Assignment Manager
View answers to frequently asked questions asked by NIU faculty and staff.
The Assignment Manager in Blackboard enables users with the role of Faculty or TA in Blackboard to create Assignments in any content areas and post them for Students to complete. Creating an assignment automatically creates an item in the gradebook which holds all the submitted student assignments. (Note: Assignments are separate from the Digital Drop Box which remains unchanged in Blackboard 6).
How the Assignment Process in Blackboard Works
Assignment Features:
- Gradebook notation (!) notifies faculty that an assignment has been turned in.
- All assignments support content management options (including time-release).
- Faculty can download one or multiple student assignments for grading offline.
- Feedback opportunities are available for faculty to add comments to an assignment.
- Completed assignments are organized, viewed and graded in the Blackboard Gradebook.
Adding an Assignment
The Add Assignment feature allows faculty to link their files to any of the Content Areas. This tool is accessible via the pull down list on the upper right side of the content pages.
To add an assignment:
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your course homepage.
- Under Content Areas click on a content area of your choice to add the assignment into.(for e.g. click Assignments.)
- Click Assignment from the drop-down list on the right side of the page.
- Click the Go button.
- Enter a name for the assignment in the Name field.
- Enter the possible points for the assignment in Points possible field.
- Type the instructions in the Instuctions field.
- To add file(s) with to the assignment, under Assignment Files click the Browse button to locate the file.
- Locate and click on the name of the file in your computer and click the Open button.
- Enter a name for the link to this file.
- Modify the availability options for the assignment under Options.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
Viewing & Downloading Completed Assignments
Faculty members can view the completed assignments through the Gradebook.
To view an assignment:
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessment click Grade Center.
Note: Under Column with name of the assignment - any submitted assignments will have a green "!" icon in the cell
- Click the double down arrows that appear when the mouse cursor is over the cell.
- Click Grade Details to view the assignment.
- Under Actions click the View Attempt button.
- To view any document files attached click the filename under the User's Work section.
To download all attached completed files for an assignment, go to the Control Panel:
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessment click Grade Center.
- Click on double down arrows next to the name of the assignment (top of column).
- Click Assignment File Download .
- Click on the box to the left of a student's name to select individual student files to download.
Or to select all files click Select All at the top of the list, to select only the ungraded assignments click Select Ungraded to unselect all click Unselect All.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
- All assignments are packaged into a single compressed (zip) file. Click the Download Assignments Now link to download the zip file.
- Click the Save button if a download file dialogue box opens.
- Select the location on computer to store files and click the Save button.
- A compressed zip file is created and placed in the location you specified.
Grading Assignments and Providing Feedback
Once you view the assignment via the Gradebook, you can enter a grade, provide feedback, and write Instructor Notes. Once you submit these, unless specified, your students can view their grade and comments. The student cannot see the Instructor Notes. You can re-enter the assignment and make changes at any time.
- Click the Control Panel button on the left side of the screen in your Course homepage.
- Under Assessment click Grade Center .
Note: Under Column with name of the assignment - any submitted assignments will have a green "!" icon in the cell
- Click the double down arrows that appear when the mouse cursor is over the cell.
- Click Grade Details to view the assignment.
- Under Actions click the View Attempt button.
- Under Feedback to User section enter a grade and comments in the respective fields. Attach any files if necessary, enter any notes for your reference.
- Click the Submit button.
Find more answers...
Are you looking for more information related to Blackboard assessment tools? Review the answers to frequently asked questions regarding online assessment tools in Blackboard. Also, consider attending one of the upcoming Blackboard workshops.
Last Updated: 09/04/2008
