Group Creation in Blackboard

 

 

About Groups

Collaborative learning offers many benefits over traditional instruction. Studies show that when students work as a team, they develop positive attitudes, solve problems more effectively, and experience a greater sense of accomplishment through the real-life application of teamwork.  You can create groups to use for graded assignments, tests, and discussions. You can also create groups for activities other than graded work such as volunteering or field trips or to create a sign-up sheet for students to select a topic for a presentation or paper.
 
Students can access course groups from the upper navigation tabs and can view fellow members of the group they belong to on the Groups tab. Groups can be tied to assessments but can also be created independently of assessments to encourage collaboration.
 
NOTE: Students cannot view a group activity until they are a member of a group.
 

Types of Groups

  • Self-Enrollment:  Each student selects which group they wish to join. Students receive a course announcement and an activity stream notification about groups they need to join.  You can also add an enrollment period. Students are notified when the enrollment deadline approaches. When the enrollment period ends, students can no longer join groups, and they’re enrolled automatically.
  • Custom: The instructor determines which group a student is placed into.
  • Randomly Assigned:  Students are randomly assigned by the LMS to the number of groups you choose. This option assigns students quickly and without preparation. You need at least four students so the system can randomly assign two students to at least two groups.
  • Reuse Groups:  Reuse an already-created group.

The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page.

To learn more, watch this short video on Creating Groups.  

 

Ways to Create Groups

Groups can be created through one of (2) Methods:

  1. On the Assessment:  Groups can be created through the assignment configuration settings panel.
  2. From the Groups tab:  Groups created through the Groups tab can then be attached to any graded activities in the course.  

Students can view only the group to which they are a member.  

 

Creating Groups From An Assessment

From the assignment where a group is desired, click the gear icon to edit assignment settings > scroll to the Additional Tools section > click Assign to groups:Assign to Groups - Assignment Settings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To complete group creation, see Creating a Group.

 

Creating Groups from the Groups Tab

Group Set vs Groups

Definition of Group Set:  A Group Set contains a specific subset of groups.  The Group itself is what the student is a member of. The Group Set page is only accessible through the Groups tab in the upper menu. In the example below, there are (2) sets of groups (shown in red box) and within those two Sets, are (6) different groups (shown in blue box)
 
Group Sets vs Groups
 
 

Creating Groups from the Groups Tab

From the Groups tab, select +New Group Set in the upper right corner to create new groups. If groups have already been set up in the course then click on a Group Set to review the groups and members.
 

If groups have not yet been created in the course, no Group Sets are displayed:

Empty Group Set

 

If groups have already been created in the course, the Group Sets are displayed.  In the below example, there are (2) different Group Sets (Presentation Group and Project Topic Sign Up Group). You can create as many course groups as you want, with any number of students in each group. To remove a Group Set, click the 3 dots to the right of a group > Delete.

Group Sets Available

 

 

Creating a Group

Regardless of the starting point to create a group (whether through the Groups tab or from an assessment), the process for creating a group is the same.

1.  Give your Group a Name.

2.  Select the type of group desired (e.g. Custom, Random Assign, Self-Enroll or Re-Use an existing group)

3.  Set the visibility of the group to students

4.  Click the purple plus to add the desired number of groups.

Depending on the type of group created, students will either select their own group to be in (self-enroll group), be assigned to a group by the instructor (custom group), or be automatically assigned to a group by Blackboard (randomly assigned group).  To learn more about adding students to a group, see the tutorial for the specific group type.

Group Creation Steps

Reuse Groups

You can use a group already created in the course and attach it to an assignment.  From the desired assignment setting configuration panel, click on Assign to Groups.  In the Group Students > Custom drop-down box, under Reuse Groups, select the desired group to attach to the activity.

If you make changes to a Group Set you've reused, those changes affect any group assignments and discussions based on that Group Set.

See also Managing Groups.

See Also: Grading Group Assignments.

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