City University of New York



Department of Instructional Technology & Media Services

Blackboard Grade Book

Creating a Test

• In the Assessment section of the Control Panel, click the Test Manager.

• Click the Add Test [pic]button.

• Enter a name for the test in the Name box.

• Enter a description and instructions in the Test Information section.

• Click the [pic] button.

• Click the arrow on the Add box and select a question type from the resulting menu.

• Click the Go button.

• Enter text for the question in the Question Text box.

• Enter a value for the question in the Point Value box.

• Enter or select other options.

• Click the Next button, if applicable, and click the [pic]button.

• To add additional questions, repeat above steps

• When you are finished, click the [pic]button.

Note: The test will not be available to students until it is added to a content area.

Examples of some question types:

Either/ Or-Gives you choices, such as yes or no.

Opinion Scale/ Likert- Create a rating scale such as disagree, agree, agree strongly.

Hot Spot- Select an area from an image that you upload.

Adding a Test to a Content Area

• From the Content Areas section of the Control Panel select the content area you want to add the test to.

• Click the [pic]button.

• In the Add Test box, select the test you want to make available.

• Click the [pic] button and click the [pic] button. Click the Modify the Test option.

• In the Test Availability section, select Yes next to Make the link available.

• Optional: Select the test availability options.

• Click the [pic]button and click the [pic] button. Click the [pic] button.

Grade Center

In your control panel, go to Assessment and grade center.

[pic]

Grades can be manually posted in columns, and student names automatically appear in rows.

Moving a row in the Grade Center

To move a row up or down in the Grade Center:

▪ Click Manage.

▪ Select Organize Grade Center from the Dropdown menu,

▪ Select the Grade Center row to be moved by clicking and holding any part of the row.

▪ Drag and Drop the row to the desired location.

▪ Click Submit to save changes.

[pic]

Adding gradable items as columns

When you build a quiz or gradable assignment in Blackboard or mark a discussion forum as gradable, the column is automatically added. If you want to add a column, do the following:

▪ In Grade Center, click Add Grade Column.

▪ Complete the information and options.

▪ Column name- name that your class will see

▪ Grade Center Display name- optional name you see

▪ Primary display- what students will see.

▪ Secondary display- optional for you to see

[pic]

▪ Fill out the description and Click[pic]

Adding Gradable Items to a Category

On the same screen for adding a Grade Center column, there is an option to place the gradable item in a category. Organizing by category allows you to filter and weight grades by category.

To create your own category: Click Manage > Categories > Add Category. Name the category, fill out the description, then click [pic]

[pic][pic]

You can only modify or remove categories that you create, not default ones.

Showing and Hiding Users

You can hide students from the Grade Center View to reduce the number of rows. Hidden users are not removed.

• Click Manage in the Grade Center.

▪ Select Show/Hide Users from the Dropdown menu.

▪ Check the users to be hidden.

▪ Click Hide Users.

▪ Click Submit.

[pic][pic]

Users that are hidden will appear grayed out on the Users page and will not appear in the Grade Center View.

To show hidden users:

▪ Click Manage in the Grade Center.

▪ Select Show/Hide Users from the Dropdown menu.

▪ Check the users to be shown.

▪ Click Show Users. [pic]

▪ Click [pic]

Full Grade Center View

You can modify, remove, hide, and show columns. These options will appear from a dropdown menu on the column heading, based on the information entered in the column (not all options will appear).

Removing Columns

If there are certain gradable items you no longer need in Grade Center, you can remove their columns. You cannot remove default columns (Name, Total, and Weighted Total) or automatically generated columns for tests and assignments. You have to remove the test or assignment from the course to remove the column from the Grade Center.

To remove items:

▪ In Grade Center, move your cursor over the gradable item heading and click the Dropdown menu.

▪ Click Remove Column.

▪ Click OK.

[pic]

Hiding and Showing Columns

To hide a column:

▪ Move the cursor over the column to be hidden.

