Can you have separate groups of students in a Moodle course?
Yes, a feature called ‘groups’ allows you put students into different groups which can either be ‘visible’ or ‘separate’. In the former other course members can read, but not interact or respond to the contributions of other groups, in the latter case the other groups are effectively invisible to non-members. Students can be in multiple groups in a course. Look for the Groups option in the course Administration block.