jonas
- Chen
- Grace
- Karim
- Dilara
- Hugo
- Lena
Groups are random, which is fair but blind — it can put every strong student together, or separate a pair who need to stay apart. Reshuffle until the arrangement works, or move individuals afterwards.
Paste names and choose either how many groups you want or how many people belong in each. Names are shuffled and then dealt round-robin, so 12 students across 5 groups gives three groups of 3 and two of 2 rather than four of 3 and one of nothing.
Two ways to divide a class
The choice depends on what constrains the activity. Fixing the number of groups suits a task with a set number of stations, topics, or presentation slots — six discussion questions means six groups, whatever the class size. Fixing the group size suits a task designed around a specific number of roles: a four-person project with a researcher, a writer, a presenter, and a checker needs fours.
Either way the arithmetic rarely divides evenly, and how the remainder is handled matters. Dealing round-robin — one name to each group in turn, repeatedly — spreads the remainder so no group is left conspicuously small. Filling each group to capacity before starting the next would leave a final group of one, which is not a group.
Why random helps
Left to choose, students group with the people they already know, which reinforces existing divisions and leaves anyone without a close friend visibly unplaced. Random assignment removes that entirely, and it removes the social cost of not being picked. It also breaks up the pattern where the same strong students always work together.
How to use it
Names, split rule, shuffle:
- 1 Paste the names. One per line or comma-separated. A column copied from a spreadsheet pastes directly.
- 2 Choose how to split. By number of groups when the task has fixed stations or topics; by people per group when the task has fixed roles.
- 3 Set the number. The tool works out the rest — five groups from twelve names, or groups of three from twelve.
- 4 Press Shuffle. The list starts in the order you typed it, so nothing is random until you ask for it.
- 5 Reshuffle if the result is poor. Randomness can put every strong student together or separate a pair who work well. Shuffling again costs nothing.
- 6 Copy the groups. The copy button gives a plain-text list, one group per line, ready to paste anywhere.
How 12 names divide
Round-robin dealing keeps sizes within one of each other, whichever split rule you use.
| Setting | Result |
|---|---|
| 3 groups | Three groups of 4 |
| 4 groups | Four groups of 3 |
| 5 groups | Two groups of 3, three of 2 |
| Groups of 2 | Six pairs |
| Groups of 4 | Three groups of 4 |
| Groups of 5 | Three groups of 4 — balanced rather than 5, 5 and 2 |
Where randomness is the wrong tool
Random grouping is fair but uninformed. It does not know that two students cannot work together, that one needs a supportive partner, or that a particular mix has failed before. For a short in-class activity that rarely matters. For a project running over several weeks and carrying a grade, the composition of the groups affects the outcome enough that deliberate assignment is usually better.
There is also a real trade-off in ability mixing. Random assignment produces mixed-ability groups on average, which generally helps weaker students and can hold back the strongest. Deliberate grouping by ability does the opposite. Neither is universally right, and randomness effectively picks the first option by default — worth knowing you are choosing it.
Nothing is stored, so the groups exist only while the page is open. Copy them before closing if you need them again.