Blackboard assignments

You can create student assignments in your course by using the Blackboard assignment feature.

This feature allows you to online mark, delegate grading and set up anonymous marking.

Once you create an assignment, a Grade Centre column is automatically created (you can find this under Course Management in the left hand menu). From the Grade Centre and Needs Grading page, you can see who has submitted their work and enter grades. Students can access their grades from their My Grades page.

BB Assignments

Create an assignment

These are instructions for creating a basic Blackboard Assignment. For further advice and information, it is recommended that your contact your Faculty Learning Technologist. Additionally, the Blackboard website contains detailed information for creating Assignments. Once an Assignment has been created and a submission made to it by a student, the settings cannot be changed.

To create an Assignment, carry out the following:

  1. Navigate to the course and content area that you wish to create the Assignment in.  From the Assessments menu, select Assignment
  2. Add the Name of the assignment and add any Instructions for completion or submission. You can also add instructions as an attachment in the Assignment Files section. 
  3. If required, select a Due Date. Assignments with due dates appear automatically in the Blackboard course calendar.
  4. In the Grading section, enter the Points Possible. This is a required field. 
  5. Expanding Submission Details, Grading Options and Display of Grades displays different options such as Delegated Grading and Anonymous Submission. More details for these can be found on the Blackboard website.
  6. Ensure that the Make the Assignment Available box is ticked if you would like students to be able to submit immediately
  7. Select Submit. Your assignment will now be added to the bottom of the page. A new column will automatically be created in the Grade Centre for this Assignment.

Grade an assignment

The Grade Centre collates all the grading information for a course.  

Once you create an assignment, test or Turnitin assignment, a Grade Centre column is automatically created. Each enrolled student is represented by a row.

To grade new submissions you can either go to the Needs Grading page on each course or look in the Grade Centre. The Needs Grading page displays a list of student submissions that have yet to be graded by a teacher on the course. In the Grade Centre, a yellow exclamation mark signifies that a submission has been made but not graded.

To start grading a submission, carry out the following steps:

  1. Select the arrow next to yellow exclamation symbol
  2. Select the submission that you would like to grade - this will be listed as "Attempt dd/mm/yy"

The next screen will depend upon the type of assignment that has been set up. For a Blackboard Assignment, you can add text in the Feedback to Learner section, which will be seen by the student. Notes can be added that the student will not be able to view. Each attempt can be graded with a final grade also being awarded if required.

For more information on the Grade Centre, visit the Blackboard help site.

Blackboard or Turnitin?

Blackboard allows you to either create a Blackboard or Turnitin assignment.  The key difference being that Turnitin assignment submissions will have an originality report generated (allowing for potential plagiarism detection) and Blackboard assignments do not have this functionality.  The Turnitin Feedback Studio also offers in depth grading options.

Alternatively, Blackboard assignments offer the option of group submissions as well as the ability to set up delegated grading. Blackboard assignments also allow for any file type to be submitted.

If you are unsure what the best option is for your course, contact your Faculty Learning Technologist and they shall be able to offer advice on the most appropriate tool.