Master the Grade Center in Blackboard Learn For

Working with Grade Center • The Student Perspective: My Grades • The Grade Center interface • Working with Categories • Grade Columns Settings and Grade Details • About Calculated Columns • Understanding the Running Totals setting • Grading Schemas • Keep it Simple: The 1000 Point Grading Method • Export Grade Center to Excel • Grade Center Reports & Grade History • Grade Center Tips and Troubleshooting 2

Introductions INSTRUCTOR INTRODUCTION PARTICIPANT INTRODUCTIONS Let’s go quickly around the room. You may want to take note of others in this session who teach at your college or in your discipline—maybe you can get together later to share ideas or help answer each other’s questions!. Please share: • Your name • Where you teach • What subjects you teach • Have you taught a fully-online or hybrid course 33

Internal & External Resources RESOURCE LINK Blackboard Learn Faculty Orientation Course Community College faculty are enrolled when at least one of your courses is migrated to Bb Learn. CSU faculty can be enrolled into this selfpaced course upon request (contact Tobi Krutt at BOR—tkrutt@commnet. edu Conn. SCU Ed. Tech Training You. Tube channel http: //www. youtube. com/ctccedtechtraining On Demand Learning Center – video tutorials that can help supplement your users get trained. http: //ondemand. blackboard. com/ Link Student Support site https: //websupport. ct. edu/ 4

Just in Time Support Resources Clicking the “Help” at the top of the Blackboard window takes users to the Conn. SCU Student Support Site. When using a tool such as Discussions, Assignments, Tests, click “More Help” if you need details about properties and settings. 5

Technology in Support of Instructional Best Practices This session WON’T: Tell you what or how to teach. This session WILL: Help you translate what you are already doing in the classroom into an online environment. Many instructors find that the same techniques used in an online course environment can be used just as effectively in the classroom as well. 6

Technology in Support of Instructional Best Practices Many of us in higher education are familiar with Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education by Chickering and Gamson, (1991). Recently, an updated set of evidence-based principles has emerged (Ambrose, et. al. , 2010) that in some cases clarify and in other respects expand upon Chickering and Gamson’s principles. These new seven researchbased principles are: • Learners’ prior knowledge can help or hinder learning. • How learners organize knowledge influences how they learn and apply what they know. • Learners’ motivation generates, directs, and sustains what they do to learn. • To develop mastery (expertise), learners must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know when to apply what they have learned. • Goal-directed practice coupled with targeted feedback enhances the quality of learning. • Learners’ current level of development interacts with the social, emotional, and intellectual climate to impact learning. • To become self-directed, learners must develop the skills to monitor and adjust their approaches to learning. Specifically, they must learn to: Assess the demands of the task Evaluate their own knowledge and skills Plan their approach Monitor their progress Adjust their strategies as needed Ambrose, S. , Bridges, M. , Lovett, C. , Di. Pietro, M. , and Norman, M. (2010). How Learning Works: Seven Research 7 Based Principles for Smart Teaching. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Create a “Test Student” You can now use the “Add Test Student” building block to create a “test student” in each of your Blackboard courses, so that you can interact with your course activities in a real student role. (Step by step instructions are in the Faculty Orientation Course in the “Getting Started” module. ) 8

Let’s Take a Look! You can work in one of your actual courses via my. Comm. Net if you wish, OR you can use a generic training course and login using the instructions below. Login Instructions to the “backdoor” of the PROD server: 1. Enter the following address into your browser: https: //learn. ct. edu/ 2. Login Using your assigned training account credentials: • Username: sotraining 1, sotraining 2, or college-specific accounts • Password: exactly the same as your username 9

Sample Grading Schema Tool Used Graded Activity (Category) Number of items Weight % OR total points if 1000 pt system used Points per item Assignment Homework 15 30% 300 pts 20 pts Assignment Research Papers 2 15% 150 pts 75 pts Assignment Group Project 1 5% 50 pts Tests Chapter Quizzes 10 30% 300 pts 30 pts Tests Exams 2 (Midterm and Final 15% 150 pts 75 pts Discussions Chapter Discussions 5% 50 pts 5 pts 10 10

Let’s Prepare! Create a Learning Module and Assignment First, you need to create organizing structures and gradable activities in your practice sections. Carefully and quickly follow these instructions. 1. On the course menu, click the Course Content button. 2. Click the Build Content button and select learning module; name it Unit 1, then click Submit. 3. Click the Unit 1 learning module to open it. 4. Click Build Content, select content folder and name the folder Assignments. 5. Click the Assignments folder to open it. 6. Click the Create Assessment button and from the dropdown, select Assignment. 7. Create an assignment named U 1_Assign 1 8. • Assign it 25 points • Allow only a single attempt. • Click Submit. Your learning module should look the screenshot shown above right.

