VOLUME 6

Issue 11

November 2012

THANKFUL FOR THE BLACKBOARD GRADE CENTER

This Issue Exploring the Grade Center P. 1

Countdown to Holidays P. 1

Exploring the Grade Center P. 2

Exploring the Grade Center P. 3

Exploring the Functions of the Grade Center

TechKnow

With Thanksgiving

right around the

corner, let us take a

moment and be

thankful for all that

we have. Also, let us

not forget to thank

those who have served

our nation on

Veteran’s Day.

BE THANKFUL!

With the end of the semester quickly approaching, it is likely that you as well as your

students will be using/viewing the Grade Center more often. For many students the

Grade Center is one of the most important places within Blackboard as it lets them

gauge their progress and grade within the course. Thus, it is important that the grade

center is well organized. This TechKnow edition is dedicated primarily to showcasing

the great tools available at your disposal with the Grade Center as well as how to

organize your Grade Center in a logical and organized manner.

Countdown to Holidays:

(from today)

Thanksgiving (November 22nd) - 8 days

Beginning of Advent (December 2nd) - 18 days

Beginning of Hanukah (December 9th)- 25 days

Christmas (December 25th) - 41 days

Kwanza (December 26th) - 42 days

Fall II DE Course Schedule P. 3

DE Faculty and Staff P. 3

The Grade Center has a lot of great functions for instructors. Below are several

tutorials on how to organize and use the Grade Center:

Exploring the Functions of the Grade Center, Cont.

Creating a well organized Grade Center is not only helpful for you as an instructor but

also for the student as they check their grades.

Once you have opened up the Full Grade Center, select Manage from the

Grade Center menu bar. Click on Column

Organization. From this page you are able to drag

and drop various columns around in the grade

center. You can organize by due date, type of

assignment, overall point values, etc. To drag and

drop, simply click on the four arrows as shown.

Also, from the Column Organization page you are able to drag and drop

various columns to above the “frozen bar”. Everything above the frozen

bar will appear on the left hand side of the Grade Center even when you

scroll over to view other grade columns. For example, you could freeze

the weighted grade column, last access column, etc.

Apart from having a well organized Grade Center, students also appreciate feedback from the instructor

about their grade. Were points taken off for a late-submission or not completing the full assignment?

Were points added for a curve or extra credit? There are several ways to provide feedback.

For example, when reviewing a quiz or paper from the Grade Attempt option, you can simply leave a

comment in the Feedback to User text box. Notes posted under Grading Notes are not visible to the stu-

dent. The following are steps to leave a comment for a student directly from the Grade Center homepage:

Select the drop-down arrow in the grade box for a particular student

under a specific grade column

Select Quick Comment

Leave a comment in the Feedback to User textbox. (The Textbox

editor is available by selecting Textbox Editor at the bottom)

Select Submit

Exploring the Functions of the Grade Center

Another way to organize your Grade Center is to “hide”

unused or duplicate grade columns from student view.

However, there are several different hide options available.

You have the option to hide a column just from the

instructor’s view of the Grade Center (students are still able

to view the column) or you can hide the column from student

view (the instructor is still able to view the column).

Below are instructions on how to complete both of these

options:

Hide Grade Column from Student View:

From the drop-down arrow of

the respective grade column,

select Show/Hide to Users.

This will hide the column from

student view. The grade column

will now display a beside the

grade column title indicating it is

hidden. Follow the same steps

to make the column reappear

for student view.

Hide Grade Column from Instructor View:

From the drop-down arrow of the

respective grade column, select

Hide Column. This will hide the

column from the instructor view

only (students can still see the

grade column). Once you select

this option the column will

completely disappear from view.

To make the column available

again, from the Manage menu

bar drop-down arrow, select

Column Organization. Locate

the hidden grade column (will be faded). Select the checkbox

beside the item and scroll to the bottom of the page. Select

Show/Hide followed by Show Selected Columns. Click

Submit.

Distance Education Staff:

Katherine Spradley

Director of Distance Education

Jessica Hatcher Instructional Design & Training Coordinator

Amanda Batten DE Faculty Mentor & Trainer

Jane Strother DE Faculty Mentor & Trainer

Marty Blackmon DE Coordinator

Email: disted@campbell.edu

www.campbellde.com

Fall II DE Course Schedule:

November: November 12th - Veteran’s Day

November 21st - 24th - Thanksgiving Break

December: December 8th - Courses End

December 10th - Grades Due