Assignments

Adding Assignments | Retrieving Assignments | Returning Corrected Assignments

Adding Assignments:
To create an assignment for your students, follow these instructions:

1. Enter the Control Panel.
   
2. Enter the content area in which you want to add the assignment. Typically, this will be the Course Documents section.
   
3. To the right of the page, you will see a drop-down menu. Select Assignment from the menu and click GO.
   
   
4. In the Content Information section, give the assignment a name that is easily recognizable. Give the assignment a point value. Finally, give detailed instructions for the assignment, including the due date.
   
5. In the Assignment Files section, click the Browse button. This allows you to attach all of the assignment documentation and create the link for your students to access. Each document must be attached separately.
   
6. In the options section, make the assignment visible by clicking Yes, and track the number of views by clicking Yes. This will allow you to see who has accessed the assignment and who has not. You can leave the remaining options at the default setting.
   
   
   
7. Click the Submit button to the lower right of the page and then OK to return to the content area.
   
8. Click the Modify button to the right of the assignment. Repeat steps 5-7 until all necessary documents have been attached.
   

*It is a good idea to post an announcement informing students of the availability and location of the assignment. For example, your announcement could read, “This week’s assignment, (assignment name), is now available in the Course Documents section.” This tells students what assignment is available and where to locate it.

Back to Top

Retrieving Assignments:

You have two options for retrieving completed assignments. You may retrieve them one at a time as students complete them, or wait until all are finished and retrieve them all at once.

To retrieve assignments one at a time:

1. Enter the Control Panel.
   
2. Under Assessments, click Gradebook.
   
3. Locate the assignment you want to correct and click the exclamation point in the row for that student.
   
4. To view the student’s work, click the View button to the right of the page to download the document(s).
   
5. When you’ve finished correcting the assignment and adding your comments, save it to your computer as studentlastname_studentfirstname_documentname_corrected and close the document. If you have more than one document, save it in the same manner as above, as _documentname2_corrected.

To retrieve assignments all at once:

1. Enter the Control Panel.
   
2. Under Assessments, click Gradebook.
   
3. Locate the assignment you want to correct and click the title of the assignment.
   
   
   
4. Click Item Download.
   
5. Check the names of the students whose assignments you wish to download. You may also choose “Check All” to download all students’ assignments or “Check Ungraded” to download only those students whose work has not been graded.
   
6. Click Submit.
   
7. On the next page, you will see a link to the assignments. Click on that link to save the assignments to your computer. Please note that your computer must be able to open zip files in order to view these assignments. If you do not have this capability, it is recommended that you download each assignment individually.
   
8. The Save As box will appear. Give the file a recognizable name and click Save.
   
9. When you’ve finished correcting the assignment and adding your comments, save it to your computer as studentlastname_studentfirstname_documentname_corrected and close the document. If you have more than one document, save it in the same manner as above as _documentname2_corrected.

Back to Top

Returning Corrected Assignments:

Once you have reviewed and corrected the assignment, you can return it to the student for their review. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Enter the Control Panel.
2. Under Assessments, click Gradebook.
3. Locate the assignment you want to return and click the exclamation point in the row for that student.
4. Click the View button to the right of the page.
5. Under Feedback to Students, assign the grade, make any comments you want to send to the student, and attach the corrected file. The file will be sent back to the student for review.
6. If you choose, you can also make personal comments about the student’s work that only you will be able to view. However, Blackboard may not be the best location to trace such private information.
7. When you are finished with the feedback, click the Submit button to the lower right, and then click OK.
8. Click the Submit button to the lower right to completely update the grade. Then click OK to be taken back to the Gradebook.
9. Repeat this process for each student.

Back to top