Unleashing the Power of

Blackboard’s Grade Center

Edward  Duran  &  Elisabeth  Beristain  

Topics

• Grade  Center  101  • Reten8on  Center:  Monitoring  Student  Success    

•  Time  Savers  and  Advanced  Tools  

   The Feedback Loop

“I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” -Elon Musk

The  Blackboard  Grade  Center  serves  as  the  center  of  opera+ons  of  feedback  delivery  and  course  ac+vity  management.  

Grade Center 101 Ac8on  Bar  

Grade  Informa8on  Bar  Grid/Spreadsheet  

Scroll  Bars  Icon  Legend  

Rows  Displayed  Contextual  Menus  

More than just a place to record grades…

Action Bar

Most  ac8ons  are  performed  with  the  two  rows  of  the  ac8on  bar    

Grade Information Bar

View  informa8on  about  a  selected  column    

Grid/Spreadsheet and Scrollbars

Use  horizontal  and  ver8cal  scroll  bars  to  navigate  

Icon Legend/Rows Displayed

Icons  represent  the  various  statuses  of  grading  

Contextual Menus

Associated  with  items  that  can  be  acted  on  

Grading Automa8c  Grading  

Manual  Grading  Anonymous  Grading  

Automatically Graded Assessments

•  Tests/Quizzes  will  automa8cally  populate  in  your  Grade  Center  

• Auto-­‐grading  for  Mul8ple  Choice  &  True/False  ques8on  types  

Manual Grading

Not  all  items  are  graded  automa8cally…  

Anonymous Grading

Eliminate  any  opportuni8es  for  bias  

Identify Students at Risk: Your Retention Center

Discover  Students  At  Risk  Customize  Alerts  

Monitor  Individual  Student  

Identify Students at Risk

Visualize  risk  with  preconfigured  rules  

Customize Your Retention Center

Edit  rules  to  fit  your  content  and  expecta8ons  

Monitor Student Progress

Monitor  students  that  require  extra  aUen8on  

Time Savers Manage  Rows  Column  Titles  

Freeze  Columns  Color  Coding  Categories  

Smart  Views  Weighted  Columns  Combined  Columns  

Curve  Grades  Automa8c  LeUer  Grades  Automa8c  Grade  Drop  

Manage Rows

Control  your  view  

Column Titles

•  Shorten  column  names  to  iden8fy  your  assignments  and  assessments  easily  

• Different  name  than  what  students  will  see  

•  “Edit  Column  Informa8on”  and  enter  the  desired  name  

Freeze Columns

Keep  your  columns  in  place  

Color Coding

Add  some  color  to  your  Grade  Center  

Categories

Smart Views

Narrow  the  scope  

Weighted Columns

Generate  a  grade  based  on  columns/categories  

Combined Columns

Reduce  cluUer  

Curve Grades with Excel

Curve Grades in Blackboard

Automatic Drop Grades

Drop  the  lowest/highest  grade    

Automatic Letter Grades

Save  8me  at  the  end  of  the  semester  

Unleash the Power of Your Grade Center

• Central  loca8on  for  feedback  and  ac8vity  management  

•  Incorporate  these  8ps  and  tricks  to  make  it  easier  to  contribute  to  the  feedback  loop!  

•  Speak  to  your  Instruc8onal  Designer  for  guidance