Grading

About the Gradebook (formerly called the Grade Center)

Flexible Grading

Blackboard Ultra includes a new Flexible Grading interface to support grading by question, student, or a mix and match approach. Flexible grading is an optimized grading experience that provides instructors with the flexibility to grade in their preferred style. With flexible grading, you can:

Easily review the status of your grading tasks and prioritize your time where it is needed most.
Provide inline, multimedia feedback direct to students.
Easily access grading rubrics, anti-plagiarism checkers, and more as you work through your grading tasks.

To learn more about Flexible Grading, see the Grade Tests with Flexible Grading or the Grade Assignments with Flexible Grading help articles.

Navigate Grading

See the Navigate Grading help article for more information and instructions for the following:

Access the Gradebook

See what you need to grade in all your courses. Or, drill right into a course and get started. You can find grades through the left-hand navigation or from the Gradebook tab in a course.

See the Navigate Grading help article or view the Gradebook Overview video for details on the grading interface.

View Gradable Items

The Gradable Items list is your default view of the course gradebook. You can view all the coursework you have assigned and your grading progress. You can also access the management functions.

You can switch to the Students tab to view an overall picture of each student’s engagement.

See the View Gradable Items help article for information.

View Student Engagement From the Gradebook

View information about your students and their engagement in your course from the gradebook's Students tab. Open the gradebook and select Students.

See the View Students Engagement from the Gradebook help article for information.

Send Messages from the Gradebook

From the student list, you can send a message to anyone involved with your course. Select the three-dot options menu at the right end of a student row. Select the Message Student option. The Message panel will open at the right side of the screen.

See the Send Messages from the Student List View help article for information.

Add Accommodations from the Student List View

You can set accommodations for individual students. You can exempt students from assessment due dates or time limits. Use accommodations to help students progress in the course even though they may have difficulty with some requirements.

Select the three dot options menu at the right end of a student row. Select the Accommodations option. The Accommodations panel will open at the right side of the screen.

See the Assessment Exceptions help article for more information.

Use the Student Grid View

The student grid displays the scores students have earned. Select the grid view icon in the Gradebook. Select a cell to begin grading.

If more than one student has the same name, select a student's profile picture. A pop-up profile card displays the student's ID. Duplicate names are ordered by ID.

If you hid student names for assessments without questions, you’ll see Anonymous in each student’s cell. You can’t assign or edit grades.

See the Anonymous Grading help article for more information.

Search the Gradebook

In grid view, you can narrow your view to show only one student's row, one column, or an entire category, such as assignments.

In the search box, type one or more characters. The search results include all students, columns, and categories that match, in that order. Make a selection from the list or refine your search.

For example, you can search for a specific student by name or ID and focus on that student's attempts and grades. You can also share grades with the student in a live office session. The grades for other students are protected and privacy is maintained.

See the Search the Gradebook help article for details.

Update Gradebook Settings

From your course gradebook, you can add or make changes to your existing settings to fit your grading methods. Select the Settings icon to access the Gradebook Settings panel.

Download and Upload Grades

You can download the full gradebook or select columns from your Ultra courses. You can export the file in a comma-delimited (CSV) or tab-delimited (XLS) format. You choose whether to save the file to your device or the Content Collection. Select the Download grades icon in the Gradebook.

You can import your downloaded file into an application such as Microsoft ®Excel® to do statistical analysis or other ad hoc computational work.

You can also upload a grade file you worked on offline and update your gradebook.

See the Download Grades from the Gradebook help article for more information.

Assign Automatic Zeros

You can choose to automatically assign zeros to missing work past the due date. Students and groups can still submit work after an automatic zero is assigned. Then, you can grade as normal.

In the Gradebook, select the Settings icon to access the Gradebook Settings panel. Select the Assign automatic zeros for past due work check box. This setting is enabled by default in new courses.

After you enable this setting, you do not have to go through your gradebook to manually assign zeros. The automatic zeros setting applies to these graded items:

Assignments and group assignments
Tests and group tests
Graded individual and group discussions

The automatic zeros setting doesn't apply when you collect submissions offline. You manually create the student attempts and submission dates and times.

