The Gradebook holds learners’ grades for Tests and Assignments taken within the course Web sites for graded work completed outside the Blackboard Learning System, and provides access to survey results taken within the course Web site. Instructors access and manage learners’ grades, the gradebook display, grade weighting, grade uploads and downloads within the Gradebook. The Gradebook can be accessed through the Control Panel > Assessment > Gradebook. After entering the Gradebook, an instructor can do the following tasks:

• Add Item: Select Add Item for the Add/Modify Gradebook Item page where item information and options can be completed.
• Manage Items: Select Manage Items to view all gradebook items, modify individual item information, remove an item from the gradebook, or to sort the order of items.
• Change Gradebook Settings: Select Gradebook Settings to change the spreadsheet display, manage gradebook categories, and create or modify grade display options.
• Weight Grades: Select Weight Grades to weight grades by category or by item.
• Download Grades: Select Download Grades for instructions about downloading the spreadsheet in a comma delimited file (.csv) to be opened in MS Excel or other spreadsheet program.
• Upload Grades: Select Upload Grades for instructions for uploading grades into the gradebook.
• Modify Grade: Select the individual Grade within the spreadsheet for the View Grades page to open where grades can be modified.
• Modify Test/Survey/Assignment Options: Select the Assessment Name to view the Item Options page and to view or modify the item grade list, item information, item details, and assessment attempt details.
• View User Statistics: Select the individual’s User Name to view the User Options page and to view or modify the user information, user grade list, and user details.
• Sort Items: From the drop-down menu, select the manner in which you want to sort the items (Category, Date Added, Position, and Title) and then click Go.
• Filter Items by Category: From the drop-down menu, select a category and click Go. Only those items that match the category selected will appear in the spreadsheet view.

Note: Every user has a value for every Gradebook item. If no grade appears, the following symbols are used: a Dash indicating no information has been received, a Padlock means a learner is currently taking the assessment, an Explanation Point indicating the item needs grading by the instructor, and a Question Mark means there has been a gradebook error.

Adding/Modifying Items

From the Gradebook Spreadsheet View select Add Item button, or select the Assessment Name, and the Add/Modify Gradebook Item page will appear with three sections: Item Information, Options and Submit.

Item Information

1 Specify your Item Name in the text box.
2 From the pull-down menu select the Category that best fits this assignment. The default category is “Assignment.”
3 Type or copy and paste a description for the item.
4 Select a date for the assignment using the drop-down menus or by clicking on the calendar button.
5 Assign the maximum Points Possible for this item.
6 Select how the grade should be displayed (the default grade display is “Letter” ) into the text box.

Options

1 Make item visible to students: Select Yes to make the item available for learners to view in the gradebook or No to make the item unavailable.
2 Include item in gradebook score calculations: Select Yes for grade to be included in summary calculations or No for items that should not be calculated into summary calculations (i.e. midterm or quarterly grades). Note: if weighting was attached to item, selecting No will ignore weighting.
3 Select the Submit button on the bottom of the page to enter your content information.

Manage Items

From the Gradebook Spreadsheet View select Manage Items button and the Manage Items page will appear. From this page you can sort the order of items, modify or remove items, and add a gradebook item. For example, you may want to sort items chronologically by due date or by the type of assignment.

Important Tests, Surveys, or Assignments that are created within the Blackboard environment must be removed from the area where they were created. For example, a Test created in Blackboard must be removed from the Test Manager and if the Test has been deployed, the link can be removed from view, but the item cannot be removed from the gradebook.

Gradebook Settings

From the Gradebook Spreadsheet View select Gradebook Settings button and the Gradebook Settings page will appear with three choices:

• Spreadsheet Settings: Allows instructors to choose how user information in the spreadsheet presented and ordered (i.e. last name first, first name last; first name first and last name last; by user ID; or by student ID).
• Manage Gradebook Categories: The gradebook includes approximately 20 categories. From this area you can add additional categories to the gradebook, modify categories, or remove categories. Note: removing categories is permanent.
• Manage Display Options: From the Add Display Option grading symbols can be created. For example, you can create a Pass – No Pass option where Pass = 70% to 100% and No Pass = 0% to 70%.

Note: 1) Display Options included with the Blackboard Learning System (Letter, Percentage, Score, and Text) can not be modified or removed. And 2) The upper limit of a range must be equal to the lower limit of the range directly above it. So, a range of 0% to 70% goes up to but does NOT INCLUDE 70%. However, the highest range does include 100%.

Weight Grades

Instructors can weight grades by item (i.e. midterm exam = 20% of final grade) or by category and all grades with the same category will have the same weight (i.e. all homework = 30% of final grade). From the Gradebook Spreadsheet View click on Weight Grades to assign weights to category or item grades.

Downloading and Uploading Grades

Grades can be uploaded and/or downloaded from the Blackboard Learning System using comma-delimited files (.csv) from a spreadsheet like MS Excel. It is a good idea to regularly download copies of the course gradebook to maintain a backup of learner grades. You may decide it is easier to enter student grades into a spreadsheet and then upload the grades into the Blackboard Gradebook.

Download Gradebook

1 From the Gradebook Spreadsheet View, click on Download Grades and follow the instructions on the screen.
2 Click Download and a File Download window pop-up window will allow you to select the location where you would like your file to be saved. Note: gradebooks are saved as “gb_export.csv” by default, you may want to change the file name so that subsequent downloads will not be saved on top of this file.

Important An evaluation of the Download Grades feature in Blackboard 6.0 has indicated that there may be some problems with the complete gradebook being downloaded. Please double check and compare your .csv file to the Gradebook Spreadsheet View to ensure that all columns have been included in the download.

Upload Grades

1 From the Gradebook Spreadsheet View, click on Upload Grades and use the Browse button to locate and select the .csv gradebook file from which you would like to upload grade information.
Note: Blackboard suggests that you begin the upload process by first downloading a copy of the gradebook. Only grade information can be uploaded, new students must be added through the Control Panel > User Management.

2 Import Items: You may choose to overwrite an existing item (column in the gradebook) or create a new item. First select the item you want to import and then select the destination column (select “Create New Gradebook Item” if this is a new item). Note: The only information that is overwritten is the Item Name.
3 Import Students: After selecting the item(s) to import, you select the student information to be imported. Grades will be uploaded only for those students selected on this page. If you want to grade information for all students use Select All, to remove all selections click on Select None, and to clear those selected and select those not selected use Select Inverse.
4 Submit: Select the Submit button to upload grade information.