▪ Click the double arrow to display the menu.

▪ Select Hide Column.

To show columns:

▪ Click Manage.

▪ Select Organize Grade Center from the dropdown menu.

▪ Select the check boxes of the Grade Center columns to be revealed. (They are grayed out.)

▪ Click Show/Hide. Click Submit.

[pic]

To change item order:

▪ In Grade Center, click the Dropdown menu beside Sort Columns By.

▪ Select how you want the columns sorted.

▪ Click OK.

[pic]

Creating smart views

You can create customized views to see the progress of individual students.

To create a smart view:

▪ From Grade Center, click the Manage Dropdown menu and choose Smart Views.

▪ Click Add Smart View. [pic]

▪ Select the type of view.

▪ Fill in the criteria.

▪ Click [pic]

[pic][pic]

To use a smart view, select the Smart View as the current view.

Working with Grades

To view grades for an item:

▪ In Grade Center, move your cursor over the cell you want to view and click the Dropdown menu.

▪ Click Grade Details.

[pic]

▪ Select the User arrows at the top of the page to scroll through each student’s details for this item.

Entering grades

You can enter grades for any items you manually mark.

To grade an assignment:

▪ In Grade Center, move your cursor over the cell with an exclamation mark and click the Dropdown menu

▪ Click Grade Details.

▪ Click View Attempt [pic]

▪ Review the student’s answers and enter scores.

▪ Enter a grade and any comments.

▪ Click [pic]

To override a student’s grade:

▪ In Grade Center, move your cursor over a cell and click the Dropdown menu

▪ Click Grade Details

▪ Click Override

▪ Enter the grade and any feedback or notes

▪ Click Save

.[pic]

When you override a grade, the original grade remains recorded in the Grade History of the Grade Details page.

Resetting test attempts

If an Internet connection fails, a student may email you to take the test again.

To reset attempts:

• In Grade Center, locate the student’s test score, move your cursor over the grade, and click the Dropdown menu.

• Click Grade Details.

• Click Clear Attempt [pic]

• Click OK.

Note: Only clear attempts once for each student or it could cause problems with other students.

Exempting a grade

Exempted assignments will not be included in the total score.

To exempt a grade:

▪ In Grade Center, locate the student and column you want to exempt.

▪ Click the Dropdown menu and choose Exempt Grade.

When you finish exempting a grade, it shows in Grade Center as grayed out.

[pic] [pic]

Customizing the letter grade schema

If you choose to display students’ scores as letter grades, the Grade Center letter grade schema converts the scores to letter grades. The default letter grade schema consists of letter grades from A+ to F and their corresponding percentage ranges. To customize the letter grade scheme, you do the following:

▪ Enter percentage ranges that convert scores to letter grades. These ranges are used when items are automatically graded.

▪ Enter percentages that correspond to letter grades. These percentages are used when calculating the Total columns.

Add a Grading Schema

Click Manage in the Action Bar of the Grade Center.

Select Grading Schema from the Dropdown menu.

Click Add Grading Schema.[pic] [pic]

Enter a Name for the Grading Schema.

Enter a Description for the Grading Schema.

Enter the Schema Mapping information. By default, any new grading schema will have two ranges of percentiles from 50% to 100% and from 0% (zero) to less than 50%.

Click the arrow to insert a new row into the schema to enter additional display values to the schema.

Click Submit to save the Grading Schema.

[pic]

Remove a Grading Schema

Instructors can remove the default Grading Schema only if they have made modifications to it. Grading Schemas in use do not have a Remove button. Removing a Grading Schema is permanent.

• Click Manage in the Action Bar of the Grade Center.

• Select Grading Schema from the Dropdown menu.

• Find the Grading Schema to delete and click Remove. [pic]

Downloading Grade Center to Excel

• Click Manage in the Grade Center.

• Select Download from the Dropdown menu.