Filter How You View the Gradebook

Filter your gradebook view by users, groups, items, and categories. The filters applied can also be bookmarked and accessed later.

You can also move back and forth among the students’ submissions that are included in the selected filters.

Take Attendance

Many instructors who teach face-to-face and blended courses use attendance data as part of their students' overall grades. Also, some institutions and programs have attendance policies that require instructors to track the number of class meetings students have missed.

Instructors and institutions also use attendance data in these ways:

International students who must maintain visas may need to meet attendance requirements.
Institutions may need to prove “seat time” for federal funding or accreditation.
Many institutions and instructors use attendance as they focus on student retention.

For each class meeting, you can mark whether a student is present, late, absent, or excused. The attendance records for each student appear in a single column next to other grades. On the Attendance page, profile pictures appear so you can easily identify students.

You can use attendance as part of grade calculations just as you can for an assignment grade column.

See the Attendance help article for more information.

Grade Columns

The gradebook is populated with students when they're enrolled in your course. You'll see all the coursework that's specific to the course you're in. You can grade coursework, manage items, and post grades.

The Gradable Items list is your default view of the course gradebook. You can view all the coursework you've assigned and your grading progress. You can also access all management functions. You can rearrange items from this view. You can switch to the Students tab to view an overall picture of each student’s engagement.

The student grid shows the scores students have earned. Student names appear in each row and columns display graded items. You can grade and manage items in the grid view.

See the Grade Columns help article for information on creating and editing grade columns.

Grade Schemas

When you grade an item, a numeric score appears as the grade by default. Grades appear in the Grades page, in the Gradebook or Grades tab in each course, with the graded items for students, such as assignments and tests. Got to the Gradebook Settings to make changes to the default grading schema.

The calculation schema displays grades as points, letters (A, B, C), or a percentage with the grading schema you choose for each graded item. The schema takes the points scored on an item and compares it to the item's total points possible to derive a percentage. This percentage is mapped to a range of scores and displays a grade, such as a letter.

In the Ultra Course View, each course has one default grading schema. You can't create new schemas at this time.

See the Grading Schemas help article for more information.

Grading Tasks

Assign Grades

You can choose where you want to start grading! In the list where your name appears, you have immediate access to all your grading tasks on the global Grades page. In a course, you can access the course gradebook on the navigation bar. You can see who has made submissions and start grading. You're also alerted in the activity stream when student submissions are ready for grading.

Want to see how many items are ready to grade in all your courses? In the list where your name appears, you have immediate access to all your grading tasks on the global Grades page. All your grading tasks are organized by course. You can quickly scan your progress, set priorities across the board, and even begin grading. No need to navigate to each course to see what's ready for grading.

The page only displays information if you need to take action. You see items that are ready to grade or which items are overdue for how many students.

Want to narrow your focus? In a course, you can access the course gradebook on the navigation bar. You can see who has made submissions and start grading.

From the activity stream, you're alerted when student submissions are ready for grading. Select the link to go to the gradebook. Or, select the item on the Course Content page to see how many students have made submissions.

See the Assign Grades help article for more information.

Blackboard Annotate

You can use Bb Annotate for inline grading in your courses. Bb Annotate offers a more robust feature set to provide customizable feedback to students. Features include a sidebar summary view, freehand drawing tools, various color selections, and much more.

See the Bb Annotate Overview video for more information.

Calculate Grades

You can easily add calculations to your course gradebook. A calculation is a formula that produces a numerical result used to view or assign grades, usually based on other graded items.

You can create your own formulas and use common arithmetic operations, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and use group operators (parentheses).

You can add calculations based on the average, total, maximum, or minimum of the variables you include, such as categories, graded items, and other calculations. For example, add a calculation that displays the average of all assignments so students have an overall picture of their performance. You can add as many calculations as you need.

In the Ultra Course View, each course has one default grading schema used for grades and calculations. You can't create new schemas at this time, but you can make changes to the default schema.

See the Calculate Grades help article for more information.

Override Grades

Override grades are grades you assign manually, for example, if you type in the grade pill in the gradebook. An override label appears next to the grade.

If you allow multiple attempts, when you manually edit the final grade for an item, you're assigning an override grade.

