Gradebook for Students
The gradebook is where students can view grades and feedback on coursework submitted in Blackboard.
Accessing your Gradebook
When you open your course in Ultra view, you will now see your course navigation listed as links across the top of the course page.
Click "Gradebook" in the navigation menu at the top of the course page.
When the Gradebook opens, you will see a listed view of your assignments, information/notifications about graded items, and your current overall grade.
Organizing your view in Gradebook
Once in your Gradebook, you can use the arrows next to the column titles to organize how you view your assignments. You may choose to view your assignments based on:
- Item Name - A view of grade items in alphabetical order. This can be helpful if you're looking for a specific titled item.
- Due Date - A view that can show you oldest to newest items, or newest to oldest. Click the arrows once to bring the oldest items to the top, click the arrows twice to view the newer items towards the top.
- Status - Statuses for items include: Past Due, Unopened, Submitted, and Graded. Click the arrows once to organize grade items in the listed order just provided. Click twice to list grade items in the reversed status order.
- Grade - Sort by lowest to highest or highest to lowest grade by clicking the arrows once or twice. This can be helpful when monitoring which grades have posted or grade items that may offer multiple attempts.
- Feedback - By clicking the arrows twice, you can bring graded items with feedback to the top of your list
Notifications in the Gradebook
You may see different icons in your Gradebook view:
Red alert: This icon indicates when you have received an "Automatic Zero." Some instructors assign automatic zeros when no submission has been made by the assignment's due date.
Hover over the icon for information regarding whether or not submissions are still being accepted.
Rubric grid: This icon indicates that your assignment was graded (or will be graded) via a rubric that was attached to the assignment. See the "Rubric Grading Feedback" section of this page for more information.
Comment bubble: This pink icon indicates that your course instructor has left written feedback for you to review regarding your assignment submission.
A comment bubble may not appear in your main Gradebook view if the comment was left regarding a specific criterion of a grading rubric.
If there is feedback regarding any rubric criteria, you will see the pink comment bubble when you view the Grading Rubric results. See the "Rubric Grading Feedback" section of this page for more information.
Viewing Feedback on Assignments/Tests
Written Feedback from Instructor
In the Gradebook view, click anywhere on the assignment that contains the feedback you wish to view. The assignment details will appear in a sidebar menu on the right side of your screen.
When the sidebar menu appears, click on the feedback comment bubble to open your graded submission.
This will open your graded submission and you will see your instructor's feedback displayed on the right side of your screen.
Rubric Grading Feedback
If your submission was graded via a rubric, you can view this feedback following the same steps listed above.
Once you have entered the page displaying your submission and instructor feedback, you will see a "Rubric" drop down menu listed above the Feedback section. Click the arrow to the right in order to display the rubric criteria scores.
When your rubric score is displayed, you will see each of the criterion that was used to grade your submission, as well as the individual score you earned for each.
In order to view further details about an individual criterion (the different levels of accomplishment, descriptions for level of success, etc.), click the down arrow next to the criterion you wish to view.
Additionally, if a criterion shows a pink comment bubble next to the grade, this indicates that the instructor left individual feedback in regards to that particular criterion.
Although available criterion feedback is marked with the pink comment bubble, the feedback can often be overlooked when the criterion details are expanded. Be sure to note any criterion feedback listed above the leveled indicators of success.
Test Question Feedback
Some instructors choose to show students correct answers to tests at specified times. These answers could be shown immediately upon submission, or some instructors choose to only show correct answers once all grades have been posted for that assignment.
If correct answers are available, you can view these in the same way you would view any of the former feedback options:
- Open your Gradebook view.
- Click on the assignment for which you wish to view correct answers
- When the sidebar menu opens, click on "Your Grade" under the Grading subcategory.
When viewing your graded test, answers that were submitted correctly will appear in green and answers the were submitted incorrectly will appear in red. If an incorrect answer was submitted, the correct answer will be displayed below the question or, in the case of multiple choice questions, the word "Correct" will be written in italics on the right answer.
Not all instructors provide correct answers for graded tests. If you have submitted your test and correct answers will be provided at a later time, you will see a notification alerting you when correct answers will be posted. Additionally, some instructors choose to not display the individual question scores until after all grades are submitted. This notification will also be provided in the test submission view.
A note on downloading submissions receipts
WARNING
When you submit an assignment or test, a pop up message will appear from Blackboard asking if you would like to download your submission receipt. While Blackboard does send an email receipt of successful submissions, it is still highly recommended that you click "Download Submission" whenever you receive this prompt from Blackboard. The email receipt can be used to prove that the system registered a submission from you account, but this email will not contain any data that may have been submitted. When you click "Download" you will have a local digital copy of your submission to use in case your submission were to be lost or corrupted.
