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Online Assignments in Blackboard

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You can create assignments within Blackboard and provide feedback using rubrics and annotations. Blackboard assignments offer greater support for group submissions and delegated marking than Turnitin assignments but have more limited annotation tools.

→ Click on the titles below to view information and guides on using Blackboard assignments.

Online assignments allow students to submit essays in Blackboard and provide you with the functionality to give detailed feedback to your students using annotations, rubrics and text. Click on the video below for a brief overview of how you can use rubrics in Blackboard assignments to provide detailed feedback to enhance student learning. A separate page is available for  Turnitin in Blackboard assignments .

If you are planning to use the Blackboard Assignments tool for summative online exams, we have an overview page on online exams giving general advice on using Blackboard Assignments, Tests and Turnitin for exams.

Notice regarding the SafeAssign Similarity Score : You can enable SafeAssign when creating a Blackboard assignment - this allows you to check a student's submission against the SafeAssign database of papers. The similarity score in the SafeAssign report is not a measure of plagiarism within a piece of work but represents where there are similarities to other sources (journals, essays, books etc.). A submission with a high similarity score might be satisfactory once the bibliography, cover sheet etc. are accounted for whereas a submission could have a low score but could be heavily paraphrasing other sources without citation.

You can use online assignments to:

Quick Guide 1: Creating an Online Assignment

This Quick Guide gives IT Services' recommended settings for creating a standard individual or group assignment in Blackboard.

Quick Guide 2: Grading Student Submissions

This Quick Guide gives IT Services' recommended settings for grading individual or group assignment submissions in Blackboard.

Quick Guide 3: Releasing Assignment Results

This Quick Guide gives IT Services' recommended settings for releasing results for an assignment in Blackboard.

Webinar Recording: Assignments in Blackboard (Oct 2022)

This webinar recording covers how to create and grade individual or group assignments in Blackboard and the Bb Annotate tools for providing feedback.

Webinar Excerpt: Weighted Total Column

This brief excerpt from the Assignments in Blackboard webinar covers how to set up the Weighted Total column in your Blackboard module.

Submission Guide for Your Students

An online guide for students is also available to help them with the submission process. Refer your students to the 'Student Help' tab in Blackboard (top right of the screen after logging in) to access this and other guides on using Blackboard.

Blackboard Vs Turnitin Assignments

This interactive guide gives an overview of the pros and cons of using Blackboard or Turnitin assignments.

Procedure: if a student has issues submitting we would advise them to contact the module instructor so there is a record of this and because the instructor would need to make a determination as to whether to allow an additional attempt based on the different circumstances. Clearing/resetting attempts needs to be done by the instructor of a particular module in the first instance. We also strongly recommend that if there are submission issues due to account/access problems etc. with an individual student, please accept the submission via email as proof of submission until the issue is resolved. If an instructor cannot resolve the issue themselves, the instructor can contact us for advice via [email protected]. We recommend therefore when you create an assignment to allow more than one attempt. More details on granting an additional attempt are available on the Blackboard website.

You can use the Panopto Video Assignments feature to allow students to record videos and submit them using the Blackboard assignment tool. This allows for the creation of video assignments using a streamlined workflow. When you create a Panopto Video Assignment, an associated Student Submission folder automatically gets created in your module's Panopto Folder - students cannot see other students' submissions within this folder by default.

Prerequisites:

• Ensure you have added Panopto to your Blackboard module
• Some prior familiarity with using the Blackboard assignment tool's workflow is recommended before incorporating the video assignments option

Video Guide:

Below is a video guide covering the steps required to create a Panopto Student Video Assignment. You can also find a text version of the instructions on this page below the video.

