Gradebook

When to Use?

This article contains links to information on how to use the gradebook.

Table of Contents

Procedure

Gradebook Overview

Use your course's Gradebook page to quickly access its coursework and enrolled students. You can customize the gradebook, search submissions, and upload or download grades.

This article covers:

  • Access the gradebook
  • Gradebook settings
  • Grade Schemas
  • Student Performance
  • Automatic Zeros
  • Overall grade
  • Students Visibility
  • Item Management
  • Grade Categories
  • Course Rubrics
  • Accommodations
  • Send reminders
  • Add gradable items, calculations, or attendance
  • Download results
  • Download submissions
  • View graded item statistics
  • Watch a video about the gradebook

Overview Tab in Gradebook

The Overview view displays grading tasks for you to complete.

Gradable Items Tab in Gradebook

The Gradable Items view displays all gradable items in your course. You can view due dates, grading status, and item categories.

Grades Tab in Gradebook

The Grades view displays each student’s grade for a specific assignment, with one student per row and one gradable item per column. 

Student Tab in the Gradebook

The Students view lists the names of all your students with their dates of last access and their overall grades. You can view overall grades if you’ve set up the overall grade for the course. Students with grading accommodations have a purple flag with their name.

Back to Table of Contents

 

Grading Setup

Before grading begins, it’s important to set up your course grading structure in Blackboard.

This section guides instructors through the process of configuring gradebook settings, selecting appropriate grading schemas, organizing grade categories, and aligning assessments with course objectives. A thoughtfully designed grading structure promotes clarity for students and enhances operational efficiency for instructors throughout the course term.

Grade Categories

When you create a gradable item, it automatically appears in the gradebook and is associated with the appropriate category. You can use categories when you create calculated items, such as an assignments average.

Grade Columns

Grade columns display grades for the different activities in your course.

You can create columns for:

  • Overall Grade: Displays the final course grade based on points, weighted items, or a custom formula.

This article covers:

  • About the Overall Grade column
  • Set up the overall grade
  • Add a points overall grades calculation
  • Add a weighted overall grades calculation
  • Add an advanced overall grade calculation
  • Edit overall grade settings
  • Gradable items: Columns are added automatically for grade items completed online, such as tests and assignments, or you can add columns manually for gradable items completed offline, such as activities that took place outside of class.

This article covers:

  • Automatic grade item columns
  • Manual grade item columns

 

  • Total Calculation column: Displays a calculated score based on points or weighted items. This is most often used for a Term calculation to provide students with another view of the Overall Grade, where one is in points and the other is percentages.

This article covers:

  • About total calculation columns
  • Examples of weighted columns
  • Add a weighted column
  • Add a points column
  • Calculation Column: Displays a calculated score based on a custom formula for a selection of coursework, such as only certain assessments or categories.

This article covers:

  • About calculation columns
  • Add a calculation column
  • How calculated columns work
  • Keyboard commands

Back to Table of Contents

 

Rubrics

Rubrics Overview

Rubrics can help ensure consistent and impartial grading and help students focus on your expectations.

This article includes a student view of rubrics.

Types of Rubrics

You can create several types of rubrics in a course:

  • Percentage-based rubrics
  • Percentage-range rubrics
  • Points-based rubrics
  • Points-range rubrics
  • No-points rubrics

Create Rubrics

Create rubrics manually or generate them using the AI assistant. This article explains how to do both.

Manage Rubrics

Learn how to manage rubrics by copying or deleting them.

Once a rubric has been used for grading, it cannot be modified directly. However, you may create a copy of the rubric, which can then be edited and renamed as needed.

Associate a Rubric to an Assessment

You may associate an existing rubric with an item, provided that the item has not already been graded. Please note that only one rubric can be associated with each item.

Grading Schemas

You can choose to display grades in different ways with grading schemas. 

This article covers:

  • Using grading schemas
  • Manage grading schemas
  • Multiple grading schemas
  • Copying items and courses
  • Gradebook calculations and grading schemas

Accommodations

You can set accommodations for individual students to exempt them from assessment due dates or time limits. 

This article covers:

  • Add an accommodation to a student
  • View accommodations
  • Remove accommodations
  • Time limit accommodations and time limit settings combined
  • Accommodations and groups
  • Watch a video about Roster

Back to Table of Contents

 

Extra Credit

In the Gradebook, you can provide extra credit to students in two ways:

  • Extra credit for the Overall Grade column
  • Extra credit when weighting grades

Extra Credit in Overall Grade Column

You can create an extra credit column in the Gradebook with a maximum score of 0 and include it in the Overall grade calculation. Then, you can assign extra credit points as needed.

This method works for only one individual extra credit column where grades aren't weighted.