Let’s Prepare! Grade the Assignments • NOTE: Normally you would grade assignments that students have submitted by going to Control Panel>Grade Center>Needs Grading. HOWEVER, for the purposes of this exercise we’ll go to Control Panel>Grade Center>Full Grade Center and manually enter grades into the cells for the assignments we created. • (Trainers note: An alternative for this training session could be to have participants log in as Test Student and submit the assignments. )

Student Perspective: Accessing My Grades Students access My Grades from the Course Menu. Instructors can not view any information via the My Grades tool. 13

Student Perspective: Viewing Grades 14

My Grades Symbols to students - No information available, nothing submitted to date In Progress (saved as draft) Submitted and waiting to be reviewed by instructor; grading will be via rubric Nothing submitted but will be graded by rubric Bold blue hyperlink means “click me”—there’s more info available! 15

The Grade Center Interface • Instructors access the Grade Center from the Control Panel. • Needs Grading shows ALL gradable submissions • Full Grade Center shows all grade columns and allows you to manage and customize the view of Grade Center. • Note in the screenshot at left that the “Group Project” item is a “Smartview” that the user added to this menu. Smartviews are a good example of the way that Bb Learn enables users to customize the interface. 16

Default Columns – – – – Last Name First Name User Name Student ID Last Access - New Availability - New Weighted Total 17

The Default Columns Column Default settings Total Weighted Total Suggested use Sum of all items in grade columns. Displays a running For a quick indicator of student total. Can be edited by instructor. performance, change the display of the Total column to show the Calculated columns or categories NOT included. percentage. Ungraded items NOT included. Change by editing the column and toggling the setting to: do not Calculate as Running Total. Included in Smart Views > Final Grade View. Set as the External Grade column. This is the column used for the final grade. It is shared with the school as the student's grade for the course. Select any column as the External Grade column by clicking the column's Action Link and selecting Set as External Grade. Included as a placeholder for instructors who may want to weight data in grade or category columns. No default settings. You must edit the column to select the columns to include in the weight calculation. Included in Smart Views > Final Grade View. If the final grade for your course will be based on weighting items, edit the column to include the needed items and their weights and use it to calculate final grades. 18

Columns Are Automatically Created For… • Tests: Tests, self/peer assessments, and surveys (a checkmark in survey grade column indicates the survey was taken) • Assignments • Gradable Discussion forums and threads (gradable threads are new) • Gradable Blogs and Journals • Gradable Wikis In addition, grade columns can be created manually. Note: You cannot delete an automatically-created grade center column; you need delete the item that created it. If there are no student grades, the column will be deleted when you delete the graded item. If a student has been graded, you do not have the option to delete the graded item. You must first delete all student grades in order to delete the item and thus the associated column. 19

The Grade Center Interface Action Bar Note column filtering options! Grade Information Bar Grade Center 20

The Action Link dropdown If you need to check or change anything for a grade column, click the Action Link next to any Grade Center Column header to access the contextual menu. 21

Sorting Column Values • • • Click the column header to sort – you can toggle ascending/descending by reclicking the header. Use the dropdown menu next to the column heading and select the sort options. Use the Sort columns by buttons. 22

Sort Column Display Order 23

Your “Go To” button: Manage As you will see, many of the options available to you in Grade Center can be found by clicking the “Manage” button…

Manage > Grading Schemas – Grading schemas take the actual points scored from a graded item and compare it to the total points possible for that item to derive a percentage. This percentage maps a student's raw score to an alternative grade display such as a letter grade or a pass/fail evaluation. – If you choose to display students' scores as letter grades, the default letter schema is used to convert the scores to letter grades. – The default letter grade schema that will appear in all BLANK courses has been modified at the system level, and is based on letter grades from Board of Trustees policy (grades A to F). – Corresponding percentage ranges that appear by default have also been set based on input from faculty – You should NOT change the letter grades, but you CAN customize the point ranges to suit your own grading preferences. – Blackboard has told us that the Bb Learn DEFAULT SCHEMA will take precedence over what the instructor might have created in a Bb Vista course that’s been migrated. (We will be testing this in migrated courses. ) 25

