Assignments

Adding an Assignment to a BeachBoard Course

New: Watch a closed-captioned movie that shows you how to add a assignment to a BeachBoard course [opens in a new window]

BeachBoard's Digital Drop Box has been renamed the "Assignments Tool." Instead of having one big ‘drop box' for your student's assignments-something many instructors have found both confusing and burdensome-BeachBoard lets you create a separate ‘drop box' for each assignment. This makes collecting, tracking, and grading your students' submissions a much more intuitive process.

Using BeachBoard's Assignment tool, you can

  • Collect assignments, homework, or essays from your students.
  • Track your students' completion status.
  • Download and view your students' work.
  • Provide your students with individualized feedback on their work.
  • Assign each student a grade for his or her work.

BeachBoard's Assignment Tool also automatically creates an item in your BeachBoard Gradebook.

Add a new assignment

  1. Login to BeachBoard at https://beachboard.csulb.edu/
  2. Under My Courses, click the name of the course in which you would like to add an assignment.
  3. Click the course's Control Panel link.
  4. Under Content Areas, click the Assignments link.
  5. Choose Assignment in the Select: pull-down list in the upper right corner of the screen.
  6. Click the Go button.
  7. Key in the name of your assignment in the Name box.
    • ESSENTIAL: Only include letters and numbers in the name of assignment file and do not use the pound sign (#). If your assignment name contains special characters or the pound sign [e.g., Assignment #2], you will receive an error message when you attempt to download your students' work.
  8. Key in the number of points possible in the Points Possible box.
  9. If your assignment has a due date, click the Due Date checkbox and choose the appropriate due date and time. This is optional.
  10. Type your assignment's instructions in the Instructions box.
  11. If you wish to attach a file to the assignment
    • To the right of Attach local file, click the Browse button. This opens a Choose file pop-up window.
    • Find the file on your computer you wish to attach and click the Open button. [This process is similar to the process of attaching a file to an email message.]
    • In the Name of Link to File window, type in the name of the program you used to create the file (e.g., Microsoft Word document, Adobe Acrobat file, Macromedia Flash Paper document, XML Paper document, etc.)
  12. Choose the appropriate availability and date options (see Options below.)
  13. Click the Submit button.

The final steps are to view and grade your students' assignments in BeachBoard's Gradebook.

Options

  • Make the content available – Enable this option to give your students access to your item. This is set to Yes by default.
  • Track number of views – Enable this option to track how many times individual users access your syllabus. This is set to No by default.
  • Choose date restrictions – Enable both the Display After and Display Until options to control when your item is visible. This option automates the “make the content available ” option. This is unchecked by default.

More Information

Q: Can I see what this assignment will look like to my students?
A: Yes. Login to BeachBoard and, under My Courses, click the name of the course that contains the assignment. Click the Assignments link on the left side of the page. Click the View/Complete Assignment link. This shows what your assignment looks like to your students.

Q: I would like to have my student use the Assignment tool to send me a Microsoft Word file. What is the best way to create this assignment?
A: You can use the assignment tool just as the instructions list above, but you will want to provide clear rules on how to name the files and what you expect from them.

Q: Why would I want to keep my assignment from being visible?
A: You may delay the availability of your assignment if you are not finished with it or if you plan to assign it at a later date.

Q: What happens if I do not choose a Display After/Until date and time?
A: If you do not click the Display After and Display Until check boxes, your assignment will be visible as long as your course is available.

Q: Does the Add Assignment tool upload files into the Digital Drop Box?
A: The Assignment tool replaces the Digital Drop Box. Unlike the Digital Drop Box, files your students upload as assignments are automatically sorted in the Gradebook. In addition, assignments give you access to better utilities for bulk downloading files, providing feedback to students, and cleaning up files.

[Special thanks to Cal Poly, Pomona for their help with this page].