Understanding Grade Columns in Blackboard

Question

How do I understand grade columns in Blackboard?

Environment

• Blackboard

Answer

Grade columns in Blackboard are used to display the grades for different activities in your course. They can be created automatically for gradable items, such as tests and assignments, or manually created for activities that took place outside of class.

There are three types of grade columns:

1. User columns display information about the students, such as their name, username, and last access date.
2. Calculated columns display the results of a calculation, such as the student's overall grade or their average for a category.
3. Grade columns display the grade for a specific activity.

Each grade column has a menu that allows you to edit the column's settings, such as its name, category, and grading period. You can also choose whether to show the column to students in My Grades and whether to include it in calculations.

Tips

• The Grade Center Name is the name that the column will display in the Grade Center. This name is only visible to instructors.
• The Primary Display option determines how the grade will be displayed in the Grade Center. The default option is Score, but you can also choose to display the grade as a Letter, Percentage, or Complete/Incomplete.
• The Secondary Display option allows you to display additional information about the grade in the Grade Center. For example, you could use this option to display the date the grade was submitted or the grading schema that was used.
• The Category option allows you to group grade columns together. This can be helpful for filtering and sorting grades.
• The Grading Period option allows you to associate the grade column with a specific grading period. This can be helpful for tracking grades over time.
• The Due Date option allows you to specify a due date for the activity. This can be helpful for tracking student progress and for generating alerts if an assignment is not submitted on time.
• The Options section allows you to control whether the grade column is visible to students in My Grades and whether it is included in calculations.

Please view this Blackboard Help article to learn more about grade columns.