You can only override the final grade, not the grades for each attempt. An override grade takes precedence over all other grade entries, including attempts a student submits after you assign an override grade. Also, if you re-grade a question, that re-graded score is applied to the attempt score. If you manually change the grade for the assessment in the gradebook, the re-graded score doesn't change the override score.

If you go on to grade another attempt after you manually changed the final grade, the override grade still supersedes the second attempt grade you assign. You may want to deduct points after a student has made all attempts or the due date has passed.

If you override a grade with an associated rubric, the override grade appears in the rubric's grade pill. When you view the content, the Rubric Details panel states that the grade is overridden.

See the Override Grades help article for more information.

Work Offline with Grade Data

You can download the full gradebook or select columns from your Ultra courses. However, items with anonymous grading enabled can't be selected and won't be included in the downloaded file. Select the Download grades icon in the Gradebook.

You can export the file in a comma-delimited (CSV) or tab-delimited (XLS) format. You choose whether to save the file to your device or the Content Collection.

You can import your downloaded file into an application such as Microsoft® Excel® to do statistical analysis or other ad hoc computational work.

These columns are included in a downloaded file:

Last name, first name, and username
Student ID, last access, and availability
Grade columns
Attendance
Manually added items
Calculations

See the Work Offline with Grade Data help article for more information.

My Grades

The My Grades page allows students to view posted grades and the status of gradable items. When a student accesses My Grades via the Global Navigation menu they see grade information from all courses in one location. My Grades may include item names, details, due dates, student and instructor dates of activity, posted grades, points possible, links to rubrics used for grading and instructor's comments about the items.

As an instructor you will not see any information if you click on My Grades in a course, just the message "Users with your role do not have personal grades". Instructors can use Student Preview mode to access My Grades and see the student view of grades in their course.

There are three ways for students to access the My Grades page: From inside a course 1) click My Grades on the left course menu, 2) click Student Tools on the course menu then My Grades. To see grades for all courses 3) access the Blackboard Global Navigation Menu (click your name in the upper right) and click the My Grades icon.

Visit Blackboard's Grades page or view the Check Grades video to provide information to your students about accessing their grades.

Rubrics

Rubrics can help ensure consistent and impartial grading and help students focus on your expectations.

A rubric is a scoring tool you can use to evaluate graded work. When you create a rubric, you divide the assigned work into parts. You can provide clear descriptions of the characteristics of the work associated with each part, at varying levels of skill.

Students can use a rubric to organize their efforts to meet the requirements of the graded work. When you allow students access to rubrics before they complete their work, you provide transparency into your grading methods.

Grade with a rubric

After you create a rubric and associate it with an assessment or discussion, you can use it for grading. The assignment, test, or discussion page displays the rubric you chose. You may associate only one rubric to each item.

Select the Submissions link to begin grading. On the Submissions page, select student names to access their individual submissions and the rubric.

See the Grade with Rubrics help article or view the Grade Using a Rubric video for more information.

Grading Analytics

Grade History

It is important for instructors to be able to track any changes made to grades in a course for audit purposes. The grade history records provide a useful audit trail helpful for addressing, for example, student questions and grade challenges. You can download them from the gradebook.

See the Grade History help article for more information and instructions to see the grade history.

Question Analysis

Question analysis provides statistics on overall performance, assessment quality, and individual questions. This data helps you recognize questions that might be poor discriminators of student performance. Question analysis is for assessments with questions. You can run a report before all submissions are in if you want to check the quality of your questions and make changes.

Uses for questions analysis:

Improve questions for future assessments or to adjust credit on current attempts
Discuss assessment results with your class
Provide a basis for remedial work
Improve classroom instruction

See the Question Analysis help article for more information.

Blackboard/Campus Connection Grade Import

The Blackboard/Campus Connection Grade Import now works in Ultra courses.

Blackboard/Campus Connection Grade Import allow the instructor of record to import term-based final grades from their Blackboard course(s) directly into Campus Connection. The option provides a one-way transfer of data and will help to ensure a secure and accurate recording of grades from Blackboard to Campus Connection.

The "Overall Grade" column is what is used to pull the data from Blackboard to Campus Connection. This column has been pre-configured to be the default grade column to be used with the Campus Connection grade import. This column is not required to be used.