Understanding the Letter Grade Schema It’s important to remember that the letter grade that is displayed to students is based on the PERCENTAGE of points earned out of total possible points, not on total points earned (Score). 26

Customizing the Letter Grade Schema 1. In Grade Center, on the Action Bar, click Manage to access the drop-down list. 2. Select Grading Schemas. 3. On the Grading Schemas page, click the Letter Action Link to access the contextual menu. 4. Select Edit. 5. On the Edit Grading Schema page, edit the Name, if desired, and add an optional Description. 6. In the Grades Scored Between text box, enter the percentage range for the letter grade. 7. In the Will Equal text box, enter the letter grade. 8. In the Will Calculate as text box, enter the percentage value to be used if a letter grade is entered manually. 9. Repeat steps for all letter grade values you want to edit. 10. Click Submit. 27

Customizing the Letter Grade Schema We recommend that you don’t change the letter grades in the default schema since the highest final grade awarded in the CT CC system is an “A. ” 28

Manage>Hiding and Showing Rows (Students) You can now hide withdrawn students!

Manage>Column Organization…to hide, re-order columns, change column categories, etc. Grey columns are frozen Access the Column Organization page by clicking Manage on the Action Bar to access the drop-down list. Best practice: Use short, consistent naming conventions for gradable activities and grade columns. This will make it easier to scan your Grade Center column headings. Select check boxes, click Show/Hide Drag the bar to change which columns are frozen Use the MOVE icon to drag items. 30

Hiding Columns from Instructors (in Grade Center) vs. hiding columns from Students (in My Grades) • Hiding a column in the Column Organization area does NOT hide it from students! It only hides it from YOU (the instructor) in the Grade Center. • To hide MOST (but not all!) columns from students in My Grades: 1. Select the Action Link next to the column head. 2. Select Show/Hide to Users. 31

Common questions about hiding Columns from Students in My Grades • Can I hide more than one column from students at a time? • No, unlike in Bb Vista, where you could “release” or “not release” multiple columns to students all at once, in Bb Learn you have to hide columns from students one at a time. • This is accomplished by going to the column heading, clicking the action links dropdown, and selecting “Show/Hide to users” (EXCEPT for the default Totals column, discussed in the next slide. ) • How do I know a column is hidden from students? • You will see a small icon to the left of the column heading that looks like a circle with a red forward slash through it. 32

Hiding the Default Totals Columns from Students • If you want to hide the default Totals column from students in My Grades: 1. Select the Action Link next to the column heading and select Edit Column Information. 2. Scroll down to the Options section and select the “No” radio button. 3. Click Submit. 33

Ignore “Set as External grade” option • You may notice the “Set as External Grade” option on the contextual menu for columns. By default, this is the automatically created “Total” column. • You do not need to worry about this because we do not integrate grading in Blackboard and Banner. Simply ignore this menu option. 34

Your Turn: Hide/Show a Grade Column to Students 1. Enter your practice course in which you are the instructor 2. Go to the full grade center. 3. Click the action links dropdown to the right of one of your grade columns (i. e. , an assignment or essay column). 4. Select “show/hide to users – since it was set to show by default this will HIDE the column from students. 5. You should see a small circle with a red line next to the column head. This icon indicates that the column will NOT be seen by students in My Grades. 6. Now reverse the process and once again SHOW the column to students. 35

Your Turn: Organize the Grade Center 1. Enter your practice course in which you are the instructor 2. Go to the full grade center and click Manage then Column Organization, and set the following columns frozen: – First Name – Last Access 3. Hide the following columns in the GRADE CENTER (remember this hides the columns from you, the instructor, NOT from students): • Availability • Student ID • Username 4. Hide one of the students and then unhide them. 5. Use the drag and drop capabilities to rearrange the columns. 6. Return to the Grade Center. 36

