Group Assignments

About group assignments

Important

There are two versions of the Groups experience, the new Groups experience and the previous Groups experience. Your institution makes the decision for which version is configured. The new Groups experience becomes the default experience for all courses in January 2027.

Collaborative learning offers many benefits over traditional instruction. Studies show that when students work as a team, they develop positive attitudes, solve problems more effectively, and experience a greater sense of accomplishment.

You create a group assignment nearly the same way you create assignments for students to complete individually. Gradebook items are created automatically.

The versions of Groups that your Blackboard LMS administrator has configured determines whether you can create new group sets directly in Assignment Settings:

In the reimagined Groups experience, you can't create groups from the assignment settings, so create the group set on the Groups tab of the Course Content page first.
In the previous Groups experience, you can create groups while you set up the assignment.

If students with accommodations are in a group, all students in that group inherit the accommodation for that item. For example, you create a group assignment and one group member has a due date accommodation. That group's work isn't marked late if they submit after the due date.

For a specific group assignment or group test, you can give an individual group an exception for extended access only. Multiple attempts aren't allowed for group assessments at this time.

Students can hold virtual meetings with their group members if Collaborate Ultra is enabled at your institution and you enable conversations for the assignment.