Create and manage Groups in Blackboard

Use groups

Blackboard Groups can be used for multiple tasks, some in combination with other tools. For example, you can use Groups to:

• Set a Discussion for a group to collaborate on their project.
• Send specific information to targeted groups of students via a Message.
• Set group submissions in Blackboard Assignments.
• Arrange allocated marking in Blackboard Assignments, Blackboard Tests, or Turnitin.
• Manage access to online assessments, or specific content on the course via Content Release Conditions.

The Groups tab is available on the top menu of your course. Go to this tab for all group management tasks, such as creating new groups, reviewing existing groups, or importing groups you have prepared offline.

Create new groups 

All groups are created as a part of a Group Set, even if you only need to make a single group. 

To create a new group set, click New Group Set top right of the page. This will take you to a new screen, displaying all of the available students on your unit as a pool under Unassigned Students. First, add a name for your set and then choose one of the following options:  

• Custom: which requires you manually add users to each group. Use this option if you know you need specific students in specific groups.
• Randomly assigned: which will randomly assign students to the groups you create, distributing their numbers as evenly as possible. Use this option if it doesn’t matter which students are in which groups, as it is much faster.
• Self-enrolment: which provides students with the option to enrol themselves into a course group. Use this option if you want students to self-organise into groups of their own choosing.

If you have already created other group sets, you will also be able to Reuse these groups via this menu. This will create a copy of the existing group set, including the number of groups, the name of each group, and the distribution of students.

Group Visibility 

Create custom groups 

Custom groups can be created in one of two ways. 

The most efficient approach is to create groups as you allocate students to them. To do this, select each user you want to add to a group from the pool of unassigned students, highlighting their details in black, then click on the three dots in one of the user’s boxes and create a new group with the users you selected.

Once you have selected all of the students you wish to add to specific group, select the three dots icon in one of the user’s boxes and select + Create a new group. All students you had clicked will then be added to this group and removed from the pool of students available to allocate. 

Alternatively, you can create the groups first and then allocate students to them. To do this, scroll to the bottom of the screen, beneath the pool of unassigned students, and locate the purple plus icon.

Once you have created each group, you will then need to allocate students to them by highlighting the students you want to add, clicking the three dot icon on one of their records, and then selecting the group you want to add them to from the drop-down options that appear.

Create randomly assigned groups 

For randomly assigned groups, you need to choose how many groups you would like to create using the Number of groups drop-down. Students will then be distributed relatively equally amongst those groups, depending on the number of students in the course. If you want specific students to be excluded or included in groups, these can be changed later.

Create self-enrolment groups 

To create self-enrolment groups, you first need to make the group set visible to students then specify when students can start to enrol themselves, when enrolment ends, the maximum number of members per group and the number of groups overall. You can also provide a description for students in the box provided.

Manage Groups 

After you have created a group set, the groups themselves, and either allocated students or enabled them to self-enrol, you can move students between or out of groups, and delete specific groups or entire group sets. 

To move students between groups within a set, or to remove them from all groups, enter the group set and locate the student you wish to move. Click the three-dot icon on their record to open the drop-down menu and then choose either: 

• The group you wish to move them to from the options available.
• – Unassign to remove them from all groups within the set.
• + Create a new group to create another group with this student within it. 

To delete individual groups, enter the group set and find the group you want to delete. Click the three-dot icon in the top-right of the group (next to the group’s title) and select Delete group.  

To delete an entire group set, find the set you want to delete from the list of sets in the Groups tab. Click the three-dot icon in the top-right of the set’s details and then select Delete. 

Export group sets 

To export a group set, enter the set and select the export button in the top-right corner of the screen. 

This will open a settings section on the right of the screen. If you have previously created exportable files for this group set, you can re-export these files in the Export tab. If you need to create files to export, either because you have not yet done so or because you have made changes to the groups or the set since the last export, you can do this in the Create tab. Here, you can select:

• Group sets only to export a file detailing the groups within the set.
• Members only to export a file detailing the members within each group and which group they are allocated to.

You can select either one or both of these. In most instances, exporting both will give you the greatest detail, but if you are just looking to manage membership offline, you will only need the Members only option.

Please note: Groups without members will not show up in exported files. If you wish to export a blank set for offline management, first add one member to each group, export and then delete this member from the group in the spreadsheet.

Import groups, sets and members 

To import a group set, select Import Group Set from within the Groups tab. You will be able to download a template for uploading group sets, demonstrating the appropriate formatting requirements.

This will open a panel on the right-hand side of the screen. Choose between Create groups and Assign members. Both provide a template document you can download to provide a guide for formatting an uploaded .csv.

Students’ experience 

If they are set as visible, students can see the groups they belong to by going to the Groups tab in their unit:

If you create a self-enrolment group, students will get a pop-up notification when entering their unit asking them to enrol. Students will be able to message their groups (if this was enabled in Messages options) and take part in any activities which you set up for them.  

Read more about Groups in Blackboard Ultra, and see the video below for a demonstration on setting up Groups in Blackboard.