Inline feedback in Blackboard Assignments (Annotate)
- Aideen Gibson
- ellen bell
Use Blackboard Annotate to marks submissions to Blackboard assignments. Use Blackboard Annotate (BB Annotate) to highlight text, draw and add inline comments directly to submissions.
Blackboard Annotate is supported on current versions of Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Safari, but cannot be used with Panopto video assignments.
Instructions
Access assignment submissions through Gradebook > Markable items or via individual Assignment dropboxes. Select the assignment you wish to mark.
Select the student submission you wish to mark:
This will open up the submission with the black annotation toolbar at the top, open your window as widely as possible so you can see all the available tools.
A document view toolbar is displayed at the top of the main window for you to select how you wish to view assignment submission.
Document View Settings
A. Sidebar: View Thumbnail, Outline, or Annotation views of the submission.
B. Pages: Use the arrows to jump to different pages in the submission.
C. Pan: Move the submission on the page.
D. Zoom: Zoom in and out of the submission.
E. Fit: Adjust the view to fit the page, fit the width, or select the best fit.
Annotation tools
Annotation sessions expire after one hour. You'll receive a warning message before your session expires.
There is a variety of tools to choose from, with the most commonly used being text and comments. You can also highlight text and give feedback as a comment that appears in a panel next to the submission.
To view the tool properties simply select the tool and click in the submission, if available a secondary menu appears beneath the black toolbar.
F. Drawing, Brush, and Eraser: Draw freehand on the submission with various colors, thickness, and opacity.
Use the dropdown arrow to select the eraser to remove annotations. You can erase parts of a freehand drawing with the eraser or select the Delete icon to delete the whole drawing.
G. Image or Stamp: Choose a preloaded stamp or create your own customized stamp or image to add to the submission.
H. Text: Add text directly on the submission. You can move, edit, and change the text and select the font, size, alignment, and color of the text.
I. Shapes: Click on the down arrow beside the Line tool to view other shapes you can add including: Arrow, Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, and Polyline. Us ethe secondary toolbar to change the color, width, opacity, and more.
J. Comment: Provide feedback in comments. Click on the Comments icon, then click inside the submission. Add your text and press the purple arrow to save the comment.
Your comments appear in a panel next to the submission.
K. Print: Print the submission with the annotations.
L. Download: Download the submission with the annotations
M. Search: Search the submission for specific text.
N. Content Library: Create a bank of reusable comments. You can add, edit, delete, and search comments in the library. Select the bars icon to reveal the Content Library.
Click the plus sign to add a new comment to the Content Library.
This opens up the Add comment dialogue box, type in the comment, select or add a category, and click on Add comment.
The comment will now appear in the content library, click on the three dots to reveal the context menu with allows you to Place comment, Copy to Clipboard, Edit, or Delete. Select Place comment and then click in the submission to place the comment
Then click the purple arrow to save the placement of the comment.
In-text editing using the context menu
Use the context menu to highlight, strike-through, underline, squiggle and comment.
Select your text and use the first button to highlight:
Clicking on the highlighted text brings up a secondary menu that allows you to change the colour of the highlight.
Select the text and select the second button to strike-through, click on the selection to reveal the secondary menu to change the colour of the line.
Select the text and click on the third button to underline, click the underline text to change the colour of the line.
Selecting the text and clicking the (fifth) comment button will highlight the text and open a comment window, add your comment and click the purple arrow to save the comment.
When you have finished adding feedback, your annotations, text and other files are saved on the page. You can return to review or continue to add more if you wish.
Some browsers' built-in PDF viewer may not display all your annotations. Please view annotated PDFs in a native PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat.
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Centre for Digital Learning Enhancement
ulster.ac.uk/learningengancement/cdle