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Introduction
As an
instructor in Blackboard you can create groups of students and assign tools that
they can use.
You may give
a group access to any or all of the following tools:
-
A Group Discussion Board
- Group members can post messages.
-
Group File Exchange -
Group members can share files by uploading them
-
Group Email - Easily
email to all group members
-
Group Virtual Classroom
- Group members can do text chat and view the same screen.
Creating
groups is a multi-step
process.
1. First you create the group, assigning properties to the group.
2. Then
you add the students to the group.
3. Next you must add a Forum to each group's
Discussion Board.
4. Finally, and optionally, you can add a menu button that goes directly to the
Group pages and send an email to each group informing them of the
new resources available to them
Directions
Create A Group
From the
User Management menu in the Control Panel:
- Click on Manage Groups.
- Click the Add a Group button.
On the Add
a Group screen:
- Give the group a name
- Choose the options available to
the group by clicking on its radio button. Options are Discussion Board, Virtual Classroom, File Exchange,
and email. (Recommend clicking all of them.)
- Click Yes for Make Group
Visible.
- Click Submit. You have successfully set up an empty group.
Assign Students to
a Group
Once a
Group has been created you must add students.
On the Manage Groups page:
- Click Modify next to the name of the group to which you want to add
people.
On the Manage Group (singular) page
- Click on Add Users to Group.
- Click on List All to display all members of the class. Click on List All again.
- Click in the box in front of
the names you want to include in the group. Include yourself as Instructor in each
group.
- Click Submit.
Create a Forum
In order
for the groups to use the Discussion Board you have set up for them, the instructor
must add a forum. (Students can create threads but not forums.) To do that:
- Go to the Main Page of the
Course.
- Click on Communication and then Group Pages.
- Click on the name of a group.
- Click on Group Discussion Board.
- Click Add Forum.
- Type a general title like
Discussion Board, a description, settings and click Submit. Click OK at the verification screen.
- Repeat for each group.
Nice
to Have
Create a Menu Pick
for Groups
To easily
create a menu button that goes directly to the group pages:
On the
Control Panel,
-
Click Manage Course Menu in
the Course Options block
-
Click Add Tool Link.
-
From the drop-down menu,
click Groups. Then click Submit.
Notify Students
Inform students
that you have set up group resources for them. They can find them by clicking
on the Groups
menu button,
if you created one, or on the Communication menu button and
then Group Pages.
You can
notify the groups by sending an email to members of each group. To do this:
- On the first page of the
course, click on the Communication menu
button. Then click Send email.
- Click on Select Groups.
- Choose the group(s) in the To section.
- Complete your message and click Submit.
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