Extra Credit when Weighting Grades

The weighted total calculation determines a grade by considering the results of selected items and categories along with their respective weightings. When creating a total calculation or a weighted overall grade calculation, it is possible to include other calculated items. You may choose to add extra credit points either to a specific category or to the overall grade.

Please note that the method used to add extra credit points will affect the resulting calculation.

This article covers:

  • Create weighted extra credit
  • Add your extra credit item
  • Create a calculation to calculate the total of all tests and the tests extra credit item
  • Add extra credit points to the overall grade

Delegated Grading

You can assign specific users in your course to grade particular sets of student assignment submissions. Roles with default grading privileges include instructor, teaching assistant, and grader.

This article covers:

  • Why use delegated grading?
  • Enable delegated grading for an assignment or test
  • View grading alerts
  • Grade assigned submissions

Anonymous Grading

Anonymous grading helps instructors reduce bias and maintain fairness when evaluating student work.

This article covers:

  • Why use anonymous grading?
  • Using anonymous grading
  • Limitations and Considerations

Enable Anonymous Grading

You can enable anonymous grading for assignments and tests that don't contain the built-in question types. You may add only text and files to anonymously graded assignments and tests.

This article covers:

  • Settings compatible with anonymous grading
  • Settings not compatible with anonymous grading
  • Multiple anonymous attempts
  • Attempt management and anonymous grading
  • Course conversion and anonymous grading

Grade Anonymously

This article covers:

  • Grade anonymous submissions
  • Late submissions
  • Post all grades
  • Anonymity in the gradebook
  • Anonymous assessments in the Gradable Items view
  • Anonymous submissions in the Grades view
  • Anonymous assessments in the student overview
  • Student view

Parallel Grading

Parallel grading in Blackboard Ultra is a feature that enables multiple instructors, teaching assistants, or graders to independently assess and submit provisional grades for the same student assignment or test. A designated "reconciler"—typically the instructor—reviews these provisional grades, determines the final grade, and posts them.

This article covers:

  • About parallel grading
  • Reconciler privileges
  • Why use parallel grading?
  • Parallel grading workflow
  • Parallel grading and course conversion
  • Watch a video about parallel grading

Enable Parallel Grading

This article covers:

  • About enabling parallel grading
  • Enable parallel grading
  • Assign Graders page
  • Assign graders
  • Assign reconcilers
  • What happens if I unassign users or disallow them course access in the roster?
  • Disable parallel grading

Parallel Grading – Access and Grade Attempts

When you enable parallel grading, graders can only access the assessment attempts assigned to them. 

This article covers:

  • About graders accessing and grading attempts
  • Multiple attempts

Reconcile Grades

When grades are ready to reconcile, you'll receive an activity stream notification and the items appear in the Needs Reconciling section of the Overview tab of the Gradebook.

This article covers:

  • About reconciling grades
  • Reconcile a single attempt
  • Reconcile All
  • Reconcile multiple attempts

Back to Table of Contents

 

Attendance

For each class meeting, you can mark whether a student is present, late, absent, or excused. The attendance records for each student appear in a single column next to other grades. On the Attendance page, profile pictures appear so you can easily identify students.

The article covers the attendance workflow.

Set Up Attendance in the Gradebook

When you access the attendance feature for the first time, you decide if you want to add attendance to your gradebook.

This article covers:

  • Access attendance
  • Add attendance to your gradebook
  • Delete attendance

Manage Attendance

This article covers:

  • Tour the Attendance page
  • Meeting view
  • Overall view
  • Student summary in grade pill
  • Overall course summary
  • Edit a meeting
  • Add a meeting
  • Delete a meeting
  • Exempt a meeting

View Attendance in Grade Center and Gradebook

This article covers:

  • View attendance in the Grade Center
  • View attendance in the gradebook
  • Mobile and tablet views

Attendance Data

This article covers:

  • Export attendance data
  • Attendance and course copy, archive/restore, and export/import
  • Specific scenarios and the results
  • Delete copied course attendance data

Back to Table of Contents

 

Grading Assessments

This section helps instructors understand how to grade assignments and tests efficiently and fairly in Blackboard.

Learn how to access student submissions, apply grades using rubrics or point values, and offer feedback that supports learning.

Whether you're grading automatically scored tests or manually reviewed assignments, these topics guide you through the tools and workflows that make assessment grading clear and consistent.

Access Submission to Grade

You can choose where you want to start grading:

  • From the Activity Stream
  • From the base navigation menu
  • From an assignment
  • From the Gradebook
  • From the Submissions page

This article covers:

  • Access grading from the Activity Stream
  • Access grading from the navigation bar
  • Access grading from an assignment
  • Access grading from the Gradebook
  • Access grading from the Submissions page
  • Details in the Student column
  • View submission timestamps

Attempt Logs

The Attempt Logs report can validate if students have encountered issues while taking an assessment. The logs also help identify signs of academic dishonesty.

