The Assignment Manager is not a separate tool within Blackboard, but rather a tight linkage between content areas and the Grade Center. This capability will be of special interest to those who give daily or weekly assignments and would like the convenience of assigning, grading and returning material in a completely electronic fashion. No more lost papers! The Assignment Manager is one of the alternative to the old Digital Dropbox. Here's how it works:
The key to this process is to create an item of the type "Assignment." Go to the area in which you would like the assignment to appear (for example, the Assignments area). Click the "Edit Mode" link in the upper-right-hand corner to switch into the Instructor's view of the page. Hover your mouse over the "Evaluate" tool button and click on the "Create Assignment" option. You should now see the Create Assignment template. Fill in the fields as desired and click Submit. You do not need to create a column in the Grade Center; one will be created automatically for each item of the Assignment type.
Click Display Mode to toggle back to the student's view of the course. When students click on the link for this assignment, they will see a page where they can download any files you have attached, enter comments, upload files of their own, and either Save an interim stage or Submit the completed assignment. They must remember to click the "Add File" button when uploading their own files.
When you look in the Grade Center, you will see a column has been automatically entered for your new assignment. To grade this assignment, click the cell for each student, click the chevron, and select "View Grade Details." To access the student's work, click the "Open Attempt" button on the right of the Attempts area. Files can be printed or downloaded for grading. Enter the grade and any feedback or notes to yourself, upload the corrected file (to be "handed back") or clear the student's attempt if necessary.
Assignment files can be downloaded (either from selected students or all students together) in a zipped file which can then be unzipped to work on them off-line or away from campus. Each file will have the student's user id as part of the name (handy for all those files named Assignment 1). Files can them be deleted when necessary. In the Grade Center, click the title of the assignment in the column header for these features.
For more details and screen shots, see the Assignment Tool documentation.
The other alternative to the old Digital Dropbox is to use the "Group File Exchange" area of the Course Group page.
