Grade Details Page in Blackboard

The Grade Details page is a powerful tool that can be used to manage individual grades for specific users.

How to View Grade Details

1. Visit the Full Grade Center in your course.
2. Locate the grade cell for a student's work for which you wish to view Grade Details.
3. Click the action link in the cell, then click View Grade Details.

Tabs on the Grade Details Page

There are four tabs arranged horizontally on the Grade Details page (see #2 in the image below - click image to expand): Attempts, Manual Override, Column Details, and Grade History.

1. The Attempts tab lists all submitted attempts. This tab is what you will see when you first enter Grade Details. You can view each attempt's submission date, feedback, and grading notes to yourself. The functions available on this page are detailed below.
2. On the Manual Override tab, you can assign a new grade for an item. Type a new grade in the Override Grade box. You can also provide Feedback to User and Grading Notes
3. The Column Details tab presents information about a Grade Center column such as name, description, primary display, and average score.
4. On the Grade History tab, the two most recent actions appear by default. Select View Complete History to see more.

Functions Available on Grade Details - Attempts

The following functions can be accessed on the Attempts tab.

Exempt

• What is it? You can exempt a grade from a student's record and the grade is ignored in all Grade Center calculations. The grade cell will display the Exempt icon. You can also apply an exemption before a grade is assigned. If you assigned a grade and then exempted it, the grade remains available on the Grade Details page.
  • You can exempt a grade from the Grade Details page or from the grade cell in the grade center.
  • You can clear the exemption with the Clear Exemption option found by clicking the action link in the grade cell (NOT on the Grade Details page).
• This button appears near the top of the Attempts page. See #1 in the image above.
• When to use it? Use the exempt grade feature under special circumstances to ensure an assignment column doesn't contribute to a specific student's total grade. Convenient when a student has been excused from an activity or assessment.
• When NOT to use it? Do not use to disregard erroneous or multiple submissions. Ignore is best for these.

Clear Attempt

• • What is it? Clears any Assignment submission or test attempts. This action is irreversible: It ERASES student submissions entirely. Proceed with caution.
    • See #3 in image above for Clear Attempt location.

• Why use it? Use this ONLY to completely erase a student's attempt on a given assignment.
• When to use it? Instructors sometimes clear a student's attempt so that the student can submit another attempt on a test, assignment, etc. However, clearing attempts should be a last resort and not a standard practice.
• An alternative to using Clear Attempt is to provide a second attempt exception for the student and use ignore attempt.

Ignore Attempt

• What is it? Ignore attempt treats the work as if it were not counted. However, the work is not deleted or removed from Blackboard. This is considered far better than Clear Attempt, since Clear Attempt actually deletes student work.
  • See #4 in image above for Ignore Attempt location.
• Why use it? When a student makes more than one submission for an assignment, even though you grade one of those submissions, the other remains in the Needs Grading status. Ignore attempt will remove the redundant submission from the Needs Grading status.

Revert

• What is it? Used to remove manually entered grades.
  • This option only appears if a manual override grade has been assigned. It will appear near the top of the Attempts page.
• Why use it? It is good practice to zero out (assign a zero to work that has not been submitted -- the zero is assigned directly in the grade column) any work that a student has not submitted to maintain accurate running grades. The zero is entered directly in the grade column. However, if a student turns in work after you have zeroed out that grade, you will need to revert the zero before the score assigned when you graded the work will appear in the grade center.
• When to use it? Based on the scenario above, use Revert if a zeroed out grade remains in the grade center after you assign a score to student work. If you zero out cells after a due date has passed and you accept late work, you'll need to revert the manually entered score so you can grade and provide feedback for the late attempt.

Allow Additional Attempt

• What is it? If a student submits the maximum number of attempts, Allow Additional Attempt appears so that you can permit another submission. The button will appear at the bottom of the page.
• Why use it? Sometimes a student submits the wrong file, or sometimes you want a student to submit a revision. Whatever the case, you can use this button to allow an additional submission.

Note on Manually Grading in Grade Columns

Scores in Blackboard should only be manually entered when there's been no submission (a zero) or when coursework is completed outside of Blackboard such as in-class activities or assignments written and turned in by hand.

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