Manage the Blackboard Grade Center

For all activities created using Bb tools, maintain short, clear naming conventions so Grade Center column titles are consistent and readable:

Readable: Wk.1 Case Study – Ethics

Won’t Fit: First Week Case Study, Ethics in and Around the Workplace

Column names can be changed from the grade center, but the new title is only visible to instructors.

• Select Column Action link
• Choose Edit Column Information

• Item Name- Automatically generated by the activity.
• Change by editing the tool--Test, Discussion, Assignment
• Grade Center name - Editable in Grade Center, but only seen by instructor

Create course activities using Bb discussion, assignment or other tools. Anything with points automatically creates a column which populates the Grade Center.

Example

Let's say you want to create weekly graded discussion activities. Go to the Discussion Board, create a forum, title it and include points. You can create all the discussions in advance (hiding future weeks) or create them as you go. Each forum will add a column to the grade center.

Instructors teaching F2F courses may assign in-class activities that are turned in offline. In order to to track scores and align outcomes for these activities, it's easy to create Grade Center columns.

To create columns for F2F activities

• Go to Full Grade Center
• Select Create Column

Configure column for F2F activities

• Name column
• Set display and points or link rubric
• Set due date

Align outcomes to column

• Click Action link
• Add outcome alignments

Sort and Grade

• Click column name at top to toggle sort
• Click in cell to enter score

With several weeks of representational graded activities created—tests, assignments, discussions—arrange the corresponding columns in the Grade Center.

• Go to full Grade Center
• Select Manage
• Column Organization.

• Use the Show me how this screen works button
• Drag columns with handles

Organization Strategies

There are many ways to organize your columns. The two most useful to students are Chronological and Categorical.

There are two ways to hide columns. One hides from Grade Center & instructor, the other hides from students. Confusing these can wreak havoc.

Hiding from Grade Center

Not recommended for any columns with the exception of unused institutional columns.

1. In Manage/Column Organization
2. Select columns
3. Choose Show/Hide
4. Hide selected

Hiding Columns from students

Hiding columns from students is a recommended practice for unreleased activity and assignment columns. Seeing the entire Grade Center before seeing the coursework can be overwhelming to online students and result in unnecessary emails to instructors.

• Select column action link
• Choose Hide from students
• Confirm column is hidden

External Grade Column

The External Grade (green check) column may be seen in areas of Blackboard outside your course. Only one column from the Grade Center can be set as external and that should be your working Calculated Total Column. Here's how to set external grade:

1. Select Column Action Link
2. Choose Set as External Grade
3. Confirm Column has green check

The Catch

Every time you copy your course into a new shell, Blackboard automatically generates a new Total column (set as External grade) and weighted total column in addition to your correct total column for each course. In your new term ID Shell, enter the Grade Center and reset your original, accurate total column as External Grade before deleting the new auto-generated Total and Weighted Total Column.

Deleting columns in the grade center is a quick process with the exception of the following:

• The External column
• Columns that were generated by a tool with points

To delete the External column

• Set another column as External (see topic above for more info)
• Delete unwanted column

Delete Other Columns

Columns that have been generated by creating a graded activity can't be deleted on their own. This protects columns associated with student work and scores. To remove an unwanted column associated with an activity, the activity must be deleted. In the screenshot, you can see the column doesn't offer the delete option. It was auto-generated by a Bb activity with points.

To delete columns auto-generated from a Bb tool (Assignment, Test, Discussion, etc) :

• Find the assignment (here it's a Discussion)
• Delete the assignment. You'll be prompted to delete the grade column. (Note that if any student activity has taken place, submissions and scores will also be deleted, so beware.)