Managing Groups

Within Blackboard you have the ability to organize your students into groups for group project assignments. You can designate each group with certain functionality, such as a group discussion board, a group virtual chat (collaboration) space, and a File Exchange section, allowing your students to submit files for review by other group members.

To organize your students into groups, do the following:

1. Log into Blackboard and proceed to your course site
2. Click the Control Panel link
3. Click the Group Pages link under the User Management heading
4. Click the Add Group button
5. In the Name and Description fields, type the appropriate information for the first group
6. Scroll down to the Group Options section

   

7. Select the functionality you wish the group members to have access to:
   • Group Discussion Board: Each group can have its own Discussion Board for asynchronous communication
   • Group Virtual Classroom: Each group can have its own Virtual Chat space for synchronous communication
   • Group File Exchange: Each group can have its own space for sharing files. This features works in much the same manner as the Digital DropBox
   • Group Email: Each group can have its own Group Email functionality, allowing group members to send a group e-mail message all group members at once
8. Click the Submit button
9. Click the OK button

Repeat steps 4 through 9 to create group space for the rest of your groups. Once you are finished creating group space for all of your groups, use the following steps to add students to each group:

1. Click the Modify button to the right of your first group
2. Click the Add Users to Group link
3. Click the Search button
4. A list of enrolled students will appear. Place a checkmark in the box to the left of each student you wish to add to the group
5. Click the Submit button
6. Click the OK button

Repeat steps 1 thru 6 for the remainder of your groups.