How to use the Assignments feature to collect student work

Blackboard "Assignments" are a way to collect student documents and files in Blackboard.

Adding an Assignment item to a course allows an instructor to post instructions or a document, retrieve the completed assignment as another document or file from a student, and review and grade that assignment via the Grade Center. Blackboard also provides enhanced file management options, including bulk downloading and cleanup of these submitted items.


How to create an Assignment:

1. In your course, toggle Edit Mode at the top right to "On".

2. On the left of the course site, click on the name of the Content Area where you wish to add the Assignment, for example, "Assignments"


3. Click the "Create Assessment" button and then click "Assignment"

Give the Assignment a name, type or paste some instructions into the text box

You may add file attachments ("Assignment Files", such as lists of questions for students to answer, articles to read, presentations to review, maps or spreadsheets to analyze) using the "Browse My Computer" button.

Set options for Grading and Availability.  You may set the "Number of Attempts" section to allow the students to submit more than once.  The Grade Center will record and preserve all attempts.

4.  Click the "Submit" button on the right to post the Assignment.


What the students see:

Students can view the assignment in the selected content area on the left side of the course.

They can look at the assignment and download any necessary documents the instructor has posted. After doing the work necessary to complete the assignment, students should click the assignment link (the name of the assignment is a link) to upload and submit their work. They may use the "Browse My Computer" button to find the files they want to submit, and they can also post comments about the Assignment in the text box. These comments will appear in your Grade Center. A student can submit multiple files for one assignment if desired, but students can only submit an Assignment once unless the instructor sets the assignment options to allow multiple submissions (see above, step 3).




How to view submitted Assignments (Grade Center):

Instructors retrieve and grade Assignments through the Grade Center, much like any other kind of assessment.

When a student submits an assignment, a green exclamation mark will appear in the student's cell in the Grade Center.  Click the chevron-button and select "View Grade Details" or a particular attempt to review and grade the students attempt(s).

You may download all the students' papers at once by clicking the chevron button to the right of the column heading at the top, and selecting "Assignment File Download":

Allowing Students to re-submit an Assignment

If a student needs to re-submit a single-attempt assignment, the instructor may manually reset the student's previous submission by clicking the chevron button next to the exclamation mark that represents the student's submission in the Grade Center, and then clicking "View Grade Details" > "Clear Attempt" button.

How to use the Assignments feature to collect student work

Blackboard "Assignments" are a way to collect student documents and files in Blackboard.

Adding an Assignment item to a course allows an instructor to post instructions or a document, retrieve the completed assignment as another document or file from a student, and review and grade that assignment via the Grade Center. Blackboard also provides enhanced file management options, including bulk downloading and cleanup of these submitted items.


How to create an Assignment:

1. In your course, toggle Edit Mode at the top right to "On".

2. On the left of the course site, click on the name of the Content Area where you wish to add the Assignment, for example, "Assignments"


3. Click the "Create Assessment" button and then click "Assignment"

Give the Assignment a name, type or paste some instructions into the text box

You may add file attachments ("Assignment Files", such as lists of questions for students to answer, articles to read, presentations to review, maps or spreadsheets to analyze) using the "Browse My Computer" button.

Set options for Grading and Availability.  You may set the "Number of Attempts" section to allow the students to submit more than once.  The Grade Center will record and preserve all attempts.

4.  Click the "Submit" button on the right to post the Assignment.


What the students see:

Students can view the assignment in the selected content area on the left side of the course.

They can look at the assignment and download any necessary documents the instructor has posted. After doing the work necessary to complete the assignment, students should click the assignment link (the name of the assignment is a link) to upload and submit their work. They may use the "Browse My Computer" button to find the files they want to submit, and they can also post comments about the Assignment in the text box. These comments will appear in your Grade Center. A student can submit multiple files for one assignment if desired, but students can only submit an Assignment once unless the instructor sets the assignment options to allow multiple submissions (see above, step 3).




How to view submitted Assignments (Grade Center):

Instructors retrieve and grade Assignments through the Grade Center, much like any other kind of assessment.