Instructions:

• Go into your Blackboard module then select a folder in the left-hand menu where you would like to add the Panopto Student Video Assignment (for example, you could create a folder called Assessments and include it in there if you do not already have one)
• Then select Assessments → Assignment from the menu bar within the folder
• Give the assignment a name and enter instructions (refer to our Blackboard Assignments page for general advice on creating an assignment and the options that are available)
• To convert the assignment to a Panopto Video Assignment, click on the plus button in the content editor (click on the three dots on the right-hand side if you do not see the plus button) and then from this menu, select Panopto Student Video Submission
• This will pre-populate instructions for your students on how to create their video; you can modify these as needed but please retain the link which students will need to click on to submit their assignment
• Continue with creating the assignment as you would otherwise (refer to our assignment guides if needed) and click Submit to finish
• When students submit ( please see guides here for your students ), you will see their submissions in the Grade Centre and can grade them as normal - the main difference is that you need to click on the link to watch their video submissions
• When drafting their submission, students create their videos in their My Folder (which is private to them) and can continue to edit this up until the point they click on Submit. Once they submit their video, the file gets copied into a Student Assignment subfolder within your module's Panopto folder thus preventing further editing.
• Students can only see their own submissions - not each other's by default within the Student Submissions subfolder in your module's Panopto folder
• The best way to grade student submissions is using the Grade Centre like you would a standard Blackboard assignment
• Steps for your students are available in the Student Help tab .
• Please consider the type of content that students are asked to create and be mindful of potential risks associated with the creation of video assignments. Generally, the Panopto Video Assignment option is intended for students to create recorded presentations. As a consequence, there can potentially be data protection (GDPR) or privacy-related issues if students are asked to record videos involving themselves or third-parties. Therefore, clear guidance and instruction should always be provided to students in advance of content creation. For example, avoid tasks which would lead to students creating videos containing sensitive or confidential information. Instructors should give students specific instruction regarding the recording of confidential data or special categories of personal data. Essentially, this type of data should not be recorded. For further information please see this page on Special Category Data on the Data Protection website .
• If a student video assignment contains personal data of other individuals (e.g. visual or audio recording of a person or other identifiable information) the student should obtain permission / consent from relevant individuals in advance of recording. Permission should be obtained in a recordable format and retained on file.
• Caution should always be exercised when recording video assignments and it may be a good idea to have students run their idea past you if it is something different to a standard presentation. Moreover, staff should review content and delete unnecessary, excessive or inappropriate data if included in a video assignment.
• Further information is available from the College Data Protection Officer - [email protected] or via the College Data Protection website - https://www.tcd.ie/dataprotection/ .
• Not all students will be comfortable creating and editing videos of themselves so you should consider alternative forms of assessments for those students who may not feel able to create a video.
• The video assignment tool is provided by Panopto as part of their video hosting solution - if College ever changes to another video hosting provider (for example, as part of a tender process approximately every five years), we cannot guarantee that the new video hosting provider will have an equivalent assignment feature - however, staff would be notified well in advance of any change and workarounds may still be possible.

Terms of Use:

Please refer to our Terms of Use document for further guidelines and information on the Data Protection aspects of using the Panopto Student Video Assignment option.

Below are external links and additional resources to help you get started with Blackboard Assignments.

If you are new to using online assignments we would recommend that you create a standard online assignment as above before using some of these features as options like Delegated Marking can add significant complexity to the marking workflow.

• Official Blackboard Assignments Hub Page
• Rubrics Guide
• Creating Weighted Total Columns
• Anonymous Grading
• Navigating the Grade Centre
• Viewing Grade History
• Creating & Managing Groups
• Delegated Grading

Latest Updates:

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Help & Support

For queries related to the content on these pages please contact the Teaching & Learning IT team via: [email protected]

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Creating a Turnitin assignment

Only alpha-numeric characters should be used when creating an assignment title. We do not support special characters and punctuation.

Select whether the assignment will require Originality Reports for submissions or whether any file type can be uploaded. The default option is to  Allow only file types that Turnitin can check for similarity .

For assignments that do not require Originality Reports instructors can select Allow any file type which allows instructors to leave feedback on every file type.

Choose where files will be submitted using the Submit Papers To option.