Manually Creating Grade Columns 1. In the Grade Center, click Create Column on the Action Bar. 2. On the Create Grade Column page, enter the Column Name and optional Description. 3. Select the Primary Display from the drop-down list. 4. Optionally, select a Category in which to include the column. Any custom categories that you’ve created will appear here. 5. In the Points Possible text box, enter the total points OR select/create a Rubric to use for grading. 6. Optionally, select the radio node next to Due Date and enter a date. 7. Select the radio nodes next to the desired Options. 8. Click Submit. Enter a brief, descriptive name. This becomes the column name in Grade Center, unless a shorter name or abbreviation is entered in the Grade Center Display Name text box. If you select a due date, this date can be used with the Retention Center to generate an alert if a test or assignment is not submitted on time. 37

Creating/Selecting a Grading Rubric to use with a manually created column • A Rubric is a tool that lists evaluation criteria for an assignment. Rubrics can help students organize their efforts to meet the requirements of an assignment. Instructors can use Rubrics to explain their evaluations to students. • Rubrics can be modified/edited as long as they are NOT associated or tied to a gradable item (assignment, discussion). Once it’s tied to an item you can no longer edit it. • For more information on how to create rubrics, visit the self-paced Blackboard Learn Faculty Orientation course, click SELF-PACED MODULES and then scroll to the module on Rubrics. 38

Your Turn: Manually Create Two Grade Center Columns Planning: – Think about two columns that you may use in your current course(s) that may not be created automatically by Blackboard. Tasks: 1. Create two columns & select appropriate settings: Essay 1 and Essay 2 a. In Grade Center, click Create Column. b. Complete the item information and options c. Assign BOTH columns to the custom Essay category you created earlier. d. Click Submit. 2. Reorganize the columns in the Organize Grade Center area so they’re not the last two columns in the Grade Center. 39

Your Turn: Enter grades into your manually created columns Grading a manually created column is easy! • Click into the top cell, enter the grade, then click the “Enter” button on your keyboard. • The grade you just entered will be saved and your cursor will skip down to the next grade cell, ready to accept the next grade. • Enter a grade of “ 22” and “ 24” into each of the two columns you created: Essay 1 and Essay 2. • No need to “Tab” through the cells. 40

About Calculated Columns • Average Column: Find the average of all grades in the columns or categories selected for inclusion. For example, if there are 5 tests in the Tests category, this type of column could total the scores, find an average based on the total number of tests, and drop the lowest grade in the “Tests” category. • Minimum/Maximum Column: Calculate a minimum or maximum grade based on all columns, columns in a specific grade period, or selected columns or categories. • Total Column: Total scores in grade columns, or by category (a “category” is a set of columns that have been put into a group), or a combination of both. An instructor might use TWO totals columns next to each other—one with the Primary Display set to show the student’s total score, and another with the Primary Display set to show the student’s Letter Grade based on their score. • Weighted Column: Weight grades by column, by category, or both. 41

Your Turn: Working with Totals Columns 1. In Full Grade Center, find the default column named “Total. ” 2. Click the column head’s action links dropdown and select Edit Column Settings. § In Column Name, rename the column “Total Score. ” § Set Primary Display as Score and Secondary Display as Percentage. § Leave Running Total as “Yes. ” § Click “Submit. ” 3. Next, click the Create Calculated Column button. 4. Select Total Column. • Name the new column “Letter Grade. ” § Set Primary Display as Letter and Secondary Display as Percentage. § Leave Running Total as “Yes. ” § Click “Submit. ” 42

Understanding the “Running Totals” Setting The “Running Totals” setting is available only in Calculated Columns (Average, Min/Max, Total, or Weighted): Select Yes to include only columns that have been graded: Example: There are have 4 exams and a student has taken only 3 of the 4 with grades 70, 89, 90, and Null. The student’s grade would be based on 70+89+90 / 3 = 83 Select No to include all items, including those not yet submitted or graded. Choosing “No” will substitute “zero” for null grades, so if “No” is selected, your students will see a very low grade until "null" grades have been submitted/graded. Example: There are 4 exams and a student has taken 3 of the 4 with grades 70, 89, 90, and Null (counted as “ 0”. The student’s grade would be based on 70+89+90+0 / 4 = 62. 25 43

Grade Center Example: Running Total = “Yes” 44

Grade Center Example: Running Total = “No” 45

Fun with Categories! • Each column in grade center be assigned to a category • Grade columns that are created automatically by tools (assignments, blogs, discussions, tests) are automatically assigned to the associated default category for that tool. • Instructors can also create custom categories and re-assign columns to them. • Categories can be used to group related grade columns together, and then used in conjunction with Calculated Columns (e. g. , Totals columns, Weighted columns, Average columns) to apply specific weighting factors, to drop the lowest grade, to select only the highest grade from with a category, etc. 46

