Adding an Assignment

Assignments can be included in any content area of your Blackboard course (not just within the Assignment content area). The Assignment tool allows you to create coursework and manage the grades and feedback for each student separately. When an assignment is added, a column in the Grade Center is automatically created to gather and manage the submitted work of your students.

Creating Assignments

  1. Login to your course.
  2. Open the desired content area and/or folder.

    Course menu displaying two sample content areas: 'Course Information' and 'Course Content'
     
  3. Make sure the Edit Mode is ON.

    Blackboard Course Information Content Area displayed in Edit Mode
     
  4. Select Evaluate > Create Assignment.

    Create Assignment task of the Evaluate menu
     
  5. Provide details of the assignment. 

    Assignment Information

     Assignment Information section of the Create/Edit Assignment page

    • Enter a name for the assignment:
       
      • this will become the assignment link students will need to select to be able to view and complete the assignment and
      • it will also appear in the Grade Center as the column title of the entry for this assignment.
         
    • Select the color of the assignment title.
    • Add your instructions or other related content for the assignment using the Instructions box.
       
      • You may enter your content into the text box directly or
      • you may choose to attach the instructions and any other assignment file if they have already been entered into a Word document or a PDF file either by
         
        • using the Attach File icon of the Instructions text box or

          Attach File button of the Instructions text box
           
        • moving down to the next section of the page to use the Browse button under Assignment Files.

    Assignment Files (Optional)

    Assignment files can be any digital file uploaded from a local drive or from the Content Collection.

    Assignment Files section of the Create/Edit Assignment page

    • If you choose to attach a file to your assignment using this option,
       
      • Click Browse to locate the appropriate file.
      • Select the document, and then click Open (or Submit if linking to a file in your Content Collection folder).
      • In the Name of link to file text field, enter whatever you want the link to the document to say. i.e. “Click here for instructions.”
      • Finally, click Attach File.
      • Note: It is important to click on the Attach File button before moving on to the next section of the page; if you forget to click on this button, your file will not be attached.

         Attach File button under Assignment Files, the second section of the Create/Edit Assignment page

    Grading

    • Enter the points possible. This value will be used in Grade Center calculations.

      Grading section of the Create/Edit Assignment page

    Availability

    • Select the check box next to Make the Assignment Available.

    • Choose one of the available options next to Number of Attempts. You can allow multiple submissions for assignments. This feature is useful in many situations:
       

      • when rough drafts are allowed or required
      • when students are allowed to resubmit revised papers following instructor feedback
      • when students should be prevented from being locked out of an assignment after submitting an empty assignment page (that is the assignment page without the attached file created by the student for the given assignment)

         Availability section of the Create/Edit Assignment page

        Note: when allowing multiple attempts (both unlimited attempts or a certain number of attempts), your grading won't be impacted. Blackboard will show you the student's most recent submission and also present you with the option of viewing and/or downloading of all other previous submissions.

    Due Dates

    • To display a due date, select the check box and use the Date Selection Calendar and the Time Selection Menu icon to assign a date and time. This will place a reminder for the students in the My Grades area, but it will not limit the visibility of the assignment link or prevent late submissions. If you want to prevent students from submitting their work after the due date, you'll need to use the Display Until option under section 4. Availability > Limit Availability. (See image above.)

      Due Dates section of the Create/Edit Assignment page

    Recipients

    • Choose if your assignment is going to be available to all of the students or just to a certain group of students.

      Recipients section of the Create/Edit Assignment page
  6. Click on Submit. Your added assignment will look something like this:

    Sample assignment link