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Blackboard Advanced Training

Grade Center

• In the Grade Center Instructors can provide and manage students’ goals and progress for Assignments, Tests, Discussion Posts, Journals, Blogs, and Wikis, and for ungraded items such as Surveys or Tests. Instructors can also create grade columns for any activities or requirements they want to grade, such as special projects, participation, and attendance.

• Accessing the Grade Center:– From the Control Panel, expand the Grade Center section to display all available views.

• Needs Grading – Allows views to individual submissions already posted for grading or review.

• Full Grade Center - This is the default view. Displays all columns and rows in the Grade Center.

Grade Center – Needs Grading Page

• Access the Needs Grading page in the Grade Center section of the Control Panel.

A. The Grade All function places all attempts in a queue for easy navigation among items.

B. Here you can sort columns to organize your list. Each column of the Grade Center can be sorted for easy navigation.

C. Apply Filters to narrow the list by Category, Item, User, and Date Submitted. Once a filter is applied, only the filtered items will display.

D. The total number of items to grade appears above the list of items. After grading submissions, they will not appear in the Needs Graded page.

E. Click the chevron beside each submission to view the item’s contextual menu. Selections include Grade All Users, Grade with User Names Hidden, Grade by Question, View Attempts, and Reset All.

F. Click Show All to display up to 1,000 items on the page. Click Edit Paging to change the number of items to view per page.

Grade Center – Full Grade Center

A. Action Bar: Contains functions and drop-down lists specific to the current page. Create Column, Manage, Filter, Email, Sort Columns By, and Order.B. Grade Center Information Bar: Information about a selected column, such as type of grade and points possible. Also view when data was last saved.C. Grid/Spreadsheet: Columns, rows, and cells that make up the current view of all Grade Center data. D. Scroll Bars: Navigate through the Grade Center columns and rows using the vertical and horizontal scroll bars. When navigating to another course

area and returning to the Grade Center, you will see the same rows and columns from the last visit. E. Icon Legend: Explanation of the symbols used in the cellsF. Edit Rows Displayed: Change the number of rows appearing in the grid. In the box, type between 5 and 50 and click Go.

Grade Center - Grade Center Columns

• There are 3 types of columns in the Grade Center: User, Grade, and Calculated.

• User Columns– There are 6 user columns that appear in the Grade Center by default. Those columns are Last Name, First Name, Username, Student ID,

Last Access, and Availability. – Default user columns cannot be edited or deleted. – Instructors can also freeze user columns so they remain in place as they scroll through the grid.

• Grade Columns– These are the columns that appear for each assignment/test/exam/assessment created in the course. – The External Grade Column is used to share the grade with the student. The default Total Column is the default External Grade column

in most new courses. Students can see grades as long as the appears in the column header.

• Calculated Columns– Calculate the Total Grade– Weight grades by column, category, or both– Calculate the average grade– Calculate the minimum or maximum grade– Set criteria when creating adaptive release rules and Retention Center rules.

Grade Center – Weighted Columns

• The Weighted Column is a type of column that generates a grade based on the results of selected columns and categories and is calculated based on percentages. A default Weighted Column should appear in all new courses. The default weighted column displays no results until columns and categories are selected to be included in the calculation. Also, Grading Schemas do not impact Weighted Columns.

• When creating a weighted column, the following items can be included:– All Grade Columns: Include all individual grade columns in the Grade Center– Selected Columns and Categories: Include specific grade columns and categories. – Selected Columns from a grading period: Only if a grading periods exists, include only the grade

columns that have been associated with a specific grading period.

Grade Center – Creating Weighted Columns

• Step 1. In the Grade Center, point to Create Calculated Column on the Action Bar, then select Weighted Column.

• Step 2. On the Create Weighted Column page, type a brief Column Name. The name you give here will be the name of the Column in the Grade Center. A Description is optional.

• Step 3. Make a selection in the Primary Display drop-down. Secondary Display selections are optional.

• Step 4. If grading periods exist, you can associate the weighted column with a grading period in the Grading Period drop-down list. If no grading periods exist, the Grading Period drop-down list will not appear.

• Step 5. In the Select Columns section, select what to include in the weighted column’s calculation. From here percentages can also be assigned to each column or category.

Grade Center – Creating Weighted Columns cont.

• Step 6. Type a percentage for each column or category selection. The percentages of all columns and categories selected MUST equal 100%.

• Step 7. Calculate as Running Total: Click YES to calculate as a Running Total. Running totals exempt cells that do not contain data. Click NO to include all selected columns in the calculation.

