TABLE OF CONTENTS

• About the Gradebook
• Gradebook Setup Tutorial
• Access the Gradebook
  • Access the Gradebook in Your Course
  • Access the Gradebook from the Global Grades Page
• Gradebook Views
  • Gradebook Overview 
  • Gradable Items View
  • Grades View 
  • Students View
• Set Up The Overall Grade
• Grade Student Work
  • Grade Assignments
  • Grade Peer Review Assignments
  • Grade Tests
  • Grade Discussions
• Automatic Zeroes
• Track and Grade Attendance
• Manage Student Accommodations
• Additional Resources and Support

About the Gradebook

The Gradebook allows you to grade submissions, track student engagement, message students, add student accommodations, send reminders, and more. 

Watch the Gradebook Overview tutorial video for an overview of the Ultra Gradebook.

Gradebook Setup Tutorial

The Gradebook Setup Tutorial walks you through planning and setting up your Gradebook in Blackboard Ultra—starting with outlining your grading structure, creating all gradable content, and adding any remaining manual grade columns. Once set up, your Gradebook will be organized and ready for you to navigate, review, and grade student work efficiently.

Refer to the Gradebook Setup Tutorial for details.

Access the Gradebook

You may access your Gradebook within each of your courses or from the Global Grades Page.

Access the Gradebook in Your Course

From within your course, click on the Gradebook tab. This will bring you to the course's Gradebook. 

Access the Gradebook from the Global Grades Page

From the main Blackboard Navigation, click Grades. This will bring you to the Global Grades Page. Here you will see a list all of your courses (in alphabetical order) and the current status of grading. Locate a course and click on View All Work to go to that course's Gradebook.

Gradebook Views

The Gradebook's intuitive navigation provides four different views: Overview, Gradable Items, Grades, and Students. Each view allows you to view and interact with the content in a different way, depending on your current needs.

Gradebook Overview 

The Gradebook Overview is designed to help you easily stay on top of your grading and features two sections: Needs Grading and Needs Posting.

• Needs Grading: The Needs Grading section highlights the items ready for grading. Click on Grade Now to begin grading.
• Needs Posting: The Needs Posting section highlights the graded items ready to be posted. Click on Post Now to post the grades.

Gradable Items View

The Gradable Items view lists all the gradable items in your course. When you create a gradable item in your Course Content (ex Assignment, Test, graded Discussion, etc.) a column will be added to the Gradebook automatically. Items with missing submissions after the due date will display in red.

Select an item’s name to go to its Submissions or Grades & Participation page. Or select x to grade to go directly to the submission page and start grading.

Use the column filters at the top of the page to sort your Gradebook by item name, category, due date, or grading status.

Or manually arrange your Gradebook items by clicking on the Move icon (arrows) on the far right. Drag your item into the desired position in the Gradebook.

Click on the More Options icon (three dots) in the far right column for additional options, including send a reminder to students, edit the item, download files, statistics, or to delete the item. The options will vary depending on your Gradebook item and student activity.

Grades View 

The Grades view displays each student’s grade for a specific assignment. When you create a gradable item in your Course Content (ex Assignment, Test, graded Discussion, etc.) a column will be added to the Gradebook automatically. You will see one student per row and one gradable item per column. 

Click on a cell to view a student’s submission and start grading, provide feedback, or add/edit exceptions.

Use the column filters at the top of the page to sort your Gradebook by student name, Overall grade, or grade on a specific item.  

Click on a Gradebook item for additional options, including send a reminder to students, view submissions, question analysis,, post grades, download results, download submissions, statistics, or delete the item. The options will vary depending on your Gradebook item and student activity.

Students View

The Students view lists the students in your course, along with the date they last accessed your course and their overall grade. Students with accommodations have a purple flag next to their name. 

Click on a student's name to go to their Student Overview. Here you will find your student's name, their preferred pronouns and name pronunciation (if they provided that information), the date they last accessed your course, and their Overall Grade. You may also view their activity in the course, add or manage accommodations, send a message, or click on an item to grade their work and provide feedback.

Set Up The Overall Grade

The Overall Grade Column is a calculated column that shows the students' current grades in the course. It appears in the Gradebook next to the students' names so you and your students can quickly and easily see how they are performing.

To set up or edit your Overall Grade column, go to the Gradebook and click Settings (gear icon). This icon is available from all Gradebook views.

This will open the Gradebook Settings panel. Scroll down to the Overall Grade section and select Manage overall grade settings.

