Creating an Assignment

Watch the how-to video
Movie camera symbol depicting a link to an instructional video.

This article is separated into three sections:


Step 1: Creating an Assignment

1. On the Course Content page, select the purple plus sign where you would like to add the assignment:

On the course content page up read arrow is pointing to the plus sign within the circle.

2. Select “Create” from the dropdown menu:

The right red arrow is pointing to the Create option. There are other options in the list which are Auto-Generate Modules, Copy Content, Upload, and Cloud Storage.

3. Select “Assignment” under the Assessment heading in the Create Item panel:

Within the Create Item panel, the right red arrow is pointing to the Assignment option below the Assessment section.

4. Begin by typing a name for your assignment in the top left corner. Hit Enter or click outside of the text entry box to save your title. Note: Blackboard will automatically save your assignment if you add a title and/or any content to the assignment. Otherwise, the assignment will be lost when you exit the assignment window:

In this example the words Sample Assignment was entered in as the assignment title.


Step 2: Add Content to the Assignment

1. Type your instructions into the textbox. Utilize the toolbar to edit your text and add links, attachments, or additional content to your instructions:

In this example the words Sample Assignment Instructions were entered in the text box field.

2. Click “Save” below the textbox to save your instructions:

Two buttons with the word Cancel in the gray box and the word Save in the black box with a red border around it indicating that this is the button to click.


Step 3: Customize the Assignment Settings

1. Select the settings icon to the right of “Assignment Settings” in the assignment window:

Over to the right of the assignment, you will see the assignment settings sections. The up red arrow is pointing to the gear icon. When you click on this gear icon it will open the assignment's settings.

2. The Assignment Settings panel will appear. To add a due date for the assignment, enter a date and time under “Details & Information”. Select the checkboxes below the due date if you would like to add guidelines for submissions, attempts, and class conversations:

In this example, the due date was set to 10/29/23 and the time was set to 11:59 PM.

3. Scroll down to "Grading & Submissions" if you would like to adjust the number of attempts students are allowed for the assignment. By default, Blackboard will grant one attempt per student. If you allow students multiple attempts, you will have to specify which attempt you would like to receive a grade:

The Grade category is set to the default Assignment and it's set to 2 attempts.

4. You may also set the maximum number of points for the assignment and specify whether you would like the grade to reflect as a letter, point value, percentage, or completion status:

The grade using is set to Points and the maximum points is set to 100.

5. You may also enable features like grading rubrics, group assignments, and originality reports under “Additional Tools”:

Below the Additional Tools section you will see Time limit, Use grading rubric, Goals & standards, Assigned groups, and Originality Report.

6. When you have finished customizing the settings, click “Save” at the bottom of the Assignment Settings panel:

Two buttons with the word Cancel in the gray box and the word Save in the black box.

7. By default, Blackboard will hide the assignment from students. You may edit the visibility settings in dropdown menu in the top right corner of the assignment window:

visibility settings is set to Hidden from students at this time.

You may close out of the assignment window when you are finished. As mentioned above, Blackboard will automatically save the assignment if you have added a title and/or any content.