• Step 8. Select the Options:• Include this column in Grade Center

Calculations, click YES.• Show this Column to Students. Yes/No• Show Statistics for this Column to Students

in My Grades: Yes/No

• Step 9. Click Submit. The new weighted column should now appear in the Grade Center.

Grade Center – Frequently Asked Questions

• My Total column, or Weighted Column, is not calculating correctly. What do I do?– Tips!

1. Check each column in the Grade Center to ensure the “Include column in Grade Center calculations” option is set to “Yes”. 2. Ensure total or weighted column is a running total of all included columns3. For Weighted Columns, all included columns should equal 100%.

• I have a column that is missing/hidden in the Grade Center.– Tips!

1. In the Grade Center, click Manage > Column Organization. From here you can see which columns are hidden and check box to hide/unhide columns.

2. Check the content item tied to the hidden column and ensure the “Include column in Grade Center calculations” option is set to “Yes”.

• I have columns I need to delete, but I cannot delete them. Why not?– Answer: Columns in the Grade Center cannot be deleted. To remove columns from the Grade Center, you must delete

the content associated with the column. This will in-turn, remove the column from the Full Grade Center.

Grade Center – Frequently Asked Questions cont.

• How do I reset, or clear, a student’s attempt at an assignment, text, exam, or assessment?– Answer:

1. Step 1 - Access the submission’s cell in the Grade Center and click View Grade Details. 2. Step 2 – Beside each attempt, there will be 3 options. Choose Clear Attempt.

• How do I download the Grade Book to Excel?– Answer: From the Full Grade Center view, click Work Offline then select Download. Choose to export the full Grade

Center, select specific columns to export, or user information only.

• How do I change the order of the columns in the Grade Center?– Answer: You must first change the date of each content item that appears in the Grade Center. Until this is done the

columns cannot be moved! Once the dates are updated for each content item, the columns can then be re-organized in the Grade Center. Go to Column Organization in the Grade Center to re-arrange columns.

Adaptive Release

• Adaptive Release is when content release/availability is customized to only show content after the user has met certain criteria. Adaptive Release is turned on or off at an Institutional level. Below are the most basic forms of Adaptive Release:

– Date Release: Release an item only on a specified date or time. Options include:• On an exact date• Until a certain date• During a defined period

– Membership Release: Release an item to specific Users or Groups.

– Grade Release: Release an item if a specified grade item was attempted or users receive a certain score. This could be less than, greater than, equal to, or between. This can be used to also release an item based on a calculated column in the Grade Center.

– Review Status Release: Release an item when another content item is marked as reviewed.

Adaptive Release Rules

• There are 2 types of Adaptive Release: Basic and Advanced

• How to add a Basic Adaptive Release Rule:– Step 1. Access an item’s contextual menu and click Adaptive Release. – Step 2. On the Adaptive Release page, complete one or more sections such as date and membership.– Step 3. Click Submit.

• How to add an Advanced Adaptive Release Rule:– Step 1. Access an item’s contextual menu and click Adaptive Release: Advanced– Step 2. On the Adaptive Release: Advanced page, click Create Rule from the Action Bar.– Step 3. On the Add Rule page, type a name for the rule and click Submit.– Step 4. Point to Create Criteria and select date, grade, or membership and provide the criteria. Click Submit. – Step 5. On the Action Bar, click Review Status to add it to the advanced adaptive release rule. Browse and select the content

item to be reviewed before the content is released.– Step 6. Repeat steps 6 and 7 to add multiple release criteria to an item.

Adaptive Release Criteria

• Adaptive Release Criteria are the parts that define an adaptive release rule. One or more criterion can be applied to each rule.

• How to add Date Criteria to an Adaptive Release Rule:– Step 1. Access an item’s contextual menu and click Adaptive Release: Advanced.– Step 2. On the Adaptive Release: Advanced page, click Create Rule on the Action Bar.– Step 3. On the Add Rule page, type a name for the rule and click Submit. – Step 4. On the Action Bar, point to Create Criteria and click Date.– Step 5. On the Date page, make your date selections. Click Submit.

• How to add Membership Criteria to an Adaptive Release Rule:– Step 1. Access an item’s contextual menu and click Adaptive Release: Advanced.– Step 2. On the Adaptive Release: Advanced page, click Create Rule on the Action Bar.– Step 3. On the Add Rule page, type a name for the rule and click Submit. – Step 4. On the Action Bar, point to Create Criteria and click Membership.– Step 5. On the Membership page, make your selections:

• In the Username box, type one or more usernames, separated by commas, or click Browse to search for users.• All Groups in the course appear in the Items to Select box, even those who are Unavailable in the course.

