At first glance, the Blackboard grade book may look complicated, but we have broken it down into five easy steps. Here are the 5 easy steps you need for setting up your Blackboard grade book.
1. Grading Schema (set up the letter grade scale for your course)
2. Setup Categories (Blackboard has example categories so it will recognize items that will automatically be sent to the grade book, like journals, blogs, and tests. You can set up your own.
3. Column Organization (used to change the order of the columns and double-check if the number of points possible is correct. Scroll down the Help page until you see a title for Column Organization).
4. Create Columns (used for entering grades for paper assignments).
5. Create Calculated Columns (used for assigning weights to categories, i.e. assignments are worth 20% of the course grade, exams worth 30% etc).
Keeping these five steps in mind will help to wrangle an unruly grade book. Need help? Contact a member of the TEI team to set up a grade book consultation.
Once you have set up your grade book. You may decide you want to Print Your Gradebook.
Additional Reading
- How to Print Blackboard Gradebooks
- A Grading Strategy for Online Discussions
- How Do I View My Instructor’s Comments in Blackboard?
- Overriding Multiple Attempts in Blackboard
Dr. Cori Dunagan
Cori is the Coordinator for Academic Computing at Jamestown Community College. Cori came to JCC in 2009 with over 15 years of experience in distance education at State University Systems in New York and Pennsylvania. Her responsibilities include faculty training and coordination of both synchronous distance learning technology using video conferencing through both ITV and webinar technology as well as online learning and co-administering the Blackboard Learning Management System. She has B. S. and M.S. degrees in communication, both from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and PhD. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Communications Media and Instructional Technology program where her areas of research include quality online instruction, online student persistence and emerging technologies impact on higher education.