When a student submits an assignment, a green exclamation mark will appear in the student's cell in the Grade Center.  Click the chevron-button and select "View Grade Details" or a particular attempt to review and grade the students attempt(s).

You may download all the students' papers at once by clicking the chevron button to the right of the column heading at the top, and selecting "Assignment File Download":

Allowing Students to re-submit an Assignment

If a student needs to re-submit a single-attempt assignment, the instructor may manually reset the student's previous submission by clicking the chevron button next to the exclamation mark that represents the student's submission in the Grade Center, and then clicking "View Grade Details" > "Clear Attempt" button.

Tips for Deploying a Test in Blackboard

For a quick demonstration video of how to deploy a test in Blackboard, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Click here for a general tutorial from Blackboard on how deploy online assessments and surveys.


Specific tips for deploying an online test/quiz in Blackboard

After you've created on online assessment in Control Panel > Test Manager, you can deploy it into the content area of your course (e.g. "Assignments") by going to that area in your Control Panel and clicking the "+ Test" button at the top.

Remember, deploying an online test is not the same as a paper test. Here are some recommended settings to help eliminate potential problems when deploying a test in your Blackboard course. These settings can be found in the content area where you deploy a test (e.g. Control Panel > Assignments). Use the "Modify" button to the right of the test to open the "Modify the Test options" section.


Options:

Open test in new window - Make sure to keep this option set to No. If your student has their browser set to block pop-up windows, setting this to Yes could prevent the test from launching in their browser because the new window will be blocked by the pop-up blocker.


Allow multiple attempts - checking this option will allow the student to take the test multiple times. This is the best option when the test is a self-assessment. If it is a graded test, you will probably want to keep this option off so that they can't restart the test if they don't like their grade. Also note, whenever a multiple attempt is started, the previous attempt is deleted from the Gradebook. Only the most recent attempt is saved.


Force Completion - This setting probably causes the most difficulty for students. When this is checked on, it removes the students' ability to exit and re-enter the test at a later time, even if the "save" progress buttons are used. This means the students must complete the test in the same session as when the test is initially launched. If the student closes her browser, her computer crashes, her Internet Provider boots her off, etc., then she cannot get back into the test. In that event, the instructor has to make the decision as to whether or not to let the student take the test again by resetting the attempt in the Gradebook. Resetting the attempt clears out all the previously given answers and will force the student to start over.

Timed Tests - To eliminate the Forced Completion problem, you can keep this setting turned off, but then turn on the "Set timer" option. This setting records completion time for this Test. By setting the timer on and setting how long they have to take the test, you can see how long it took the student to complete the test, no matter how many times they may have accidentally closed their browser or been booted off. Since Force Completion is off, they can still get back into the test if they are booted off and the Instructor can see how long they took to complete the test to make sure that they didn't open it on a Friday and then finally submit it on a Sunday.

Note: if a student goes over the time allotted, they do not get an automatic score. Instead, they will get an exclamation point in the Gradebook instead and the Instructor will need to go into the Gradebook and hand grade their test, in case the instructor needs to deduct points for going over the time allotted. Blackboard will not force a submission at the end of a timed test, but will warn the student when they have 1 minute left to submit the test themselves.


Test Feedback - Sometimes an Instructor would like to only show the student their score during the time period the test is available, but then give them more detailed results once everybody has completed the test. This can be done by returning to the test options and changing the Test Feedback from the old setting to the new setting. When the student next goes to view their grades via Tools > My Grades, they will see the test results in whatever the current Test Feedback setting is.


Presentation Mode - There are many differing opinions on what option is better, All at Once or One at a Time. The "One at a time" settings may be slightly more prone to problems, since it involve more browser interaction between questions. Do not use the "Prohibit Backtracking" option--when this is turned on a student may try and get around it by using the Back button in their browser and it is very important that the Back button is never used during a test. It can cause problems with the test and the database storing the answers, possibly booting the student from the test.

If you are presenting your test in All at Once mode, please recommend to your students that they click the Save button next to each question as they proceed through the test. This will immediately save their answer to that question in the Gradebook. Otherwise, if a student is completing a long test and gets booted from the test before completing it, all their answers are lost. If they were clicking the Save button for each question as they proceeded through the test, the questions they already answered would still be saved.