Why Create or Use Categories? You can use categories to: – Sort the Grade Center. For example, you could sort on the Homework category. – Calculate grades. For example, you can assign a weight to a category (using a Weighted column) when calculating final grades, or drop the lowest grade from among a group of grade columns based on their assignment to a particular category. – Reminder: If you’re going to use categories to weight your grades, be careful! You really have to pay attention to which gradable items are assigned to various categories in Grade Center! – Create a Smart View. For example, you could generate a Smart View which only displays columns associated with the Test category. – Generate reports. For example, you may generate a report showing performance statistics for all columns in the Assignment category. We'll learn more about generating reports in a later lesson. 47

Using Categories to drop the lowest grade from overall “Total Score” column Let’s say that among the gradable activities in your course, your students have to take four exams. However, you want the LOWEST EXAM GRADE dropped from their total score. Here’s how: 1. Create a custom category called “Exams. ” (Manage>Categories) 2. Associate the “Exams” category with each exam’s grade column. (Manage>Column Organization) 3. In your “Totals” column (the column that totals up the scores from each gradable item in your course), click “Selected columns and categories” then move over all grade columns that are being tallied, and any CATEGORIES that contain columns for which you want to drop the lowest grade. (Column heading dropdown>Edit Column)

Using Categories for Weighted Averages If you’re going to use calculated columns to weight various types of gradable activities differently, you should begin by sitting down and thinking about that carefully BEFORE you begin creating your assignments, quizzes, homework, etc. in Bb Learn. That way you can create your custom categories first and then use a set of naming conventions that align with your categories when you create your gradable activities. Here is the process you’ll need to follow. 1. Think about how you apply weighted averages to your various gradable activities. For example, an instructor might decide to apply weights as follows: Homework 30%, group project 5%, essays 15%, quizzes 30%, exams 15%, discussions 5%, for a total of 100%. 2. Decide what custom categories you will need (if any) and then create them from Manage > Categories. What categories you need depend on what tools you use to create the activities and especially whether you use the same tool to create types of gradable items that will be weighted differently. 3. As you create your gradable items using various tools (or manually create your grade center columns), use naming conventions that align with your categories (e. g. , Unit 1_homework 1, mid-term exam, final exam, Unit 1_quiz 1) 4. Make sure that the correct categories are assigned to the various grade columns in Grade Center: Manage > Column Organization 5. Modify the default “Weighted Total” column to apply the correct weighting formulas by category or by individual columns, as needed. If need be, create a new column by going to Create calculated column > Weighted column. 49

Using Categories in a Weighted column Let’s say that you want to apply different weighting factors to different types of gradable activities in your class. Here’s how: 1. Create any required custom categories; for example: “Homework, exams, quizzes, essays” (Manage>Categories) 2. Associate the various categories with each grade column. (Manage>Column Organization) 3. In your “Weighted Total” column, click any columns and/or categories (groups of columns) and apply the weighting factors that you wish to apply. (Column heading dropdown>Edit Column)

How to Create Custom Categories 1. 1 In Grade Center, on the Action Bar, click Manage to access the dropdown list. 2. Select Categories. 3. On the Categories page, click Create Category on the Action Bar. 4. On the Add Category page, enter the category Name and an optional Description. 5. Click Submit. 51

Changing Column Categories 1. In Grade Center, on the Action Bar, click Manage to access the drop-down list. 2. Select Column Organization. On the Column Organization page, select the check box for the column to move. 3. On the Action Bar, click Change Category to… to access the drop-down list. 4. Select the category to which to move the column. 5. Click Submit to save changes. 52

Your Turn: Create a Custom Category 1. Enter the course in which you are the instructor: 2. Create a category called Essays. 3. Sort the Grade Center by category. 53

Weighted Columns A weighted column can have percentages applied as weights based on Category OR to individual columns. (Be sure your Running Total property is set consistently for ALL of your “Totals” columns. ) 54

