What are Groups in Blackboard? What are the benefits of using Groups?

Collaborative learning offers many benefits over traditional instruction. Studies show that when students work as a team, they:

• develop positive attitudes
• solve problems more effectively
• experience a greater sense of accomplishment

You can organize students into groups in Blackboard so they can interact with each other and demonstrate their knowledge while they learn to appreciate the perspectives of others.

You can create group sets to use for graded work, such as:

• assignments
• tests
• discussions

You can learn more about creating Group Discussions here, and learn more about creating Group assignments here.

 

How do I create Groups in Blackboard?

Learn more about creating groups in Blackboard by following the instructions in the video below:

 

What is a ‘Self-Enrolment’ Group?

A self-enrolment group allows students to add themselves to a group of their choice.

To create self-enrollment groups:

1. From the menu, select Groups.
   
   
2. On the Manage Groups page, select New Group Set.
   
   
3. The groups page will open up. Select the pencil icon to edit the name of the group set.
   
4. Self-enrollment option is available only when the group set is visible to students. From the top-right corner, make the set Visible to students.
   
5. Select the Group students > Self-enrollment.
   
   
6. To add more groups, select the plus sign to do so. The Number of groups updates automatically.
   
7. Optionally, add a description, enrollment start and end date, and the maximum number of students per group.
   
8. Select Save when you have finished.

 

What should I know about editing or deleting groups?

Please review the following information:

• If you add or delete a group in a group set used to create a new group set, the new group set is unaffected.
• If you add or delete a group in a group set that you used to create a group assessment or discussion, that content item’s groups are updated. Edits to group titles and descriptions also affect the content items.
• If you add or delete a group in a group assessment or discussion that’s based on a course group set, the course group set is updated. Edits to group titles and descriptions also affect the course group set.
• If you delete a group set used to create a new group set, the new group set is unaffected.
• If you delete an entire group set used to create a group assessment or discussion, the content item’s groups are removed.
• If you delete a group assessment or discussion based on a course group set, the group set is unaffected.

 

Need support? Contact the Innovative Learning Support Centre. We are here to help!