Submitting Assignments

Information on this page includes:

  • Where to find assignments in Blackboard

  • Submitting an assignment in Blackboard

  • Verifying and viewing submission receipts

  • Viewing assignment feedback

  • Assignments with the plagiarism prevention tool SafeAssign

Where to find assignments in Blackboard

Most of the time your instructor will use the Online Classroom to post assignments in your Blackboard course. However, there may be times that another area of your Blackboard course will be used and your instructor should give you information on the location of those Blackboard assignments. 

Assignments are only accessible to you when deployed by your instructor.

Submitting an assignment in Blackboard

Click on an assignment link to open the Upload Assignment page. This page gives you the details of the assignment including:

  • Instructions ( 1 - see image below)

  • Due Date (2)

  • Points Possible (3)

  • Multiple attempts, if allowed

  • Whether submissions will be checked for plagiarism using SafeAssign (4)

In addition, there are three links:

  1. Create Submission (5) - allows you to type your assignment directly into Blackboard.

  2. Upload Files (6) - allows you to upload files from your computer or a cloud service like Google Drive.

  3. Add Comments (7) - allows you to add comments to your instructor concerning the assignment.

NOTE: THE ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS MAY GIVE DETAILED INFORMATION ON HOW YOU ARE TO SUBMIT YOUR ASSIGNMENT. READ THROUGH THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY AND ASK YOUR INSTRUCTOR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. 

Lastly, there are Cancel, Save Draft, and Submit buttons at the bottom of the page:

  • Cancel (8) - this button cancels and deletes the assignment submission. This is helpful if you attached an incorrect file or want to start over. 

  • Save Draft (9) - allows you to save the assignment submission so that you can come back at a later time and finish. Your assignment is not submitted or visible to your instructor. 

  • Submit (10) - after completing the assignment and uploading/attaching files as required by the instructions, the assignment is submitted to your instructor for grading. 

After clicking Submit, it is not possible to cancel the submission or to start over unless your assignment allows multiple attempts or your instructor gives you another attempt. (Usually not allowed unless there are extenuating circumstances. Contact your instructor if you've made a mistake or had technical difficulties.)

 

 

Blackboard Tip:

Sign up for Email Notifications. Log in to Blackboard, and click your name on the purple, left-hand menu. Click the links in the Global Notifications box to set up the notifications you want to receive in the Activity Stream, by Email, and Push to your device. (You must have the Blackboard app installed to receive push notifications). 

When you sign up for notifications, you'll see upcoming due dates, overdue assignment information, and more in the Activity Stream, emailed to your UCA email account, or pushed to you through the Blackboard App on your device. 

Verifying and viewing submission receipts

Each successful assignment submission will generate a receipt that is saved in Blackboard. In addition, a confirmation is sent to your UCA email account. You can view your Submission receipts in Blackboard by clicking My Grades (11 - see image below) and then the Submitted tab (12). Next, click the number next to Submission Receipts at the bottom to see each receipt (13). It is good practice to confirm that you've received a receipt of your submission each time you turn in work. 

If you do not receive a submission receipt, it is important that you contact the UCA Help Desk as soon as possible. Do not wait until the due date has passed or until grades are submitted to report an issue.

Viewing assignment feedback

Assignment results and feedback can be viewed in two locations: the assignment itself and through My Grades.

  • Review assignment results and feedback in the assignment itself:

  1. Locate the assignment in the course and click the link to open the assignment.

  2. On the right side of the opened assignment page, you'll see the grade for the assignment (14 - see image below) and the Instructor's Feedback (15).
Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)

  • Review assignment results and feedback in My Grades:

  1. Click My Grades (16 - see image below) from the course menu on the left.

  2. Locate the assignment you want to view.

  3. Click the name of the assignment (17) to open the Review Submission History page for the assignment. You can see the grade and feedback provided.

  4. Additionally, you can click the speech bubble icon (18) to open a small window to view just the feedback provided (19).

Uploaded Image (Thumbnail)

Assignments with the plagiarism prevention tool SafeAssign

Safe assign is a plagiarism prevention tool offered by Blackboard. This tool helps faculty detect unoriginal content in student work. In addition, it can be used by students to help learn about plagiarism and the importance of proper citations of work from other sources and people. 

Students submit their work to SafeAssign as part of the assignment submission process. However, not all assignments in Blackboard use SafeAssign. Your instructor will determine which assignments will use SafeAssign. The assignments that do use SafeAssign will ask you to agree to submit your work to the Global Reference Database when you attach a file for submission.

SafeAssign will then check the originality of your work by comparing the text to text on the Internet, within published articles, and to the work of other students at UCA. The amount of time for SafeAssign to review the text can vary.

If your instructor allows, you may be able to view the SafeAssign report of your work. You can find more information about SafeAssign and the originality reports on the Blackboard website.

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