Using the Grade Center

You have the ability to store student grades within your Blackboard course sites. The Grade Center feature allows you to create entries based on each assignment and assessment, weight grades according to pre-determined values, and display grades to students in either numeric or letter values.

Students can view their grades within the My Grades section of Tools. Students can only see their own grades, although they can see a Class Average for each particular Gradebook item.

Adding New Grade Center Items

To create an entry in the Grade Center for storing values for an assignment or assessment, do the following:

  1. Log into Blackboard and proceed into your course site
  2. Click the Control Panel link
  3. Click the Grade Center link under the Assessment heading
  4. Click the Add Grade Column button
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  5. In the Column Name field, type the appropriate full name of the assignment
  6. In the Grade Center Display Name field, type the name to be displayed in Grade Center (optional)
  7. In the Description field, enter the description for the assignment (optional)
  8. In the Primary Display field, select which option should be used
    • Score: Displays the grade as a numerical value between 0 and the total number of "Points Possible" as selected in the previous step
    • Text: Displays the grade as a string of instructor assignable text up to 8 characters long
    • Percentage: Displays the grade as the percentage out of a total value of 100
    • Letter: Displays the grade using the standard A,B,C,D or F model. The grade, if calculated as a percentage, will display as an A if the percentage is between 100 - 91%, B if the percentage is between 90 - 81%, etc. To edit these values, see the Editing Letter Grade Values section below
    • Complete/Incomplete: Displays the grade as the nominal values Complete or Incomplete. Assignments designated Complete receive the maximum Points Possible value. Incomplete assignments will receive a value of zero
  9. In the Secondary Display field, select which option should be used as a secondary display.  This is done in relation to the first entered grade.  E.g. if Primary Display is Score, Secondary Display can show the Letter grade. This is an optional feature
  10. In the Points Possible field, enter the highest possible score on the assignment
  11. In the Date section select the appropriate date that the assignment is due (or the date when the assignment was announced).  The Creation Date is also saved
    gc2.png
  12. In the Options section, there are three different options for this grade item:
    • Include this Grade Center column from calculations (Selecting Yes will allow you to weight this column against your other grades)
    • Make this Grade Center column unavailable in My Grades (selecting Yes will allow students to see their own grades)
    • Show statistics for this column in My Grades (selecting Yes will display class average and median in the student gradebook for each column)
  13. Click the Submit button

Entering Grades

  1. In the Grade Center, select the hyphen beneath the column heading of the assignment to grade
    gc3.png
  2. This will create a text field to enter the grade in. Beneath the grades are also some options related to that specific assignment, including the points possible, the input type, and whether students can view the grade
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  3. After each grade entry, the Grade Center will confirm the entry with a pop-up dialog
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  4. Select OK button to submit the grade

Removing Unwanted Grade Items

 

  1. To the right of the column heading is a downward facing double-arrow.  Select this arrow to bring up the option menu for the Grade Center item (shown at right)
  2. Select Remove Column to remove the Grade Center item
  3. Click the OK button on the pop-up that appears to remove the Grade Center item

 

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Weighting Grades

Once you have your Grade Columns set up, the Grade Center can calculate a student's average. To set this up, see the steps outlined below:

  1. In your Grade Center, locate the Running Weighted Total column and click the downward facing double-arrow to bring up the option menu
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  2. Click Modify Column
  3. In the Grade Center Display Name field, type the name to be displayed in Grade Center (optional)
  4. In the Description field, enter the description for the assignment (optional)
  5. In the Primary Display field, select which option should be used
    • Score: Displays the grade as a numerical value between 0 and the total number of "Points Possible" as selected in the previous step
    • Text: Displays the grade as a string of instructor assignable text up to 8 characters long
    • Percentage: Displays the grade as the percentage out of a total value of 100
    • Letter: Displays the grade using the standard A,B,C,D or F model. The grade, if calculated as a percentage, will display as an A if the percentage is between 100 - 91%, B if the percentage is between 90 - 81%, etc. To edit these values, see the Editing Letter Grade Values section below
    • Complete/Incomplete: Displays the grade as the nominal values Complete or Incomplete. Assignments designated Complete receive the maximum Points Possible value. Incomplete assignments will receive a value of zero
  6. In the Secondary Display field, select which option should be used as a secondary display.  This is done in relation to the first entered grade.  E.g. if Primary Display is Score, Secondary Display can show the Letter grade. This is an optional feature
  7. To set weights by individual items, select the items under the Columns to Select section and click the arrow to the right. This will add the selected item to the list on the right labeled Selected Columns. Enter the percentage amounts for each item. NOTE: The Sum of the percentage values must equal 100%
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  8. To set weights by categories, select the categories under the Categories to Select section and click the arrow to the right. This will add the selected category to the list on the right labeled Selected Columns. Enter the percentage amounts for each category as well as the options of dropping grades
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  9. In the Options section, there are three different options for this grade item:
    • Include this Grade Center column from calculations (Selecting Yes will allow you to weight this column against your other grades)
    • Make this Grade Center column unavailable in My Grades (selecting Yes will allow students to see their own grades)
    • Show statistics for this column in My Grades (selecting Yes will display class average and median in the student gradebook for each column)
  10. Click the Submit button

Editing Letter Grade Values

  1. From within the Grade Center, select the Manage button
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  2. Select the Grading Schemas menu option
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  3. Click the Modify button for the Letter grading schema (all courses have this schema by default)
  4. Enter the percentage values into the appropriate fields for converting numeric values to letter grades for your students
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  5. Click the Submit button