Video demonstration:
(Note: A tricycle has 3 wheels, but we accidentally left the correct answer "1 wheel" on our sample test question.  See if you can spot this error in the video!)

Tips for Deploying a Test in Blackboard

For a quick demonstration video of how to deploy a test in Blackboard, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Click here for a general tutorial from Blackboard on how deploy online assessments and surveys.


Specific tips for deploying an online test/quiz in Blackboard

After you've created on online assessment in Control Panel > Test Manager, you can deploy it into the content area of your course (e.g. "Assignments") by going to that area in your Control Panel and clicking the "+ Test" button at the top.

Remember, deploying an online test is not the same as a paper test. Here are some recommended settings to help eliminate potential problems when deploying a test in your Blackboard course. These settings can be found in the content area where you deploy a test (e.g. Control Panel > Assignments). Use the "Modify" button to the right of the test to open the "Modify the Test options" section.


Options:

Open test in new window - Make sure to keep this option set to No. If your student has their browser set to block pop-up windows, setting this to Yes could prevent the test from launching in their browser because the new window will be blocked by the pop-up blocker.


Allow multiple attempts - checking this option will allow the student to take the test multiple times. This is the best option when the test is a self-assessment. If it is a graded test, you will probably want to keep this option off so that they can't restart the test if they don't like their grade. Also note, whenever a multiple attempt is started, the previous attempt is deleted from the Gradebook. Only the most recent attempt is saved.


Force Completion - This setting probably causes the most difficulty for students. When this is checked on, it removes the students' ability to exit and re-enter the test at a later time, even if the "save" progress buttons are used. This means the students must complete the test in the same session as when the test is initially launched. If the student closes her browser, her computer crashes, her Internet Provider boots her off, etc., then she cannot get back into the test. In that event, the instructor has to make the decision as to whether or not to let the student take the test again by resetting the attempt in the Gradebook. Resetting the attempt clears out all the previously given answers and will force the student to start over.

Timed Tests - To eliminate the Forced Completion problem, you can keep this setting turned off, but then turn on the "Set timer" option. This setting records completion time for this Test. By setting the timer on and setting how long they have to take the test, you can see how long it took the student to complete the test, no matter how many times they may have accidentally closed their browser or been booted off. Since Force Completion is off, they can still get back into the test if they are booted off and the Instructor can see how long they took to complete the test to make sure that they didn't open it on a Friday and then finally submit it on a Sunday.

Note: if a student goes over the time allotted, they do not get an automatic score. Instead, they will get an exclamation point in the Gradebook instead and the Instructor will need to go into the Gradebook and hand grade their test, in case the instructor needs to deduct points for going over the time allotted. Blackboard will not force a submission at the end of a timed test, but will warn the student when they have 1 minute left to submit the test themselves.


Test Feedback - Sometimes an Instructor would like to only show the student their score during the time period the test is available, but then give them more detailed results once everybody has completed the test. This can be done by returning to the test options and changing the Test Feedback from the old setting to the new setting. When the student next goes to view their grades via Tools > My Grades, they will see the test results in whatever the current Test Feedback setting is.


Presentation Mode - There are many differing opinions on what option is better, All at Once or One at a Time. The "One at a time" settings may be slightly more prone to problems, since it involve more browser interaction between questions. Do not use the "Prohibit Backtracking" option--when this is turned on a student may try and get around it by using the Back button in their browser and it is very important that the Back button is never used during a test. It can cause problems with the test and the database storing the answers, possibly booting the student from the test.

If you are presenting your test in All at Once mode, please recommend to your students that they click the Save button next to each question as they proceed through the test. This will immediately save their answer to that question in the Gradebook. Otherwise, if a student is completing a long test and gets booted from the test before completing it, all their answers are lost. If they were clicking the Save button for each question as they proceeded through the test, the questions they already answered would still be saved.


Video demonstration:
(Note: A tricycle has 3 wheels, but we accidentally left the correct answer "1 wheel" on our sample test question.  See if you can spot this error in the video!)