This will open your Overall Grade. Under Select a Calculation Type, choose how you would like to calculate your overall grade.

• Points grade calculation: A points-based grade calculation displays a running total of the points students have earned out of the total number of points they may earn. 
• Weighted grade calculation: A weighted total displays as a percentage of a final grade worth 100%. You can assign percentages to individual items or categories and decide to weigh the items proportionally or equally.
• Advanced grade calculation: Use a custom formula to calculate the overall grade.

In the Overall Grade Settings area, select how the overall grade is displayed (points, percentage, letter, etc.). Check the option to Calculate grades based on points earned out of total graded points so that students can see their current grade in the course based on the assignments that they have already completed. 

Once you have finished, click Save. Then close the window to return to the Gradebook.

For more information, refer to the Overall Grade Column support article or watch the Set up the Overall Grade video.  

Grade Student Work

Grade Assignments

Blackboard Ultra features Flexible Grading, providing instructors with the flexibility to grade in their preferred style. With Flexible Grading you can easily find and review the status of your grading tasks, provide inline and/or multimedia feedback to your students, and easily access and grade with rubrics.

For more information, refer to the Grade Assessments support page or watch the Grade Assignments with Flexible Grading tutorial video.

Once your students submit their assignments, you can begin grading. Assignments are graded from the Assignment's Submission page. You may access this page from three areas:

• From Base Navigation: Click on Grades to access your Global Gradebook, locate your course, and select the assignment you want to grade. 
• From your Course Gradebook: Click on the Gradebook tab in your course and locate your assignment. You may access it from the Overview, Gradable Items, or the Grades tab. 
• From within your assignment: Open your assignment and click on the Submissions tab.

Once you have arrived on the Submissions page, select a student's name to begin.

This will open the grading page. your student's submission will appear in the middle of the page with panels on the left and right side. You may click on the arrows to expand or collapse the Students Panel and the Feedback and Rubrics Panel. If your student has submitted more than one file, they will appear on separate tabs above the Bb Annotate tools. 

Did your student submit multiple attempts? Refer to the Grade Multiple Attempts support article for more information.

As you review your student's submission, you may use the Bb Annotate tools for inline grading. The Bb Annotate toolbar appears above the submission and offers robust inline grading features, including a sidebar summary view, drawing and highlighting tools, inline commenting, and more.

If you prefer to grade offline or provide inline grading and feedback using another tool (such as MS Word), click the Download button to download the original file.

If you are using a grading rubric, expand the Feedback and Rubrics Panel to access the rubric. 

You may either use the stacked-view rubric in the side panel or select the expand icon to open the grid-view rubric and Overall Feedback in a separate, moveable window. For each criterion, click the grade pill to select the student's performance level. You may also provide text-based feedback for each criterion. As you grade, the Rubric Score will update automatically. 

For more information and detailed instructions, refer to the Grade with Rubrics support article or watch the Grade Using Rubrics tutorial video.

Click on the Grade Pill at the top of the page to enter your student's score. If you graded the assignment using a rubric, the score will be added to the Grade Pill automatically.

Once you have graded the submission, expand the Feedback and Rubrics Panel to provide your student with feedback. 

You will provide feedback to your student in the Overall Feedback area. Use the text/content editor to enter and format text, upload a file, link to resources, record audio/video feedback, and more. 

Once you have finished, select the next student to grade. You may expand the Students Panel and select a student or click on the arrows at the top of the page to bring up the next submission.

Once you have finished grading you will need to post the grades so that students can review their grades and feedback.

From the Submissions page, open the Students Panel and click Post Grades.

Or, navigate to your course Gradebook, locate the Assignment, and click Post. This option may be found in all Gradebook views.

Refer to the Post Grades support page for more information and detailed instructions.

Grade Peer Review Assignments

Throughout the peer review process, instructors can monitor student progress from the assignment's Submissions tab. Instructors can see who has submitted their assignment, their grading status, the status of their peer reviews, and their grade.

Once you are ready to grade, click on a student's name to open their submission and reviews.

Review the student's submission. You may use the Bb Annotate options at the top of the submission to highlight text, add comments, zoom in or out, use freehand drawing tools, and more. For more information and detailed instructions, refer to the Bb Annotate support article or watch the Annotate in Blackboard Learn tutorial video.

Below the student's submission you may find the feedback that they gave their peers. You can see which students they reviewed and review the feedback.

In the Feedback Panel, you can review the feedback other students have provided, give your own feedback, and assign the student a grade.

Once you have finished grading, Post your grades. Students will not be able to review their peers' feedback until the grades are posted.

