Grading Assignments All assignments are graded through the Grade Center in Blackboard. Instructors access the Grade Center through the link on the Control Panel. To limit your view to assignments, click the Assignments link on the Grade Center menu. Items in the Grade Center that need to be graded are designated by an exclamation mark. There are several ways that you can grade an assignment. First, you can click on any cell in the assignment column to open an input box where you can enter the grade. This is a simple way to enter a grade for an assignment or project that the student submitted in class. It is also an easy way to override a grade that was entered previously. Grading Assignments Page 1
Second, you can grade an individual student s submission by moving your cursor over the cell containing the exclamation mark. When you do so, see the double down arrows that will open a context menu. From the context menu, choose an attempt. Attempts are always identified by the date of the submission. So if a student had more than one submission, you are able to view and grade each one. The most common way to view and grade assignments submitted through Blackboard is to click the drop down arrows in the column heading and then select Grade Attempts. Grading Assignments Page 2
At the top of the Grade Assignments page, you are able to view the Assignment information. If this area is collapsed, click the Assignment name to view the information. The first part of the Grade Assignment page is the Submission History. If you allow multiple attempts on an assignment, this section will let you know which attempt you are grading. If there are multiple attempts, a link to each attempt is available in this section The Review Current Attempt section contains links to any files attached by the student and displays any student comments. You can open or download the attached file for grading. When you have finished grading the paper, you will need to enter the grade into the Grade box. You may also enter feedback that will be displayed to the student. You can use the Browse buttons to attach files to be returned to the student. This may be the graded version of the submission, an answer key, a scoring rubric, or practically any other document you may want to share with the student. Grading Assignments Page 3
The information in the Instructor Notes section is only visible to instructors. Grading notes may contain a reminder, or a note on the submission that other instructors in the class may need to see. You can also attach files in this section. Keep in mind, however, that these files will not be shared with the student. At the bottom of the page, you may Cancel, Save as Draft to be completed later, Save and Exit, or Save and view the next student s submission. Additional Options Downloading Assignments If you want to download all the assignments to your computer for grading, you can select Assignment File Download from the drop down menu in the column heading. This option will open an interface that allows you to select any or all submissions. Blackboard will then zip the files into a folder that you can download to your computer. Grading Assignments Page 4
Multiple Attempts If the assignment was configured to allow students multiple attempts, you will need to designate which attempt will really count as the student s grade. To do this, click the Drop Down menu in the column heading and select Edit Column Information. On the column information page, click the drop down arrow beside the Score attempts using option. Using this menu, you can choose the Last Attempt, Highest Grade, Lowest Grade, First Attempt, or Average of Attempt Grades as the student s grade for the assignment. Categories On the column information page you can also move the assignment to a new category. By default, Blackboard will place assignments in the Assignment Category. You may have different categories such as Homework, Weekly Papers, Lab Reports, and so forth. To select a different category, you can use the drop down menu beside the category option. When you are finished, click Submit to save your changes. Grading Assignments Page 5