Bb Annotate

You can use BB Annotate for inline grading in your courses. Bb Annotate offers a more robust feature set to provide customizable feedback to students. Features include a sidebar summary view, freehand drawing tools, various color selections, and much more.

This article covers:

  • BB Annotate grading workflow
  • Menu options from left to right
  • Watch a video about Annotate in Blackboard

Grade with Rubrics

You can associate a rubric with an assessment, journal, or discussion, then use it for grading. The rubric will appear on the graded item's page. Please note that you can currently only associate one rubric to each item.

This article covers:

  • About grading with a rubric
  • Grade with a rubric
  • Provide feedback on the overall attempt
  • Reuse Rubrics
  • Student view of rubrics
  • Override rubric grades
  • Posted grades
  • Associate a rubric after grading begins
  • Watch a video about grading using a rubric

Grade Assessments With Flexible Grading

Flexible grading is an optimized grading experience that provides instructors with the flexibility to grade in their preferred style.

With flexible grading, you can:

  • Easily review the status of your grading tasks and prioritize your time where it is needed most.
  • Provide inline, multimedia feedback directly to students.
  • Easily access grading rubrics, anti-plagiarism checkers, and more as you work through your grading tasks.

This article covers:

  • Where do I start grading?
  • Grade an assignment or test submission by student
  • Students panel
  • Grade information
  • Submission information
  • Feedback panel
  • Grade a test by question
  • Questions panel
  • Complete/Incomplete assignment grades
  • Grade an assessment with a time limit
  • Post grades
  • Watch a video about Grade Assignments with Flexible Grading
  • Watch a video about flexible grading tests

Grade Group Assignments

After groups submit their assignments, you can access their work from the gradebook or within the course. Assign the same grade to the whole group or grade each team member's contribution separately if everyone didn't contribute equally. You can't change grade settings or group membership after you've started grading.

This article covers:

  • View and edit feedback
  • Student view
  • Assign a different grade to group members
  • Can I move group members after I've graded some work?
  • Group assessment exceptions

Grade Journals

To motivate students to post insightful contributions, you can make a journal count for a grade. When you enable grading for a journal, a column is created automatically in the gradebook.

This article covers:

  • Enable journal grading
  • Basic journal grading workflow
  • Post grades
  • Change a graded journal to ungraded
  • Delete a graded journal

Grade Discussions

To motivate students to post insightful contributions, you can make discussions count for a grade.

Select the Discussion Settings icon to open a panel with options for your discussion. In the Details & Information section, select Grade discussion.

This article covers:

  • Graded discussions
  • Accommodations
  • Watch a video about How to Grade Discussions
  • Grade a discussion

Grade Multiple Attempts

You can allow students to submit more than one attempt for an assessment.

Multiple attempts can help students stay on track, raise the quality of their work, and ultimately improve student success and retention. 

This article covers:

  • Grade calculations and selection for multiple attempts
  • Grade assessments with multiple attempts
  • Give feedback on submission attempts
  • Final grades
  • Student view

Override Grades

You can override a grade by manually entering a different grade to replace the calculated score.

This article covers:

  • Override a grade for multiple attempts
  • Override a grade with an associated rubric
  • Override the overall grade
  • Enter feedback for override grades
  • Posted grades
  • Student view of an override grade

Grant Exceptions and Exemptions

Depending on the circumstances, you may need to extend their due date for the assessment, grant them an additional attempt, or excuse them from the assessment altogether.

This article covers:

  • Clearing a test attempt
  • About exceptions
  • Exceptions and automatic zeros
  • Add an exception after a grade is posted
  • Exceptions and accommodation
  • Create an assessment exception
  • Exemptions
  • Exemptions and exceptions in anonymous assessments
  • Deleting attempts
  • Verifying student submissions
  • Watch a video about grant assessment exceptions

Submission Receipts

When a student submits an assignment or test, a window appears with a submission confirmation number. Students can download a copy of the receipt directly from the window.

Post Grades

This article covers:

  • Areas where you can post grades from
  • Grade post settings
  • Post grades

Back to Table of Contents

 

Work Offline with Grade Data

You can download the full gradebook or selected columns from your courses to work with in another program outside of Blackboard, such as Microsoft Excel to do statistical analysis. You can also make changes to exported grades in another application and then upload them back into Blackboard.

Download Grades from Gradebook

Note: You can't include items that allow anonymous grading, two graders per student, or peer review in the downloaded file.

Download Grade History

The grade history records provide a useful audit trail helpful for addressing, for example, student questions and grade challenges.

Upload a File to Gradebook

This article covers:

  • Upload a file to the gradebook
  • File format guidelines
  • View errors
Print Article

Related Services / Offerings (1)

eLearn/Bb Help
General help with any eLearning Technology, Blackboard or integrations