You now have two choices for student assignment submission in Blackboard. One continues to be the Digital Dropbox, a general storage container for all submitted student files throughout the duration of the course.
A new feature in Blackboard allows you to create and add assignments directly in any content folder*. Assignments created in this manner will automatically be assigned a link (View/Complete Assignment: Your Assignment Name) for direct student submission to the online gradebook, where a gradebook entry category will also be automatically generated.
Direct assignment submission rather than Digital Dropbox use is recommended for the following reasons:
- assignments can be sent directly to the online gradebook from the document specifying the assignment requirements through the automatically generated link
- an online gradebook entry category is automatically generated for each assignment created
- assignments are automatically associated with each enrolled student for easy submission identification, viewing, and assignment return via the online gradebook
- bulk download of all assignments by category is available via the online gradebook
- bulk download of all ungraded assignments by category is available via the online gradebook
- bulk deletion of selected assignments is available via the online gradebook
Note: The Digital Dropbox is still useful for sharing content specific files with individuals or groups of students.
*See the Content Management area in the course menu to access instructions on how to add an assignment to a content folder.
Assignments created within content folders will be submitted via an automatically generated link that goes directly to the online gradebook. All of the following grading functions can be performed from the online gradebook:
- view student assignment
- view student comments
- add instructor comments
- assign earned points
- return instructor attachment to student
- add comments and/or attachment for instructor reference only
- Click the Gradebook link in the Assessment area of the Control Panel
- Locate the column by assignment name you wish to grade
- Click the "!" in the spreadsheet cell (indicates a submitted assignment that has not been graded) to access an individual student's assignment information
- Click the "View" button located to the far right side of the student assignment information to access the assignment file link
- Click on the Student File link to open the assignment submission
- Enter assignment points earned
- Enter comments for the student in the textbox directly below the points area as appropriate
- Click the "Browse" button, navigate to the student file, select the file, and click the "Open" button to return the corrected student assignment submission file as appropriate
- Enter any personal notes and attach any specific files for later documentation if appropriate
- Click the "Submit" button and then the "OK" button
All student submissions (or all ungraded student submissions) for an individual course assignment can now be bulk downloaded from the online gradebook at one time for easy viewing. These assignments are exported as a zipped file and can be saved to your hard drive or other removable media (flash drive, CD-ROM, zip disk, floppy disk), where they can be unzipped and viewed.
Note: Each file name now automatically includes the name of the student who submitted that assignment.
Bulk deletion of individual course assignment files (student files, instructor files directly related to student files, instructor personal files, and all graded files) is also now possible.
- Click the Gradebook link in the Assessment area of the Control Panel
- Locate the column by assignment name you wish to download
- Click once on the assignment name at the top of the column
- Click the Item Download link
- Click the Check All link (for all student assignments) or the Check Ungraded link (for all ungraded student assignments)
- Click the "Submit" button
- Click the dowload assignments now link
- Click the "Save" button
- Navigate to the location to which you want to save this zipped file and then click the "Save" button
- Click the "Close" button in the window that pops up
- Locate your saved zipped file and open it with WinZip (or other utility) software
- Click the Gradebook link in the Assessment area of the Control Panel
- Locate the column by assignment name you wish to download
- Click once on the assignment name at the top of the column
- Click the Item File Cleanup link
- Click the appropriate link from the choices provided (Check All, Check All Student Files, Check All Instructor's Files for Students, Check All Instructor's Personal Files, Check Graded, or Uncheck All)
- Click the "Delete" button
- Click the "OK" button in the warning pop-up box
- Click the "OK" button