Blackboard (Faculty) - Groups: Creating Groups for Sections of a Merged Course

If you have a course shell that has been merged from two or more course sections, you can create a group for each section of the course. This document provides an overview of how to create groups in a merged course based on section number.

1. Go to the merged/parent course and navigate to the Full Grade Center.

a. Hover over Work Offline and click Download.

grade center download

b. Under Data, select User Information Only.

User Information Only

c. Click Submit and save the downloaded file to your computer.

2. Open the Excel file that was downloaded.

a. Delete all columns, except the Username and Child Course ID columns.

b. Move the Child Course ID column to the left, making it the first column in the Excel document.

c. Using the Data Sort tool in Excel, sort the Child Course ID column alphabetically so the document is sorted by Child Course ID rather than usernames.

data set

d. Save the document as a CSV file (for example, GroupMembership.csv) and close the document.

3. Download the file template BbGroups.csv and open the Excel document.

a. In the Group Code column, put the Child Course ID values.
b. In the Title column, input a shorthand name for the group, such as Section 001.
c. In the Available column, put a in each row.
d. In the Self-Enroll column, put an in each row.
e. Leave the remaining columns blank. Do not delete any columns.
f. Save as a CSV file (for example, Groups.csv).
g. When finished, your document should look similar to this:
example data file

4. Go to the merged/parent course and navigate to Course Management>Users and Groups>Groups.

a. Click the Import button.
b. Under Import Group Members, select "Browse My Computer" and attach the CSV file that you saved in step 2d of this guide.
Browse local files button to import group memebers
c. Under Import Groups, select "Browse My Computer" and attach the CSV file that you saved in step 3f of this guide.
browse local files button for import groups
d. Click Submit.


Keywords:
blackboard, black board, bb, groups, group, merged sections, merged, merged course, section 
Doc ID:
105074
Owned by:
Center I. in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Created:
2020-08-19
Updated:
2024-08-20
Sites:
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville