Introduction

Assignments are one of the most important areas of your Blackboard Ultra course. In many courses, this is where you will view instructions, download required files, submit your work, review due dates, check grading details, and read instructor feedback. Submitting assignments through Blackboard is how most assignments will work during your program. Some instructors will, however, provide a paper assignment for in-person classes and manually grade it, therefore not using the Assignments tool in Blackboard at all. 

Accessing Assignments

You may access assignments from several places in Blackboard Ultra.

Assignments may appear in the Course Content area, in the Gradebook, inside a weekly module, in the Activity Stream, in the Calendar, or in a dedicated Assignments area if your course includes one. In some cases, a link to an assignment will appear in one place with the actual assignment nesting in another location. 

Important: If your instructor has not created or released an assignment in Blackboard, you will not see it listed. If you believe an assignment should be visible but you cannot find it, check the syllabus first, then contact your instructor.

Regardless of where you find an assignment, clicking the name of the assignment will open the assignment for you in the form of a slide out panel. On that panel, you will find the Details, Assessment Due Date, Time Limit (if one exists), Attached Files, Goals or Learning Objectives, Grading Rubric (if included), Number of Attempts, Your Grade (once submitted) and a View Instructions button which will open the Details & Information panel showing the maximum points possible, number of attempts, safe assign details, grading and more. . This panel is where many students miss important details. Before you upload anything, confirm what file type is required, how many attempts you have, and whether the assignment has special instructions.

Remember: There are two panels to every assignment. Please make sure you investigate both.

When you have read all of the instructions and are ready to submit your assignment, you can Upload a file under the Submission screen and click Submit. 

Working with Time Limits

Some assignments may have a time limit. If your instructor added a time limit, it will appear in the assignment details.

When you select Start attempt, Blackboard may display a pop-up window asking you to begin the timer. If you are not ready, select Cancel.

Once you start a timed assignment, the timer begins. If time runs out, the assignment may submit automatically.

If your instructor enabled Prohibit Late Submissions, the assignment may automatically submit at the due date, even if you are still working.

Viewing Attached Files

Your instructor may attach files that you need to read, complete, or use for the assignment.

Files may appear inline on the assignment page or as attachments.

For attached files, you may see options such as Preview File or Download Original File.

For video or audio files, select the title to open the media. You may have controls for play, pause, volume, full screen, or download.

For image files that appear inline, select the image to view it separately.

If you cannot find a file after opening it, check your browser’s download location. In Chrome, this can usually be found under Settings > Downloads. 

Submitting Your Assignment

Your instructor provides the instructions and files needed to complete the assignment.

To submit your work, open the assignment and locate the submission area.

You can usually drag and drop files from your computer into the submission box. 

Before submitting, confirm that the correct file is attached. Open the file from your computer first if needed to make sure it is the final version.

When ready, select Submit.

After submitting, look for a confirmation message. Do not close the page until Blackboard confirms that your submission was received.

Late Submissions

If the due date has passed and late submissions are allowed, Blackboard may warn you that your submission will be marked late.

You may see this alert in the Details & Information panel, on the assignment page, or in the submission confirmation window.

If late submissions are not allowed, you may be blocked from submitting after the deadline. Contact your instructor if this happens.

Checking Submission Status

To confirm that your assignment was submitted, return to the assignment link in the course.

A panel should show the date and time of your submission. The assignment may show Not graded until your instructor reviews it.

If you do not see confirmation, do not assume the assignment submitted successfully. Reopen the assignment and check the submission status.

Grading Assignments

There are different ways that some instructors grade your assignments. 

• • In some cases, the instructor may download your paper, insert comments or use the  Track Changes feature in Microsoft Word, then upload your commented paper, along with a grade. 

  • In other cases, the instructor may use a rubric, built into Blackboard to grade the paper. 

  • It is also possible for instructors to insert comments within Blackboard, using what is called Inline Grading, using the Blackboard Annotate tool in the Grade Center.

  • Your best bet to see comments and feedback from your instructor is to click on My Grades or My (Student) Grades - and click on the item in the gradebook or click View Rubric, or click the blue word bubble icon to see general comments. 

  • You should then see your files, paper and/or inserted comments from the instructor. 

  • If the instructor uses the inline grading tool within Blackboard, the inserted comments have a yellow icon that you will see within your paper as you scroll through it. 

  • If, for some reason, the instructor has inserted comments but NOT provided a numeric grade, this will prevent you from seeing the inserted comments. 

  • Contact your instructor if this is the case.

Viewing Assignment Feedback and Grades

Once your work has been submitted and graded by your instructor, as long as the instructor has set the assignment to be available to you in the Grade Center, you will see the results in your My Grades section in Blackboard.  

You may also see your results once graded by your instructor by clicking on the Assignment item - which will show your score (if available) and comments in the right panel. 

If you submitted multiple attempts, you can also click on the dropdown arrow to view the results from each attempt, including comments or annotations from your instructor. 

Grading Using SafeAssign

If your instructor enabled SafeAssign prior to students uploading, your paper will run through an anti-plagiarism detection system and provide the instructor a score. If the instructor enabled students to see their own report, you will see the SafeAssign "report in progress" message after uploading your document to the assignment dropbox. SafeAssign can take up to minutes or hours to process, depending on how many instructors/students are running papers through it and how long the papers are. During busy times such as mid-terms and finals, you would want to check back the next day or even two. Yes, many papers to process!

Once processing is complete, you can view the score and Originality Report from either My Grades or on the paper submission page.  

You can practice this and see how it works in the SOWK 690 Bb orientation section, with the Optional Paper Upload Assignment. 

Viewing Feedback

Click the Assignment/Exam/Item hyperlink that you wish to see feedback on from the list of deliverables. 

Grading Using a Rubric

If your instructor graded using a rubric and it is shown to students, you can also click View Rubric  from this page to see those results. And if you click the blue "word bubble" icon to the left of the score on the right, you can view general comments on the assignment from the instructor. But for a deeper look at actual annotations, or assignment markup in your paper document, see Step 2.

By clicking the name of the assignment, you can view all of the Assignment Details. You can review any annotations, comments, grades, rubrics and files, all from this page. In the upper center are icons for printing and downloading the paper with instructor feedback. Click the download arrow to download the marked-up version with instructor feedback for your review.  In the far right are the "Assignment Details" where you can see your grade, view a scored rubric (if your instructor used one and shares that with you), download your original paper or download the paper with instructor feedback. 

To view the rubric (if there is one) click the small table icon to the right of the Attempt date and time and to the left of your score. Click the file name to download the original file you submitted ( in the right column under Submission.) The Comments section will display any overall general comments on the assignment from your instructor.  Any link under “Comments” and “Feedback to Learner” is one your instructor uploaded with additional comments. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Page Summary

On this page, you learned how to find, open, complete, submit, and review assignments in Blackboard Ultra. You also learned how to check assignment details, understand attempts and time limits, upload files, confirm submissions, review grades and feedback, use rubrics, understand SafeAssign, and avoid common submission mistakes. The most important habit is to always read the assignment details before starting and confirm that your work was successfully submitted before leaving the page.