How do I create a group assignment in Bongo?

In a Group Assignment in Bongo students can submit video and content as a group. They can do this synchronously or asynchronously —

NOTE: The Bongo groups must be set up in Bongo (Canvas groups cannot be transferred into Bongo)

If needed, create a Bongo "sign-in" assignment

If your students have not yet accessed an Individual Bongo assignment from your Canvas course, they must do so before you give them a group Bongo assignment. The reason for this is that Bongo needs to create a student roster by having students access an individual assignment.

So, if your students have not yet accessed Bongo from the Canvas course, create a "sign-in" assignment, i.e. an individual Bongo assignment which students will click into, and submit a simple reply (such as their name).

See: How do I create an individual assignment in Bongo?

Once that's done, you'll be able to see the complete student roster in Bongo, and set up the group assignment.

To avoid needing a sign-in assignment, select either "Learners can choose their own group." or "Automatically put learns into Groups."

Create the Bongo group assignment as follows:

In the Canvas course, create an assignment

  1. Enter a Title for the Assignment.  It must be unique to all your other course assignment titles and cannot be changed once the assignment has been saved.
  2. Add a Point Value for the assignment

Set the Submission Type

  1. Choose External Tool as the Submission Type
  2. Click Find and select Bongo Learn from the external tool list
  3. Check Load This Tool In A New Tab

Complete and save the assignment information in Canvas:

  1. Enter Due, Available from, and Until dates. You will also need to set the identical due date in Bongo.
  2. Click Save. Remember to click Save & Publish once you have set up the assignment in Bongo.

To finish setting up the assignment in Bongo view the assignment in Canvas, and load Bongo by clicking the gray button

Once in the Bongo site, set up the group assignment as follows —

In the "Add Course Content" window choose "Assignment"

In the "Add an Assignment" window choose "Group"

Click General in the left-hand panel to set up the assignment

Bongo

Add assignment instructions

Bongo
  1. The assignment name will be carried over from Canvas. Do not change this setting.
  2. Add a due date and time. This is set independently from the Canvas due date. (Students can submit after the Bongo due date.) If you set a Canvas due date we suggest you ensure that both the Canvas and Bongo due dates are identical.
  3. Enter text instructions for the assignment (required). 
  4. In the Instructions section, click on the camera icon to add a video prompt (optional).

Select Evaluation from the Left-Hand Panel

Select Evaluation Type

NOTE: The evaluation types with a 3-diamonds logo next to them use a form of AI grading and evaluation. Tufts does not recommend the use of these grading tools at this time.

Bongo

ETS recommends matching your evaluation type and total points to those you indicated when creating the Canvas Assignment.

NOTE: If you select Peer Review the professor will not have the ability to grade the assignment at all. If you want to give the students a grade and do peer review, turn on 'Peer Review' from the left-hand panel.

Evaluation type: Rubric

Bongo

If you choose rubric as your evaluation type, you must either select a rubric you have already created in Bongo or create a new rubric.

NOTE: If you want students to do peer-review with a rubric, the evaluation type selected MUST also be set to "Rubric". The same rubric will be used for both the instructor's evaluation and the peer review.

Select AI Feedback in the Left-Hand Panel

Bongo

Turn off AI Feedback

NOTE: The AI Feedback tool is is enabled for each Bongo assignment by default.  This feature may not work well for students speaking in accented English, or who are neurodiverse.

For these reasons ETS strongly recommends that you turn AI Feedback off.

See: Bongo Auto Analysis

Select Group Options from the Left-Hand Panel

Bongo

Choose your group management method

Bongo

If using "Team Evaluation" turn the feature on and choose the students' grading method

Bongo

Team Evaluation Type: Rubric

Students can be graded with 5 stars or with a rubric

Bongo

If you opt for team evaluation with a rubric, you can choose the same rubric you chose for grading the assignment, or choose a different rubric.

NOTE: Comments made by peers about other peers are anonymous to their group members unless you share them with the students after the assignment. If you plan to share the comments, you should inform students prior to the team evaluation.

Select Toolset from the Left-Hand Panel

Bongo

Choose which tools you want your students to have access to for their submissions

Bongo

Select Peer Review from the Left-Hand Panel

If using Peer Review Toggle on

For more information on the Peer Review settings see: How Do I Customize Peer Review in Bongo?

Click "Save" to save the group assignment settings

Look for a confirmation that the assignment was created

Bongo

On the Assignment Overview page click "Manage Groups"

This will only be required if you selected 'Instructor Managed' in Group Options

Click "Create Group"

If you have opted to add students to groups manually, you can create additional groups and add students to them.

Add students manually to groups if you chose that option

  1. Click the student's name so that a green circle-check appears
  2. Click "ADD"
  3. When all the students are in groups, click "Save".  Note that the Canvas "Test Student" will be in your list of students to assign to groups.

REMINDER: All of your students must have already accessed Bongo from your Canvas course before their names can appear on a student list for a group Bongo assignment.

To accomplish this be sure to give students an individual "sign-in" assignment in Bongo before giving them a group assignment.

Group Project resource for students

This user guide for students explains how to complete a group project in Bongo:

See: How to Complete a Group Project