Table of Contents
Overview
Blackboard has two tools that allow students to securely submit their work to instructors. Files submitted using either the Digital Dropbox or the Assignment tool are stored on Blackboard and are accessible only by those with Control Panel access (i.e., instructors, teaching assistants, and graders).
Each Blackboard site includes a Digital Dropbox, which students access from the Tools menu and instructors access from the Control Panel. The Digital Dropbox is a simple tool, requires no activation or set up, but has limited functionality (see feature comparison table, below). Because of these limitations, ITS recommends the using Assignment tool instead of the Digital Dropbox.
Using the Assignment tool does require more set-up time. While instructors must create each Assignment, they can create as many as necessary in any content area. When instructors add an Assignment to a content area, a corresponding column is created in the site's Gradebook Students view an Assignment's description, instructions, and requirements and submit their work within that same content area. Instructors then use the Gradebook to view, respond to, and grade students' work. And as with grading Blackboard tests, instructors may find that they occasionally need to [ http://help.unc.edu/?id=5405 ] clear a student's Assignment attempt.
The feature comparison table below is designed to help you determine which tool best suits your and your students' needs.
|
Feature |
Digital Dropbox |
Assignment Tool |
Notes |
|
Assignment description and requirements are integrated with the tool that students use to submit work |
no |
yes |
|
|
Students can submit short answers entered directly into a form rather than in an attached file |
no |
yes* |
*4000-character limit on submissions |
|
Students' submissions are integrated with the Gradebook tool |
no |
yes |
|
|
Students can resubmit Assignments |
yes* |
yes |
*However, instructors must first [ http://help.unc.edu/?id=5405 ] clear a student's assessment attempt before the student can resubmit the assignment. |
|
Work is automatically organized by assignment and individual student |
no |
yes |
|
|
Instructors can quickly discern which students have submitted work and which have not |
no |
yes |
|
|
Students can submit multiple files for an a single Assignment |
yes* |
yes** |
* Digital Dropbox: students can send as many files as they wish, but must submit them individually. ** Assignment Tool: students can attach multiple files to a single assignment submission. Important: once a student has submitted an assignment, he or she cannot submit additional files until the instructor has [ http://help.unc.edu/?id=5405 ] cleared his or her Assignment attempt, which removes any files that the student had added previously. |
|
Students' submissions are date/time stamped |
yes |
yes |
|
|
Instructors can enter comments into a Blackboard form and send these to individual students |
no |
yes |
|
|
Instructors can download a student's file, add comments to the file, and return it to the student |
yes |
yes |
|
|
Instructors can download multiple files from students at the same time |
no |
yes* |
*Instructors can download all files submitted for a single Assignment. The files are compressed into a single .zip file, which can be opened in Windows XP with the Extract Files command. |
|
Instructors can send/return a single file to multiple students |
yes* |
no |
*Select multiple users by holding down the Control key while clicking on students' names. |
|
Instructors can enter notes on an individual student's assignment that are accessible to those with Control Panel access, but not accessible by students |
no |
yes |
|
|
Instructors can remove multiple files from students at the same time |
yes* |
yes |
The only option for removing multiple files stored in the Digital Dropbox is to remove all of them, using [ http://help.unc.edu/?id=5140 ] Recycle Course-->Digital Dropbox. |
Using the Assignment Tool
Refer to [ http://help.unc.edu/?id=5472 ] Blackboard: Assignment Tool.
Using the Digital Dropbox
Refer to [ http://help.unc.edu/?id=5471 ] Blackboard: Digital Dropbox.
Copyright 2002-2007 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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