Upgrade to Blackboard 7 - Gradebook
Running weighted total
The main change to the gradebook in Blackboard 7 is a meaningful running weighted total, which excludes ungraded items, and which accurately reflects how a student is doing at any given point in the course. This is best illustrated with an example:
Consider a course with 5 graded assignments:
- History quiz: 10% of final grade
- Midterm paper: 20% of final grade
- Oral presentation: 10% of final grade
- Participation: 20% of final grade
- Final paper: 40% of final grade
If a student receives a C on the history quiz, his or her running weighted total at that point would be a C for the course (as if the history quiz accounted for 100% of the final grade). If the student then gets an A on the midterm paper, his or her running weighted total would be a B+ (as if the history quiz accounted for one third and the midterm paper for two thirds of the final grade). In other words, the running weighted total includes only graded assignments, and dynamically re-weights assignments accordingly.
This feature is enabled by default. Here is how an instructor can enable this setting manually:
- Click on Control Panel
- Click on Gradebook
- Click on the column heading Running Weighted Total
- Click on Item Information
- Make sure that the toggle next to "Exempt items that have not been graded" is set to "Yes"
Play demo video of running weighted total
More options when entering grades
Every gradebook item now has three data columns for entering grades. To enter grades, click on the column heading for any gradebook item, and then click on Item Grade List.
For gradebook items automatically calculated by Blackboard (such as Blackboard quizzes), the three columns are the following:
- Calculated Grade: This column is used by the Blackboard system when calculating grades automatically (for example, from a Blackboard on-line quiz).
- Override: This column allows an instructor to override a grade calculated by Blackboard, without deleting Blackboard's record.
- Current Grade: This column clarifies which grade is displayed to the student.
For gradebook items manually graded by the instructor, the three columns are the following:
- Manual Grade: This is the column into which an instructor manually enter their grade list for an assignment graded manually (e.g. a term paper).
- Override: This column allows an instructor to override a grade without deleting their original grade for the student's work.
- Current Grade: This column clarifies which grade is displayed to the student.