Weighted Columns: Considerations • Be careful! • • • Weighting in Bb Learn is based on percentages assigned based on either columns or categories, rather than on formulas like those you built in Bb Vista! Many instructors use “tool” names loosely and this could be disastrous if you weight grades based on CATEGORIES. • For example, an instructor might use the Assignments tool to create one activity that they consider a “test”, another that they consider a “group project” and others they consider “homework”—and they indend that each of these types of assessments will carry different weights. But in the Grade Center, ALL of them will automatically be assigned to the “Assignments” category. • This means that an instructor needs to clearly understand how to work with and modify the categories to which different grade columns are assigned if they’re planning to use weighted averages. Many instructors do not fully understand the implications of the weighting averages they apply using formulas in Excel or the impact that those weights can have on their students’ grades. • Some instructors ask others to build their formulas for them in Excel and then they are unable to make adjustments on their own. Or, they have not really thought about how the weighting they assign correlates with how they actually value different types of work that their students perform. 55

Creating Weighted Columns in Bb Learn You can include a calculated column when creating another calculated column. For example, if you have created a calculated column that weights quiz grades, you can include this column when creating a final grade column. 56

Equal or Proportional Weighting in Weighted Columns Category options Equally: Applies equal value to all Columns within a Category. This option should be selected when all items in a Category (i. e. , “Assignments”) carry the same point value. Proportionally: Applies the appropriate value to a Grade Item based on its points compared to other columns in the Category. If columns in the category have different point possible values, the columns with more possible points have more weight than columns with less possible points. Each column’s weight is determined by student score divided by the points possible. The sum of these weights is then divided by the number of columns in the category. In the example above, the “Test” category is weighted at 40%, and since some tests carry more point values, the “proportionally” option is selected. In addition, the instructor has decided to drop the lowest grade (if he wanted to drop the two lowest grades, a “ 2” would appear in the “Lowest Grades” field. ) 57

Weighted Columns: Resources Helpful websites related to equal and proportional Category weighting: • Missouri State U: https: //experts. missouristate. edu/display/bb 9/Under standing+Weighted+Grades • Arizona State U: http: //help. asu. edu/sims/selfhelp/Selfhelp. Kb. View. se am? parature_id=8373 -81936125&source=Selfhelp&cid=15161 58

Grade Columns: Settings and Grade Details • Next we’ll explore how to work with the various kinds of grade columns that are available to you, and address some of the issues that you should consider as you decide how you’re going to grade your students. • We’ll look at various grade column properties and settings, so you can better understand the implications of the choices you make when you set up your columns. • We’ll also look at how to update grades from the Grade Details page for tests, quizzes, assignments, etc. that have been graded from Needs Grading or via other tools such as Discussions or Wikis. 59

About Primary and Secondary Display • Make a selection in the Primary Display drop-down list. The Primary display is what students will see on their My Grades pages. Five default options appear: • Score: Shows a numeric score—i. e. , the number of points earned, such as "78”. When the student checks My Grades, they will also see the total points possible next to their score. Careful: instructors sometimes confuse these two options! • Percentage: (THIS IS THE DEFAULT VALUE. ) A percentage appears in the column. In a grade column for a particular assessment (let’s say a quiz) if a student earned 21 points on that quiz out of 30 total possible points for that quiz, then the column would display 70%. • Note: In a Totals column, the percentage displayed would be the total points earned for all included columns divided by the total possible points for all included columns. • Letter: A letter grade appears in the column. The default grading schema is used to assign letter grades. For example, a score of 21/30 equals 70% and appears as a C. • Text: This default display option does not display text for a Weighted column or allow you to type directly in the column's cell to edit it. • Complete/Incomplete: When an item is submitted, a check mark appears in the column, regardless of the score achieved. Optionally, make a selection in the Secondary Display drop-down list. • The default setting is None. In the Grade Center column, the secondary value appears in parentheses. • The secondary display appears only to INSTRUCTORS. • Secondary values are not exported to Excel. 60

Updating Grades in Columns Created by Bb Tools • Your Grade Center now looks something like what’s shown below. • If you wanted to change a grade in a manually created column (such as your Essay columns), you can just enter the grade change in the cell. • If it’s a grade column created by a Bb Learn tool (such as a test, assignment, or discussion), you should always click View Grade Details from the dropdown for the cell and then make any changes there—don’t just enter the revised grade in the cell or it’s considered an “override grade”! 61

