Groups are one of the most underutilized features in Blackboard, IMHO, but also one of the most useful.

With Groups in Blackboard 9.1, you can:

  • Release quizzes and assignments to different groups at different times
  • Batch-add people to groups
  • Set SmartViews in the Grade Center to view the grades of particular sets of students

Groups basics

If you’ve requested a merged course or just want to give students a space where they can work as a team by exchanging files, keeping a team blog,using group chat room, etc., Groups will be helpful to you. You can enable some or all of these for each group. Blackboard has a helpful viewlet about how to add students to groups.

Setting up sets of Groups

Group sets can be useful if you want to divide your students multiple ways (i.e. sections AND teams; teams WITHIN sections), The Academic Colleges Group IT (ACGICT) has created two video tutorials that will show you how to create group sets and how to edit group sets.  You can also randomize user enrollments into groups in sets.

Self-enrolling in Groups

Need a sign-up sheet? You can use the self-enroll option in Groups to set up groups to which students add themselves. Group sets also include a self-enroll option.

Tests: Adaptive Release for Groups

When setting up a test that will be deployed, you can create Rules in Advanced Adaptive Release, which you find by clicking the double-chevron to the right of the test once you’ve added it to a content area. Select Create Criteria > Membership to select the Group; select Create Criteria > Date to set the to/from dates).

ACGICT also has created a viewlet on using Adaptive Release to restrict content to groups.

Please contact your technology liaison, or e-mail blackboard AT richmond DOT edu for further assistance with or ideas about using groups!