For more information, refer to the Self and Peer Assessment in Blackboard Ultra support article.

Grade Tests

You will grade your Test from the Test's Submissions page. You may access this page from multiple areas:

Base Navigation: Click on Grades, locate the course, and select the Test you want to grade.

Course Gradebook: Click on the Gradebook tab in your course and locate your Test. You may access it from the Overview tab, Gradable Items tab or the Grades tab.

Test: From within your Test, click on the Submissions tab.

Once you have arrived on the Submissions page, select a student's name to view their test and begin grading.

When you open the test you will see three panels. The Students/Questions panel, the Submissions panel, and the Feedback panel. You may expand or collapse the Students and Feedback panels by clicking on the arrows.

Grade Test by Student

In the Students/Questions Panel, select Students to grade the test by student. Use the Grading Status filter to display all students or select the Needs Grading filter to focus on remaining grading work.

Select a student to begin.

The student's test will be shown in the Submissions panel in the center of the screen. 

If the question(s) are graded automatically you will see the students' scores for each question. Select a question's Feedback button to add feedback specific to the student's response.

If the question(s) are not graded automatically, you may enter a score in the question's grade pill. Select a question's Feedback button to add feedback specific to the student's response. Use the Record Audio and Video Feedback option to add a video or audio recording of your feedback. Students can watch or listen to your feedback alongside any text you include.

Once you have finished grading the test, you may provide some overall feedback to your student in the Feedback panel. Use the Record Audio and Video Feedback option to add a video or audio recording of your feedback. Students can watch or listen to your feedback alongside any text you include.

Once you have finished grading, you may move on to the next student by selecting their name from the Students panel or by clicking on the Previous Student and Next Student options at the top of the page.

Click Post Grades in the Students panel to post your students' grades.

Additional information and detailed instructions may be found on the Grade Assessments with Flexible Grading support article.

Grade Test by Questions

In the Students/Questions Panel, select Questions to grade the test by question. This will display all of the student responses for an individual question. This is especially useful when grading essay questions. 

Use the Grading Status filter to display all students or select the Needs Grading filter to focus on remaining grading work.

Select a question to begin.

If the question(s) are graded automatically you will see the students' scores for each question. Select a question's Feedback button to add feedback specific to the student's response. Use the Record Audio and Video Feedback option to add a video or audio recording of your feedback. Students can watch or listen to your feedback alongside any text you include.

If the question(s) are not graded automatically, you may enter a score in the question's grade pill. Select a question's Feedback button to add feedback specific to the student's response. Use the Record Audio and Video Feedback option to add a video or audio recording of your feedback. Students can watch or listen to your feedback alongside any text you include.

Once you have finished grading, you may move on to the next question by selecting it from the Questions panel or by clicking on the Previous Question and Next Question options at the top of the page.

Additional information may be found on the Grade Assessments with Flexible Grading support article.

Grade Discussions

Watch the How to Grade Discussions tutorial video for an overview of grading Discussions.

By default, discussions are not a graded activity. If you would like to grade your discussion, go into the Discussion Settings and select Grade Discussion. Once selected, you will see additional settings, including due dates and participation requirements, maximum points, and the option to attach a rubric.  

Refer to Grade Discussions: Discussion Grade Settings for detailed information. 

Once your students post their discussion responses and replies, you can begin grading. Discussions are graded from the discussion's Grades & Participation page. You may access this page from the Gradebook or from within your discussion.

From your course Gradebook: Click on the Gradebook tab in your course and locate your discussion. You may access it from the Gradable Items view or the Grades view.

From within your discussion: Open your discussion and click on the Grades & Participation tab.

Once you arrive on the Grades & Participation tab, you will see a list of all of the students in your course, whether they have participated in the discussion, their grading status, and their grade. Click on a student's name to begin grading their work. 

Your student's posts and replies are highlighted so that you can read their contributions in context. You will also be able to view a discussion analysis highlighting the student's participation, sentence complexity, and critical thinking level.

To enter a grade, click on the grade pill at the top of the page and enter the student's grade.

If you are grading with a rubric, clicking on the grade pill will open the Rubric Details panel. Assign a performance level to each criterion by selecting the desired score pill. The grade will update automatically.

To provide feedback to your student, click on the Feedback icon (+) at the top of the page.

This will open the Feedback panel. Enter your feedback and used the text/content editor to format your text, add a link or attachment, etc. All feedback will remain private between you and the student.