– Step 6. Click Submit.

Adaptive Release Criteria cont.

• How to add Grade Center Criteria to an Adaptive Release rule:– Step 1. Access an item’s contextual menu and click Adaptive Release: Advanced.– Step 2. On the Adaptive Release: Advanced page, click Create Rule on the Action Bar.– Step 3. On the Add Rule page, type a name for the rule and click Submit. – Step 4. On the Action Bar, point to Create Criteria and click Grade.– Step 5. On the Grade page, select the Grade Center item for this criterion. Grade Center items are listed by

their categories in the Grade Center. Points possible are also included to help determine the score range to display content.

– Step 6. In the Select Condition drop-down list:• Select User has at lease one attempt for this item to release the content based on a submitted attempt

rather than a score.• In the Score drop-down list, select Less Than, Greater Than, or Equal To. Type a numeric score in the box

to set the threshold. • Select Score Between or Percent Between. Type the range of values in the boxes.

Adaptive Release Criteria cont.

• How to add Review Status Criteria to an Adaptive Release rule:– Step 1. Access an item’s contextual menu and click Adaptive Release: Advanced.– Step 2. On the Adaptive Release: Advanced page, click Create Rule on the Action Bar.– Step 3. On the Add Rule page, type a name for the rule and click Submit. – Step 4. On the Action Bar, point to Create Criteria and click Review Status.– Step 5. On the Review Status page, click Browse to open the course map and select an item. Review status

will be turned on for this item. Users must mark the item as reviewed before the content will display.

IMPORTANT! To eliminate confusion by students, Instructors are encouraged to explain exactly how they are releasing content. For example, suggest the Instructor add explanation to the course syllabus or Getting Started area.

Course Copy – Copy content from one course to another

• Instructors can copy courses and use them as a convenient way to reuse and adapt existing course structures, materials, and content. Instructors MUST have access to the course content they wish to copy in order for the process to be successful.

• Copy Course Materials into a New Course: Copying course materials into a new course creates a course in the system and populates it with content from a course already in the system. The course menu specified in the source course will replace default menu items in the new course.

• Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course: Copying course materials into an existing course will add content to a course, but it will not remove existing content. You can only copy materials into a course if you have the role of Instructor, Teaching Assistant (TA), or Course Builder.

• Copy Course with Users (Exact Copy): This is the only copy option that copies user records, such as grades and discussion board posts, to the new course. This option copies everything in the course to the new course exactly as it appears in the existing course. This is useful if a course is split into multiple sections. You can perform an exact copy, and then un-enroll specific students to create two sections of the same course.

Course Copy – How to Copy a Course

• Step 1. Access the course you wish to copy.

• Step 2. On the Control Panel, expand the Packages and Utilities section and click Course Copy.

• Step 3. Select the appropriate option: (as seen on previous slide)– Copy Course Materials into a New Course– Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course– Copy Course with Users (Exact Copy) – Use for courses with multiple sections.

• Step 4. In the Destination Course ID box, type a Course ID for the new course that will be created and populated with content from the current course. After creating the copied course, you cannot edit the course ID.

• Step 5. If you choose Copy Course Materials into a New Course or Copy Course Materials into an Existing Course, select the course materials you wish to copy over to the new or existing course. – NOTE: A course copy operation cannot be completed if you do not select at least one of the following areas: Content,

Contacts, or Settings.

Course Copy – How to Copy a Course cont.

• Step 6. In the File Attachments section, select the option to copy links to:– Copy Links to Course Files: No copies of linked files are included in the copy. The copied course will have the

same set of links and those links will point back to the original location in the original course. – Copy Links and Copies of the Content: This will make copies of the linked files, but ONLY those files that are

linked. Files within the course’s Home folder that are not linked will not copy over. – Copy Links and Copies of the Content (include entire course Home folder): This will make copies of ALL files

in the course’s Home folder regardless if those files are linked to Course Content.– NOTE: You need Manage permission to an item to include copies of those files. If you do not have Manage

permission, those files may be missing after the copy is complete.

• Step 7. Select the Folder for Content Collection Files, if applicable.

• Step 8. Select Enrollments to copy the list of users in the course. User records, such as discussion board posts and grades will not be copied. User records are only copied if the Copy Course with Users option is selected.

• Step 9. Click Submit.

Course Copy – Top Course Copy Scenarios

• When copying content and tools from one course to an existing course, the Course Menu must resolve itself in the destination course. The following table describes how Couse Menu items are resolved:

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Blackboard Advanced Training