Grading Best Practices

Use Blackboard's Gradebook

Per the Minimum Requirements for Using Blackboard defined in the Faculty Appendix, all faculty are required to use Blackboard in their teaching practice. For each course section you teach, there will be a corresponding Ultra Course shell in Blackboard. Configure and use the section's Gradebook to provide regular, substantive grade feedback for all assessments defined in the syllabus.

Keep Your Gradebook Organized

If there are duplicate or unneeded columns in the Gradebook, either delete the assessments from the course or hide them from calculations and student view.  If there are duplicate or unneeded categories, un-assign, delete, or exclude them from calculations. This is essential for ensuring accurate grade calculations and will help students navigate the Gradebook better.

Set up an Overall Grade Column

The overall grade is a running calculation item that you can set up to show students their current or final grade in a course. An overall grade can use a total or weighted total calculation. However, students can easily become confused by weighted calculations. 

As a student-centered and direct approach to communicating an Overall Grade, we recommend using a simple Total for the Overall Grade. When designing a course, you may mechanically weight assessments by distributing their point values among a course total of 1000 points possible. 

If you do plan to use a weighted total calculation, see our guide to understanding the calculation so you can explain the grades to students.

Be Mindful of Grade Settings and Grade Data Entry

Take great care when preparing your Gradebook assessment columns and when entering your grade data so as to prevent calculation errors. Make sure you assign the correct grade unit for the assessment before students attempt the assessment. Once you grade a student's submission, you will not be able to modify the grade unit setting!

Grade Units

When you create an assessment in an Ultra Course, assign a grade unit and maximum point value. The grade unit is the the "primary display" of an assessment column; it tells Blackboard how to display grades to students and has implications for how you enter grades. 

By default, there are three types of  grade unit to select from:

Grade Schema

You may modify or create a new Grade Schema to use as a grade unit.  This allows you to return a complete/incomplete or pass/fail grade based upon entering a numeric value in a student's grade cell.

Overall Grade Settings for Calculations

When you create an Overall Grade, take a look at the Overall Grade Settings. If you want the calculation to be a running total, make sure that the checkbox is selected. A running total will omit unscored work from the calculation.

Unchecking the checkbox creates a non-running total that includes unscored assessments as 0 grades.

Automatic Zeros

If you are using a "running total", remember to assign 0 scores to students who have not attempted overdue assessments or enable automatic zeros in the Gradebook Settings. 

The automatic zero tool will assign 0 scores to overdue assessments without submissions.

Use Rubrics When Grading Assessments

Instructors can make grading more efficient, consistent, transparent, and evidence-based by using a rubric when grading students.  We recommend using grading rubrics whenever grading discussions, compositions, or observed performances.

After Assigning Grades, Remember to Post Them

In Blackboard Ultra, you may assign grades and then release them to students when you are ready. Click the assessment Submission screen's "Post " button to release grades to students.

The Post Grades button appears on an assessment's submission screen when students have grades to release.

Submit Midterm and Final Grades in Self-Service

Until further notice, faculty must use Self-Service to directly submit midterm and final grades per the academic calendar's defined submission dates.