Hi, Bernie.
Without extra code, I'd agree solution 1 is your best bet at the moment.
There are two developments in the wings that would help this situation in the future:
1) groups/cohort support is a priority - this should be in the next release, version 1.1. (bug 20)
2) the ability to define arbitrary user fields (bug 474)
Teaching with Moodle
Creating Pseudo-Subgroups?
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