When using the Blackboard Groups tool, instructors may wish to enroll specific students into specific groups, but in very large classes it can be a tedious process to use Blackboard's built-in Manual Enroll option to add students one-by-one into groups. In cases such as these, students can be imported into existing Blackboard groups using an Excel created .CSV (Comma Delimited File) which contains a Blackboard Group Code and the students Global IDs. The complete process is detailed below.
- This process requires use of Blackboard’s Group Code in the Excel file that is created, so all the groups must be already set up in Blackboard as an initial step. To create groups quickly, use either the Create Group Set > Manual Enroll option or Create Single Group > Manual Enroll option to set up the desired number of groups. On the Enrollments screen, when prompted to add users, just leave those areas blank and click Submit.
- Once the Groups have been created and they appear on the Groups page, find Group Codes by hovering your mouse over View Options and clicking Show Group Code.
- A new column displaying the Group Code should appear on that screen (sample shown below).
NOTE: Due to a known issue in Blackboard, the group code column may appear, but not contain any codes. To correct this, click the Export button (on right side of the top toolbar), select Groups Only and click Submit. Ignore the Bulk Export Complete email with .zip file that you will receive, it just indicates the code has been generated. When you return to the Groups page and select View Options > Show Group Code, the Group Codes will now appear on screen.
- Now you will need to open a new blank Excel file - it only needs to contain two columns: Group Code and User Name. The Group Code entries must match exactly to what appears within Blackboard and the User Name column is where each students global ID should be entered. In the example shown below, Students A&B will be added to Group 1, Students C,D&E will be added to Group 2 and Student F will be added to Group 3.
NOTE: Students must already be enrolled in the shell.
- When all students have been added, click File, Save As and under the Save as type box, select.CSV (Comma delimited .csv) format to your Desktop.
NOTE: the standard .Excel worksheet xls format cannot be used for the import.
- In Blackboard, select Control Panel > Users and Groups > Groups > Import.
- On the Import Groups page, under Import Group Members area, click Browse My Computer and attach the saved .csv file. Skip the section titled Import Groups. Once the file is attached, click Submit to complete.
- You will receive an email when the Bulk Import Process is complete. You may need to refresh the Blackboard Groups page in order to see the updated group membership.