Use the Record Audio and Video Feedback option to add a video or audio recording of your feedback. Students can watch or listen to your feedback alongside any text you include.

Click Save to save your changes.

Once you have finished grading the student, you may click on the arrow at the top of the page to grade the next student. Or click on the green X to close the window and return to the Grades & Participation page.

For additional information and detailed instructions, refer to the Grade Discussions support article.

Automatic Zeroes

You can choose to automatically assign zeroes to work that is not turned in by the due date. If allowed, students can still submit work after the due date and you can grade it as normal. 

Note: Students with due date accommodations will not receive automatic zeroes for overdue work.

To assign or unassign automatic zeroes, go to the Gradebook and click Settings (gear icon). This icon is available from all Gradebook views.

This will open the Gradebook Settings panel. Scroll down to the Automatic Zeroes section and select or unselect the box to assign automatic zeroes.

Track and Grade Attendance

You can use the Attendance tool to track your students' attendance. You may also include Attendance as part of your students' Overall Grade.

From the Course Content page, go to the Details & Actions menu and select Mark Attendance. 

This will bring you to the Attendance tool. The first time you access the tool you will be prompted to Add Attendance.

Once you Add Attendance, the Settings panel will open. In the Attendance Vales section you may change the attendance value for Late, though Present will remain fixed at 100% and Absent will remain fixed at 0%. You will also have the option to include an Excused option.  

You may use Attendance as a grade or toggle the option off to track attendance but not have it count towards your students' Overall Grade. Click Save to save your changes.

Once the Attendance tool has been set up, you may begin tracking your students' Attendance. 

Use the Meeting view to track the day's attendance.

Use the Overall view to view attendance history, create new meeting dates, or view summary statistics.

For more information and detailed instructions, refer to the Attendance support article or watch the Attendance Tracking tutorial video.

Manage Student Accommodations

Blackboard Ultra offers different ways of accommodating your students, depending on your their needs. This may include extended due dates on Assignments and Tests, untimed Tests, an exemption from a course activity, or early access to course content.

• Set Assignment and Test Accommodations: You can set Accommodations for individual students to allow for extended due dates and additional time to complete tests. Accommodations are tied to the individual student and are applied to all Assignments and Tests within the course. Students will not see the accommodations that you have added.
• Grant Assessment Exceptions: When special circumstances arise, you can give an individual student an Exception for a specific assessment. You may give the student additional submission attempts, reschedule the due date, or extend access to the assessment. Exceptions are tied to the specific Assignment or Test and do not affect other assessments in the course. 
• Exempt students from a graded activity: In some circumstances you may need to exempt a student from an assessment or course activity. Exemptions can be applied to any item in the Gradebook including Assignments, Tests, Discussions, Journals, and more. Exemptions are tied to the specific Gradebook item and do not affect other course activities. When a Gradebook item is exempt, it will not be included in the student's Overall Grade calculation, marked late, or assigned an Automatic Zero. 
• Set Release Conditions: You may set release conditions to determine when content is available to students. If you have a student, or group of students, who needs access to content earlier than the rest of the class you may set rules to give students early access. You may set Release Conditions for any item in your Course Content, including Learning Modules, Folders, Ultra Documents, Assignments, Tests, and more.

For more information and detailed instructions, refer to the Manage Student Accommodations in Blackboard Ultra support article.

Additional Resources and Support

Gradebook Setup Tutorial

This guide walks you through planning and setting up your Gradebook in Blackboard Ultra—starting with outlining your grading structure, creating all gradable content, and adding any remaining manual grade columns: Gradebook Setup Tutorial.

Faculty Quick Start Guide

This guide contains instructions and tutorial videos to get you started with Ultra Course View: Blackboard Ultra Course View Faculty Quick Start Guide. 

Student Quick Start Guide

This guide contains information for students taking an Ultra course: Taking Your First Ultra Course? Here's What You Need to Know.

Blackboard Ultra Training Options

Choose the training option that best suits your needs! Whether you prefer to go at it alone, or want extra support and training on your journey, we have an Ultra training for you: Blackboard Ultra Training Options.

Unable to attend one of our trainings? Email elis@lesley.edu to set up an appointment or request a small group training.

Faculty Online Office Hours

Have questions about myLesley? Need assistance? Join the eLIS staff for our weekly online office hours every Monday and Thursday, 2:00 - 4:00 ET. No appointment necessary: Join eLIS Online Office Hours.

Contact Us

Reach out to eLearning and Instructional Support (eLIS) at elis@lesley.edu with any questions or to request a 1:1 or small group training.