Blackboard Ultra (Faculty) - Groups: Create a Group

This article explains how faculty can create groups within their Blackboard Ultra courses to facilitate student collaboration.

Creating Groups in Blackboard Ultra

Groups allow you to create a subset of users within your course. These groups can then be used for collaborative assignments, discussions, and other activities.

Creating Course Groups

  1. Navigate to your Blackboard Ultra course.
  2. Click on the Groups tab on the top horizontal navigation bar.
  3. Select one:
    • Import Group Set: Use the hyperlinked CSV template to bulk import your groups.
    • New Group Set: Create groups manually directly in Blackboard.

      The horizontal navigation bar is on the Groups page. There are two buttons: Import groups and new group set.

Import a Group Set

  1. If you selected Import Group Set, a new panel appears on the right-hand side.
  2. Upload a CSV file to bulk import groups. Click the hyperlink to Download the Group Sets template, if needed. 
    • Select Import.

    Create a New Group Set

    1. If you selected New Group Set, enter a Name for the new group set.
    2. Select how to group students in the drop-down menu:
      • Custom: You assign each student to a group.
      • Self-enrollment: Students choose the group they want to join. This is available only for visible group sets.
      • Reuse groups: Use previously assigned groups from other group activities in the course. 
    3. Select the tiles of unassigned student users to include in the group.
    4. Click the ellipses (...) on the right side of the tile and select which group to assign those students.

      Unassigned students are listed on clickable tiles. Select the 3 dots on the right side of the tile to assign to a specific group.

    5. Click on the pencil icon next to the title of each new group to customize group names.
    6. Click on the pencil icon in the box below the group name to add a group description.

      Next to the New Group default name is a pencil icon that allows you to edit it. In the text box below there is a pencil icon to add a group description.

    7. Select the Plus Sign (+) to add another group. You can repeat this process until you have as many groups as you want.
    8. Select Save.

    Managing Groups

    1. Navigate to the Groups page in your Blackboard Ultra course.
    2. Click the ellipsis (...) on the far right of the group you want to manage.
      • Send message to the group: sends a message in Blackboard to all members of the group.
      • Edit: manage group membership and edit the group name and description
      • Export: download a CSV file of your current groups
      • Delete: delete the whole group

     

    Need Additional Support?

    If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact the ITS Help Desk:

    This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!


    Keywords:
    Blackboard Ultra, Groups, Create Group, Faculty, Collaboration, Students, Assignments, Group Work, Bb, Ultra 
    Doc ID:
    155589
    Owned by:
    Jeff P. in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
    Created:
    2025-10-13
    Updated:
    2026-02-06
    Sites:
    Southern Illinois University Edwardsville