Using Blackboard Groups to Create Sign-up Sheets

If you have ever used a paper sign-up sheet for something like choosing a time to meet or selecting a group project theme, you might consider using Blackboard Groups to do the same thing online. Here is how you can do that in Blackboard Original and with Blackboard Ultra.

Blackboard Original

1. Go to your course and scroll down under Course Management and click on Users and Groups and then Groups.
2. Move your mouse over Create and under Group Set choose Self-Enroll.
3. Give it a name and a description. It might be something like Group Project Themes or Meeting Times or something like that. You can give more details in the Description area.
4. Next to Group is visible to students, choose Sign-up Sheet Only.
5. Uncheck everything under Tool Availability.
6. Uncheck Allow Personalization.
7. Give a name to the sign-up sheet. It could be the same as above. You can also put in the instructions.
8. Put in the maximum number of students for each item.
9. Put in the number of groups. The number of groups times the number of members should be equal to the number of students in your class.
10. Click on Submit.
11. If you haven’t added Groups to your menu, do that now. Go to the top of your menu and hover over the plus button at the top. Choose Tool Link, give it a name for the menu, choose Groups in Type, check the Available to Users, and then click on Submit.
12. You will want to now edit the name of each group to match the theme or date or whatever else you are wanting them to choose. Click on Groups and then click on the grey button next to the name of the first group. Choose Edit Group.
13. Rename it and then click on Submit. Continue doing this for the other groups.

Blackboard Ultra

1. Open your Ultra course and click on View sets & groups under Course Groups in the left-side menu.
2. It might open a new group set automatically. If it doesn’t, click on New Group Set in the top-right corner.
3. Where it says New Group Set and the date along the top, click on that and give your group set a name and hit the enter key on your keyboard.
4. In the top-right corner, click on Hidden from students and then choose Visible to students.
5. Next to Group students, choose Self-enrollment.
6. You can give your group set a description and you can choose when students can access it.
7. Choose the number of students per group and check off Hide enrolled members if you don’t want students knowing who is in each group before they select.
8. Right above New Group 1, there is a plus symbol in the middle of the screen. Click on that to add new groups. Add as many groups as you would like. The number of groups times the number of members per group should equal the number of students in your class.
9. Click on the name of each group to edit the name to the theme, time, or whatever else you are wanting them to select. You can also add a group description for more details.
10. Click on Save.