Author: Janice Florent

The Grade Center is more than just a way to record students' grades. It's a dynamic and interactive tool, allowing instructors to record data, calculate grades, and monitor student progress. In addition to being able to record grades, instructors can track student work and share private comments and feedback with students throughout the semester.

The Grade Center is integrated with gradable items such as tests, assignments, discussion boards, blogs, journals, wikis, and ungraded items, such as surveys and self-assessments. Instructors can create Grade Center columns for activities and/or requirements done outside of Blackboard, such as exams given on paper, oral presentations, and participation.

Students also benefit when their instructor uses the Grade Center. Students have the opportunity to adjust their approach to learning to improve their performance when they see their grades and instructor feedback.

Follow these steps to do it.

Listed below are links to previous Bb tips on using the Grade Center:

• Setting up the Grade Center (PDF)
• Create calculated column
• Color coding Grade Center columns
• Using categories
• Smart Views
• Needs grading
• Weighting grades
• Understanding weighted grades
• Row visibility

Want more information?

Working with the Grade Center
Try these Blackboard How-To documents
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center
Visit our Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

The Grade Center allows you to create weighted grade columns. There are several different ways to calculate weighted totals in the Grade Center.

For example, you can calculate a weighted total:

• by item
• by category
• by weighted running total
• when dropping the lowest score from a category
• in categories with equally weighted items consisting of different point values
• in categories with proportionally weighted items consisting of different point values

Want more information?

Understanding Weighted Grades
Grade Center - Weighting Grades
Grade Center - Categories
Try these Blackboard How-To documents
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center
Visit our Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Categories can integrate with Grade Center calculated columns such as Weighted Grade Column, Total Points Column, or Average Grade Column. For example, you could weight your grades by categories assigning 20% of the final grade to the category "Assignments," 30% to the category "Tests," 20% to the "Project," and 10% each to the categories "Discussions," "Blogs," and "Journal" as shown in this example:

The total of all the categories should equal 100%.

Categories are useful when you want to drop grades. Use categories to drop the lowest grade (or a number of grades) and then include the result in Grade Center calculations. Alternatively, you can use the highest grade in a category to include in Grade Center calculations. Regardless of how many items are in each category (as shown by the white circles in the pie chart example above), the category weight remains the same.

Additionally, you can create an Average grade column to calculate statistics for all columns that are in a particular category. Gradable items that are in that category would automatically be included in the average calculation.

Categories are helpful in organizing and utilizing the Grade Center. If you assign columns to categories you would be able to sort the Grade Center by a specific category to compare how the students scored in the category.

You can use categories with Smart Views in order to have only columns associated to specific category or categories shown in the Smart View.

Follow these steps to do it.

To create categories:

1. Goto the [Control Panel] for the course and click on the [Grade Center] link to expand it. Click on [Full Grade Center].
2. Roll your mouse over [Manage] on the menu bar and select [Categories] from the drop down menu.
3. Click on the [Create Category] button.
4. Enter a name for the Category then click [Submit].

To edit/delete categories:

1. Goto the [Control Panel] for the course and click on the [Grade Center] link to expand it. Click on [Full Grade Center].
2. Roll your mouse over [Manage] on the menu bar and select [Categories] from the drop down menu.
3. Roll your mouse over the category you would like to like to edit/delete then click on the arrow to the right of the category name. Select the appropriate action from the shortcut menu.

NOTE: You can delete any category you created as long as the category is not in use. Default categories cannot be deleted. Categories currently in use will not have the Delete option.

Want more information?

Grade Center - Categories (PDF)
Grade Center - Weighting Grades
Grade Center - Smart Views
Try these Blackboard How-To documents
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center
Visit our Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

A weighted grade column is a calculated column that displays the calculated result of component parts (columns and/or categories); each part is worth some percentage of the total. You can create a weighted grade based on any column and/or category in the Grade Center. For example, you can create a weighted grade column that calculates the final grade for the course. Categories such as Test, Discussion, and Assignment would be given a certain percentage of the final grade along with the percentage for other grade columns (e.g. Mid-term, Final Exam).

Follow these steps to do it.

To add a weighted column to the Grade Center:

1. Go to the [Control Panel] of the course you want to add a weighted column. Click on the [Grade Center] link to expand it.
2. Click on [Full Grade Center].
3. Move the mouse over the [Add Calculated Column] button and select [Weighted] from the drop down menu.
4. Enter a name that describes what the weighted grade column is in the Name field. Grade Center display name and description are optional.
5. Select how you would like the results of the weighted grade to be shown by clicking on the pull down arrow and selecting primary display from the list. Secondary display is optional and will only be shown in the Grade Center.
6. In the select columns section, choose which grade columns and/or categories will be used in the calculation of the weighted grade by clicking on the grade column or category and then clicking on the respective arrow to move the column/category over to the selected columns area.
7. Enter the weight percentage to be applied to each column/category you selected. The total weight must equal 100%.
8. When selecting a category you can choose to weigh columns equally or proportionally and whether to drop grades in the category or to use the highest or lowest grade in the category.
9. Choose whether to calculate the weighted grade as a running total which would include only the columns that have been graded in the calculation.
10. In the options section you should indicate whether you want to include this weighted grade column in grade center calculations, show the weighted grade column in My Grades, and show statistics for the weighted grade column in My Grades. My Grades is what is shown to your students when they go into your course.
11. Click [Submit] when you are finished entering all your information and selecting the options. The weighted grade column will be added as the last column in the Grade Center.

Want more information?

Grade Center - Weighting Grades (PDF)
Try these Blackboard How-To documents.
Explore Blackboard’s On Demand Learning Center.
Visit our Blackboard FAQs for additional blackboard information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.