Functions on the Grade Details Page A. User navigation B. Column navigation C. Manually Override Grade: A grade Override supersedes all attempts, including attempts students have not yet submitted. When a grade is overridden, future attempts do not display with exclamation marks (needs grading) in the Grade Center. (An override grade can always be reversed from this same tab. ) D. Manage Attempts: Clearing an attempt allows a student to resubmit, as long as the max number of attempts has not been reached. E. Allow Additional Attempts: Allow Additional Attempts – allows a student to submit another attempt, even if the maximum number of attempts has been reached. 62

Your Turn: Edit the Grade for the Submitted Assignment in the Grade Details page • From the Grade Details page for the assignment that was submitted, click the Edit Grade button and change the grade you assigned earlier. • Note the other options, such as View Attempt, Clear Attempt, and (if the student had reached the max number of allowable attempts for that assessment) Allow Additional Attempt. 63

Keep It Simple: The 1000 Point Grading System • Advantages: – Very flexible for many different grading variations. – No “convoluted” formulas for you to figure out, keep track of , or explain to your students. – Students can easily figure out where they stand at any point throughout the semester. – Figuring out the “Final” grade is as easy as adding up all the points at the end. – No Formulas Required! “Weights” and “Percentages” Are Dispersed as Points • No formulas or calculations! If you are using weighting and/or percentages, you are probably using several calculations to figure out grades. Using the 1000 point method you will be weighting based on how you disperse the points. The following exercise will guide you in converting your grade system to the 1000 point method to give you an idea of how it works. You will have to do some basic math to set it up, but after it’s set up, you will only need to tweak it in the future by adjusting points. There are NO complicated formulas to adjust. • Easy for students to figure out where they stand: Using this method can help your students keep a handle on their overall grade standing throughout the term. For example, if you provide your students with a chart showing exactly what each assignment, quiz, etc. is worth, and also release a running “Total Points” grade column total so they can view it in the My Grades tool, they will always know where they stand. In most cases, this can eliminate the need to use Grading Periods. 64

Creating a 1000 Point Grading System matrix • You don’t have to divide a category “equally” as just demonstrated with the assignments. You can disperse the total category points however you want. Let’s say you have 5 quizzes. • For example, if you have one BIG quiz, it could be worth 30 points. And the other 4 quizzes could be worth 17. 5 points each. 65

1000 Point Grading System: The Student Perspective When an instructor uses the “ 1000 Point Grading System”, students can always figure out where they stand on the grading scale at any point throughout the semester by simply adding up the points they’ve earned. As long as students know how much the outstanding gradable activities are worth, they can figure out how many points they need to earn in order to get the grade they want. 66

1000 Point Grading with two Totals columns • Total Score (primary display) shows points earned for all items graded to date. Secondary display shows %. Based on running total = Yes. • Letter Grade (primary display) is based on the default Grading Schema. Secondary display shows %. Based on running total = Yes. • The instructor must enter a “ 0” for unsubmitted assignments. 67

Export Grade Center to Excel 68

Grade Center Reports & Grade History • • Click the Reports button to run grade reports: Instructors can create a report that includes specific columns or categories and shows grades (and statistics for each item) by student. Click View Grade History to view and also download your students’ grade history for backup purposes. 69

Creating Smart Views in Grade Center Smart Views is a way of obtaining student performance data from within Grade Center. Another tool that can help faculty identify at-risk students is the Retention Center. 70

Creating Smart Views 71

Creating Smart Views 72

Your Turn: Create a Smart View In the course you are teaching: • Think about how Smart. Views can assist with viewing your past or current roster and gradebook items • Construct a Smart. View in your practice course to reflect your scenario • Check the Smart. View from the main Grade Center screen • Be prepared to share 73

Grade Center: Tips and Trouble-shooting

How can I show students their Total Score (or Percentage) AND their Total Letter Grade? • Instructors just have to create TWO Totals Columns—they both sum up all of the same columns but one is named “Total Score” (or perhaps Total Percentage) and shows either score or percent as the Primary Display, which the other is called “Current Letter Grade” with primary display is set to Letter. • We strongly recommend that instructors set the secondary display on BOTH COLUMNS to “Percentage” so you can be certain that the percentages in both columns match. 75