If the repository options are enabled for an instructor by the administrator, two or four options will appear within the Submit papers to dropdown list . Select from the dropdown list where you would like papers to be submitted to. The settings provide you with the ability to select whether papers are stored in a Turnitin standard paper repository, your institution's paper repository, the student's choice of paper repository, or no repository at all.

The benefit of submitting papers to the standard paper repository is that student papers submitted to the assignment are checked against other institutions' student submissions. However, by selecting to submit papers to the institution's paper repository, this means that the assignment will only be checked against other students' submissions within the institution. If you select no repository , your students' papers will not be stored in the Turnitin standard paper repository or the institution's paper repository, therefore meaning that the papers will not be checked for collusion between students of the same or different institutions.

• Modify any other assignment options.

Attach a rubric to the assignment

If you would like to use a rubric to grade the papers submitted to the assignment you may use the rubric list drop down menu to select a previously created or imported rubric or you can launch the rubric manager by clicking on the Launch Rubric Manager  link and create a new rubric to attach to the assignment.

Enable e-rater® grammar check?

This feature of assignment creation provides instructors with the option to enable the e-rater grammar and spelling check for all submissions to the assignment. When enabled student submissions receive detailed grammar feedback in GradeMark automatically through the e-rater technology. Select yes to enable the e-rater  engine for the assignment. If this assignment option is not available then the e-rater   grammar check is disabled for the account. Contact the Turnitin account administrator to enable the e-rater grammar check for the account.

(Optional) Select the ETS handbook level from the drop down menu. The ETS handbooks provide students with in depth information about the grammar errors the  e-rater technology finds in their paper.

Select the dictionary used for the spelling check.

The Categories enabled by default option allows instructors to choose which categories of feedback are enabled when viewing assignment submissions in GradeMark. The default is to show the feedback for every category.

Changing Advanced Assignment Option Defaults

If any changes have been made to the advanced assignment options, an additional option will be available at the bottom of the options panel. The instructor is asked Would you like to save these options as your defaults for future assignments? Select yes to save these advanced assignment options as the default for all future assignments created within this course. These default advanced assignment options will not apply to new assignments created in any other course on the Blackboard  Learning System, but will be applied to all assignments created in the current course by any instructor.

The default settings can be changed at any time when creating a new assignment or updating an existing assignment. 

• 1500 papers per assignment
• 100 assignments per class

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Create Assignments

Learn to create an assignment on Blackboard with this video. Add an assignment name, enter student instructions, attach relevant files, set a due-date, and more.

Assignments are created in Content Areas, but can also be added to Learning Modules, Lesson Plans, and folders. Any instructions and file attachments that students need to complete the assignment are provided at the time of creation. You can deliver assignments to each student individually or as collaborative work for groups of students.

As assignments are created, you will work in Edit Mode ON. Edit Mode ON allows you to view all of the instructor functions.

The easiest way to collect assignments, papers, or files from your students is to create an Assignment in Blackboard.

• In Edit Mode ON click the Assignments link on your course’s homepage.
• Click on Assessments.

• On the Create Assignment page, enter a Name for your assignment.  This is required.
• In the Instructions box, add the instructions for the assignment–if desired. This is optional.

• If you are going to accept late submissions, select and set the Due Date and time.  If you are not going to accept late submissions, leave this section blank.
• Scroll down and enter the Points Possible.
• For Number of Attempts, we strongly recommend that you either allow unlimited attempts or allow a certain number of attempts rather than allowing just a single attempt.  Experience shows that at least one of your students will accidentally submit the wrong file or accidentally submit an assignment with no file attached.  If you set Number of Attempts to Allow Single attempt, that student will be locked out of the assignment and you will need to manually clear his or her assignment attempt in your Grade Center before the student will be able to submit the correct file.  However, choosing to allow 2 attempts gives your students one “do-over” if they need it and it and won’t impact your grading at all because, by default, Blackboard shows you the student’s most recent submission (although there is an option to view and download a student’s previous submissions.)
• Select the checkbox to Make the Assignment Available. This makes your Assignment available to students, although you can choose the date and time that students can see or not see this Assignment under Limit Availability.
• Select and set Display After for the date and time you will start accepting student submissions and select and set Display Until for the date and time the assignment is due.  This prevents students from submitting assignments after the deadline.