[pic]

• Using the radio buttons, select the data to download:

• Select the file delimiter Tab or Comma. Comma-delimited files (.CSV) have data items separated by commas. Tab-delimited files (.XLS) have data items separated by tabs. Both can be opened in most editing software. XLS tab-delimited files can be opened directly in Excel. CSV comma-delimited files need to be imported for use in Excel. If you upload back into Blackboard, you need to save as a CSV file.

• Select whether to Include Hidden Information in the downloaded data. Hidden information includes columns and students that have been hidden from view.

[pic]

▪ Click [pic]

▪ Click [pic]

▪ Select the location for the download. Click save to finish the download.

▪ Open Excel and open the downloaded file

▪ You will be notified that the file will be in a different format and asked if you still want to continue. Click yes.

▪ Select “Delimited”, and click Next

▪ Select “Tab”, and click Next

▪ Select the Username column, select “Text” and click Finish

▪ Modify grades

▪ Make sure you save as Tab delimited

▪ If you don’t select these options, you will not be able to upload your grades back into Blackboard.

Exporting and Downloading the Grade History File

• In the Grade Center, click Grade History. [pic]

• Click Download from the Grade History page.[pic]

• Select the Delimiter Type for the file, either Comma or Tab

[pic]

• Select Yes to Include Comments or No to exclude them from the download.

• Click [pic]

• Click [pic] the save the file to a local machine.

Using the Early Warning System

• The Early Warning System allows you to warn students if there are potential problems with their performance in the course.

• In Control Panel, go to Assessment and click Early Warning System. Here, you can create a grade rule, a due date rule, or a last access rule.

• To create a warning based on grades, click the Grade Rule button.

• To create a warning based on due dates, click the Due Date Rule button.

• To create a warning based on course access, click the Last Access Rule button.

• Enter rule information and click the submit button.

• Activity: Click the Grade rule button.

[pic]

• Create a name for your rule (i.e., Failing grade rule)

• Select grade center item: Choose one of your grade center items from the drop down menu.

• Define criteria: we recommend that you leave this under "less than or equal to."

• Enter the score for your criteria.

• Click [pic] to finish.

• The rule will automatically show up in the Early Warning System.

• Note: Once a rule is created, you must refresh so that the new rule is applied to the student information. The early warning system does not apply changes automatically. You have to refresh for each change that you make to your rule.

• Delete a rule: click on the checkbox next to the rule and click the [pic] button.

[pic]

• To see which students fit the criteria for a warning, select the rule. All students will be listed, including

those which do not meet the warning criteria. Clicking on their user Id number will show a full report on which rules the student should receive a warning for. Click ok.

[pic]

[pic]

• Send Notification: Click the rule. Then, click the checkbox of student that you wish to notify. From the notify dropdown menu, select "Student users only" and click go.

[pic][pic]

• Here you may either use the default message or create one of your own. Check return receipt if you wish to have a copy of the email.

• Click submit. The student will receive the warning in their email.

[pic]

Note: This process may take up to ten minutes or more.

• Notification log- Click the [pic]button. This shows you which students have received a warning. Click ok.

Viewing Course Statistics

Note: Remember that statistics are only recorded after the tracking is made available (anything that happened before is not tracked).

• In the Assessment section of the Control Panel, click the Course Statistics.

• Click the arrow on the Select Report box and select a report type.

• Optional: Enter start and end date information in the Time Period section.

• Optional: To view statistics on a specific user, select Selected Users and select the user.

• Click the Submit button.

• Click the OK button to exit the Course Statistics page.

Using the Performance Dashboard

• The Performance Dashboard displays user activity for the course.

• In the Assessment section of the Control Panel, click the Performance Dashboard.

• Optional: To print the Performance Dashboard, click the Print button. Right-click in the window that appears and select Print from the resulting menu.

• Optional: To view additional information for a user, click the links or buttons in the Review Status, Adaptive Release, Discussion Board, Early Warning System, and View Grades columns.

• Click the [pic] button when you are finished viewing the information.

•

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