Course and Section Groups and what to do with them
Every course section in Blackboard has a group in the "Groups" area which has a title such as "ITS_100_01_FA2009_Group". This group is created automatically when we create the course shells every semester. It contains all the students for that section and is automatically updated as students add and drop courses. If a course is cross-listed with another department, these groups reflect the enrollments as seen in WebAdvisor. If an instructor requested that multiple sections of the same course be merged, then the enrollments reflect the original sections. These automatically-created groups can be used for a number of different purposes, such as group file exchange, viewing sub-groups of students in the Grade Center, and for group assignments.
Group File Exchange
For example, if you need an area in Blackboard for students to share files, just add the "File Exchange" tool to this group:
Expand the sub-menu under "Users and Groups" and select "Groups"
Click the chevron next to the name of the group you need to modify and select "Edit."
Under section 2, "Tool Availability," check off the "File Exchange" tool.
Click "Submit."
Filter by sections in the Grade Center
If you would like to organize the Grade Center to see the grades of different sections separately, you can create a "Smart View" in the Grade Center using these automatically-created groups:
Go to the Grade Center of your course (under the "Evaluation" sub-menu).
Under the "Manage" menu, pick "Smart Views."
Click the "Create Smart View" button.
Enter a name for this view (for example, "Section 01").
Under "Selection Criteria," the "Type of View" should already be "Groups" by default.
In the next area, select one of the groups under "Value."
Click Submit and go back to the Grade Center.
In "Current View," if you mouse over the "Full Grade Center," a list should drop down which includes your newly-created view. Select this view and the Grade Center will load with only the students from that group.
Group Assignments
You can also create assignments for individual groups.
Go to the course area in which you wish to create the assignment.
Select "Create Assignment" under the "Evaluate" button.
In section 6, you will see that you can set the "Recipients" to "Groups of Students."
When you click this radio button, you will see a list of all the groups in your course. Highlight the one you want and click the right-pointing arrow to move it to the "Selected" box.
Click Submit. The assignment will now only appear to the members of that group.
If you plan to break your class into smaller groups to work on group projects, Blackboard provides the tools to create a group and enable group tools such as e-mail, discussion boards, blogs, wikis and many more. Instructors can create groups or sets of groups and manually enroll students or allow students to enroll themselves. Self-enrolled groups can function as sign-up sheets for appointments. In addition, students can create and personalize their own groups. Groups can work on assignments together and the group can receive a single grade for the assignment (or individual grades, if desired).
In the Control Panel area, expand the sub-menu under "User and Groups" and select Groups.
Under "Create Single Group," you can select Manual Enroll or Self-Enroll.
Under "Create Group Set," you can select Self-Enroll, Manual Enroll or Random Enroll.
The options will differ slightly for these different types of groups, but the basic information required is:
Enter a Group Name and any description
Select which functions you would like the group to have.
Select other options as needed.
Click Submit.
Once the group has been created, students can reach it from either the Groups page or the Tools area. Only instructors and group members can access their particular group. If you need to modify a group already created, click the Edit Mode switch to On, then click the chevron next to the group's title and select Edit.
Peer and Self-Assessment
This is a new tool to allow students to evaluate each others' work. To set this up:
Go to the area of the course in which you would like students to access the assessment (for example, the Assignments area).
Click the Edit Mode switch to On, then select "Create Self and Peer Assessment" from the Evaluate button menu.
Fill out information as desired; click Submit (this will automatically add an item to the Grade Center).
Now click the Create Question button on the following page and enter questions and model answers for the students to use in the assessment.
You can also preview the evaluation and submission samples.
You can access all submissions and evaluations and enter grading results in the Grade Center.
Blogs, Wikis, Portfolios, Podcasts
Blogs
Blogs can be configured for individuals (for reflective writing exercises) or for group access (for peer review). The course-wide blog tool can be configured in the Control Panel, Course Tools, Configure Blog Tool page. Individual blogs are created by selecting "Blog" from the Select list on the Add Items page; choosing All Students will create a private journal space for each student.
For further information, you can view the Learning Objects Quick Start Guides (look for "Journal LX" section).
Wikis
Wikis can be used for small-group collaborative projects to create on-line media-rich resources. The central course wiki is configured on the Configure Wiki Tool page (Control Panel, Course Tools). Additional wikis (for smaller groups) may be added in any content area by selecting "Wiki" from the Select list on the Add Items page; one may select either a pre-defined group or a set of individuals. There is also an Assess Wikis tool in the Course Tools area to use for evaluating student participation in the course or group wikis.
For further information, you can view the Learning Objects Quick Start Guides (look for "Teams LX" section).
Portfolios
Portfolios exist for each user (not connected to a specific course); they are accessed in the Tools panel of the My Blackboard home page (click on the ePortfolios/Expo link). Portfolios are built out of blogs and wikis (see above) and can be configured to selectively allow others to see and comment on a user's material. Users may have multiple expo sites, each intended for a different audience. There is a directory to manage how portfolios are listed.
For further information, you can view the E-Portfolio Tool On-line Help site (also called "Expo").
Podcasts
The Podcast tool can be used to manage audio or video files which you have already prepared (using some other tool such as GarageBand). The instructor will need to configure the podcasts for the course via the Manage Podcast page in the Control Panel (this page allows one to set up the RSS capability). To add a "podcast episode," click Edit View for the page on which you wish the podcast link to appear; in the drop-down menu for the Select list, pick "Podcast Episode" and click Go. One can add additional files such as transcripts to each audio file.
For further information, you can view the Learning Objects Quick Start Guides (look for "Podcast LX" section).