Blackboard will display a green success box telling you that you assignment has been successfully created.  To see what your assignment looks like from a student’s point of view, turn Edit Mode off.

• Grading Assignments in Blackboard

This page explains how to open Assignments in order to grade them and how to handle multiple attempts and late assignment submissions . In Blackboard, Assignments refers to documents or files submitted using the Assignment tool. These can be papers, reports, essays, presentations, Kaltura videos, and so on. If you already know how to find the grading screen and want to learn about the tools available when grading Assignments, visit the Blackboard Annotate page .

Open an Assignment for Grading

You can begin grading Assignments using the Needs Grading link, an Assignments smart view, or the Full Grade Center. Learn how to access the grading area from each of these entry points .

Grade from Needs Grading

Assignment submissions appear in the needs grading filter after a student has uploaded an attempt. You can easily provide feedback and score an attempt submitted by a student.

Grade from Full Grade Center or Assignments smart view

In these views, you'll see the Needs Grading icon in a cell.

• To begin grading a single student, click on the cell action link
• Then choose Attempt

Assignments that are In Progress

Assignments appear "In Progress" when the link has been opened, even though the student hasn't submitted the work. You can generally ignore the In Progress icon for assignments in the grade center as it does not indicate that a submission is imminent.

How to Grade Assignments in Blackboard

Blackboard not only collects student work through the Assignment tool, but it keeps student work organized and secure. When you collect student work through Blackboard, you can also grade inside of Blackboard.

• You do not need to download anything
• Student work is connected to their accounts. There is no need for students to put their names on their papers or to include their names in the filename.
• Blackboard allows you to grade, comment and annotate on the student's work (for most documents), and include formative feedback.

Features on Grade Assignment Page

On the right side of the grading screen, you can assign a score, grade using a rubric (if you attached a rubric to the assignment), and include formative feedback.

Inline Grading with Annotate

When students submit documents in certain formats, a preview of the document will load on the grading screen. A toolbar for annotating the paper will appear at the top of the document. This is the Blackboard Annotate toolbar. Learn more about the grading tool used for commenting directly on student Assignments, Blackboard Annotate .

Special Grading Situations with Assignments

Multiple attempts.

Allowing multiple assignment attempts is good for both students and instructors . If students accidentally upload the wrong file or document, they can simply submit another. This frees them from having to write the instructor to clear the attempt or worse, email the assignment as an attachment outside of Blackboard. Follow these steps when you encounter multiple assignment attempts in the grade center:

• Select the cell action link
• Choose View Grade Details

• Determine which attempt is correct
• Ignore other attempts

• Grade and provide feedback for the attempt.

Late Attempts

If late attempts occur after a cell has been zeroed out, the zero must be reverted before grading the attempt Follow these steps when you need to revert a manually entered grade:

• Select the zeroed cell action link
• Choose View grade center details

• Confirm override message
• Select Revert

• Optional: View Grade History for the student.
• Grade Student Attempt

Visit Blackboard's Grade Assignments topics for instructors for more information.

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Related Pages

• Blackboard Annotate
• Blackboard Assessment Tool Guide
• Create a Discussion Forum
• Create an Assignment Submission Area
• Grading Discussions in Blackboard
• Grading Tests in Blackboard
• How to Delete Old Discussion Threads in New Class
• How to Use the Blackboard Test Generator
• Rubrics in Blackboard
• Tests in Blackboard

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Welcome to Panopto Support

Welcome to the panopto forums, how to create a video assignment in blackboard, who can use this feature.

• Instructor access to Blackboard 
• Creator access to Panopto

1. Instructor Creates Assignment

2. Grading the Assignment