How can I award Extra Credit? • You should already have a Totals column that sums points for all gradable activities. • Create a new grade column named “Extra Credit” into which instructors simply enter a specific number of points that can “bump” a student from one letter grade to the next. • The “Points possible” for this column MUST be set to ZERO. (The points awarded is the numerator and the points possible is the denominator, so if the points possible is anything other than a zero then entering a score would mess up the totals percentages for that column and this can have a ripple effect. ) • The total number of points desired can be entered manually into the extra credit column to bump the student’s grade up. • Additional resource for extra credit grading: https: //blackboard. fresnostate. edu/documents/workaround_extracredit_000. pdf 76

EXTRA CREDIT SCENARIO: The student has earned a B- based on points earned, but the instructor wants to give the student a B because of their participation or extra effort: Before extra credit: 187 points out of possible 228 = 82% With 5 points added in Extra Credit column to 187=192/228 = 84. 21% As long as Extra Credit column’s “points possible” set to zero, percentages display correctly: 77

Letter Grades Not Displaying Correctly • If an instructor has set a Primary or Secondary Grade display as “Letter Grade” and the percentage earned EXCEEDS 100%, then a letter grade will not display. • This is true whether or not it is a GRADE COLUMN or a CALCULATED COLUMN. If a “ 0” is entered as Points Possible (as for an Extra Credit column) letter grades will NOT display for that column no matter WHAT is entered. • • If an instructor tries to enter a Letter Grade into a grade column that was created by the Assignments tool, they will get an error message. ONLY a numeric value can be entered. 78

Primary/Secondary Grade Display Questions • If a grade column is set so that PERCENTAGE is primary and SCORE is secondary: The instructor must ENTER THE PERCENTAGE EARNED, NOT the Score—a “calculated score” will appear as the secondary display. • If a grade column is set so that PERCENTAGE is primary and LETTER GRADE is secondary: The instructor can enter the percentage, and the associated letter grade (based on grade schema) will display as the secondary grade. (If it doesn’t, there’s a problem with the % being >100%) 79

Totals Columns set as “External Grade” • If a grade column is set as the External Grade (has green check in circle) you cannot UNSET it as the external grade. • You also cannot DELETE a grade column that is set as the External Grade Column. • To hide a column with a green checkbox from students you can’t use the usual “show/hide from users” —the instructor needs to select Edit Column Information and then change “Show this column to Students” to NO. 80

Grade Center: Why do I still have green exclamation points? A grade was entered for a student submission but there’s still a green exclamation mark in the column. • This means that there is a second, as yet UNGRADED attempt, which that student has submitted. • Remember: ALL of a student’s attempts must be graded or NO grade will display to that student in My Grades! 81

Grade Center: Help! All my students have disappeared! • Sometimes instructors will either HIDE or (if not set as External Grade Column) DELETE all of their “Calculated Columns” (such as a their Totals Column or Weighted Total column). • If they do, and there are NO calculated columns showing, students will not display in Grade Center. • They need to go to Manage>Column Organization and unhide them. 82

Why am I seeing a student in “Needs Grading” on a test that should auto-grade? If an Instructor is seeing a "Needs Grading" indicator in the Grade Center, it means that there's something about the tests that prevented them from being automatically graded. Generally, there are two reasons for this: 1. There is a question type that cannot be automatically graded. There are three question types that will prompt manual grading: • Essay • Short answer – THIS IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE CULPRIT. Bb is reworking this question type so it can be automatically graded! • File Response 2. The instructor set a time limit on the test and the student went over the time limit, requiring that the test be manually graded so the instructor can decide whether to deduct points for submitting the test over the time limit. (See job aid on grading tests that have exceeded the time limit). 83

“Override Grade” issues • Instructors often do not understand, or they forget, about the implications of manually entering a grade into a grade column that was created using the Test or Assignment tools. Manually entering a grade in such a column is an “override grade”, meaning that the cell will then ignore the results of all attempts when multiple attempts are allowed. An override grade takes precedence over all other grade entries, including attempts a student submits after an override grade is entered. The instructor can REVERT an override grade from the Grade Details page if they wish. • TYPICAL SCENARIO: An instructor has either set a Test or Assignment to permit multiple attempts, OR they have given an individual student an additional attempt. However, the instructor manually entered a grade into the cell in Grade Center. When the student submits their second attempt, the correct grade does NOT display in the Grade Center or in My Grades. 84

Wrap-up & Questions • Questions? • Do you know how to find what you need for further exploration of Bb Learn? • Do you know who to contact locally for help? • Other concerns or issues? 85