When to Use?
You can enable this functionality to give your students an easy way to keep track of what they have done in each of their courses. When enabling progress tracking later than the beginning of the term, participatory items will be retroactively marked as complete. For example, assessments submitted previously by students will be marked as complete. Non-participatory items, like Ultra documents, will still need to be manually marked by students.
How to Enable Progress Tracking
- To enable Progress Tracking within a course, navigate to the desired course.
- In the Details & Actions Panel, select Turn On under Progress Tracking.
- Once the Progress Tracking panel opens, switch the toggle from OFF to ON.
- Save your new settings once completed.
Student Perspective
Now your students will see the progress of their work within the course. Every item in the course will display a circle icon showing the progress.
- Empty - when a student had not yet accessed the item
- Partially filled - when a student has opened the item
- Green check mark - when the student has completed the item
Students can mark complete items like Documents, uploaded files, or links once they have opened them. For any other items like Assessments, Tests, Journals, or Discussions, the item will automatically be marked as complete when the student has submitted it. When all items in a Folder or Module have been completed, the entire folder is automatically marked as complete. The Ultra course interface will not allow students to check off any item that has not been opened or completed.
See also: Blackboard Help - Progress Tracking
Student Progress Reports
With Progress Tracking enabled, instructors have the ability to see the progress that all students have made for the following content types:
- Documents
- Uploaded files
- Links
- Learning modules
- Folders
- LTI content with no associated grade
- SCORM packages
Student Progress Reports allow instructors to select any of the above pieces of content and view the following information:
- Students who have not yet opened content.
- Students who have opened or started viewing content; and
- Students who have marked the content as complete.
The report includes the date and time when an action occurred (e.g., when a student started viewing content). Instructors can sort by student name or progress status, and sorting by progress status can allow quick identification of those students who are not engaging with the course content.
Accessing Student Progress Reports
- To view Student Progress Reports, navigate to any content item within your course and select the ellipsis (...) to access content options. From there click on Student Progress.
- This page will have a list of all the students enrolled in the course and their progress status for the specific content item.
- Depending on the progress that students are making on the specific content item or overall course material, you have the ability to message individuals or groups of students from within the report to connect with them prior to them falling too far behind.