BlackBoard Question of the Week

Q. I have labs, tests and quizzes in Blackboard that are out of order – how can I move the columns in the Grade Center into the order that I want?

A. To permanently reorder your Grade Center columns, follow these steps:

1. In the Grade Center, click on Manage.
2. Choose Organize Grade Center from the drop down menu.
3. Once in the Organize Grade Center page you will see the instructions telling you that you can move grade columns by “dragging” the column to the desired location.
4. Move your columns into the desired locations.
5. Click on Submit. This last step is very important – if you don’t click the Submit button, you will lose the changes.

For more information on the Grade Center, visit this link: Blackboard Grade Center

Q. Is there a good tutorial or workshop available on setting up and using the Grade Center so I can maximize features?

A. Visit this link to find online documentation and videos for help with basic features of the Grade Center: Blackboard Grade Center .

 If you find that you need additional assistance you can come to a Blackboard Dropin on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. in the Information Commons, Room 221, LSC. These are first come, first served, and are devoted to Grade Center questions.

If these times are not convenient you can schedule a one-on-one Teaching with Technology (TWT) clinic. Visit this link for more information about TWTs Teaching with Technology Clinics and email Blackboard@luc.edu to ask questions or to schedule time during a clinic .

Q. I cannot see more than one student in the Grade Center.  How can I get the Grade Center to list more than one student? 

A. There are several possibilities for getting the Grade Center to list more students:

1. Remove (or hide) any unnecessary tool bars from the browser display.
2. If you are using a Windows PC, press the F11 key on the keyboard to see a full browser screen display. To return to the regular display, press F11 again.
3. Adjust the screen resolution on your computer monitor. You must have your screen resolution set to 1024 by 768 pixels in order to see more than one person in your Grade Center view. To set your screen resolution:

• Click on the Start button on your Desktop page.
• Choose Settings > Control Panel.
• In the Control Panel, click on Display.
• In the Display dialog box, click on Settings.
• In the Settings dialog box, locate the Screen Resolution bar and move the marker until you see the 1024 by 768 pixels appear under the marker arrow. Click on Apply.
• You will receive a message that your desktop has been reconfigured. Click on Yes.
• Your new settings will be put into place. Refresh your Blackboard browser window and you should now see more than one student appearing in the Grade Center.

To adjust screen resolution on a Mac:

• Select System Preferences from your Dock or within Applications.
• Under Hardware, select Displays.
• Select the highest available resolution.

Q. How can I, as faculty, see the maximum points available for a given grade item and for the course as a whole?  I see what I’ve assigned to students, and their totals, but not the original “points possible.”

A. You can see points possible for any item for which points are assigned in the Grade Center by clicking on the double arrow beside the column heading and selecting Quick Column Information. You can also see this information by clicking in any cell in a column and looking at the Grade Information Bar, located over the column headers in the spreadsheet: this row shows grade type, points possible, how the grade is displayed (score, percentage, etc.) and whether the grade is visible to students.

 You can see points possible for the entire course by reviewing Quick Column Information for the Total column.

 Q. I am entering grades, and I would like to view only one student at a time in the Grade Center – is there a way to do that?

A. You can work with only one student at a time in the spreadsheet view of the Grade Center by creating a Smart View. Here are the steps to create a Smart View:

1. Click the Manage menu button in the Full Grade Center.
2. Select Smart Views.
3. Click the Create Smart View button.
4. Type a name for the view and, optionally, a description.
5. Under Selection Criteria, select User for Type of View.
6. Under Users select the student you want to grade. If you want to select more than one student at a time, click on the first student you want to grade, then hold down the Ctrl key and click on other students you want to include.
7. Under Filter Results, select the Grade Center columns you want to display; the default is All Columns.
8. Click Submit, then select the Smart View you created; you are now ready to enter grades.
9. To return to the view of the full Grade Center after grading in a Smart View, in the Control Panel click Grade Center > Full Grade Center.

 Q. I selected “Percentage” as the primary display for scores for a column in my Grade Center, but  the correct percentage is not displaying.

A. Simply entering a Score for a column that uses the Primary Display of “Percentage” will not calculate the Percentage. To calculate a Score’s Percentage select “Score” from the Primary Display drop-down menu and select “Percentage” from the Secondary Display drop-down menu.

 Q. In gradebook, the student names are arranged in alphabetical order by last name, but for students with the same last name, the names are not alphabetical by first name. They seem to be random. Is there a way for me to change this?

A. In your Grade Center, first sort by First Name and then by Last Name:

1. Click in the dark gray title cell of the First Name column.
2. A yellow up arrow should appear right above First Name, indicating that the Grade Center is sorting by First Name, in ascending order. If you see a yellow down arrow, just click on it to change it to an up arrow.
3. Then click in the dark gray title cell of the Last Name column to get the arrow to appear.
4. If the arrow is pointing up, the Grade Center is sorting by Last Name, in ascending order;  but, because you already sorted by First Name, it is preserving the First Name, in ascending order,  within the same Last Name. If the arrow that appears in the Last Name column is pointing down, click on it to change it to an up arrow.  

Q. I added a duplicate column just to record grades for a quiz. But when I click a cell to record a grade, it turns dark gray and will not let me record the grade.

A. You have probably created the column via the Add Calculated Column choice rather than Add Grade Center column choice. Calculated Columns are designed to compute scores based on the values of other columns, e.g., calculating the average of five columns, or dropping the lowest score of a series of columns and then totaling the remaining columns. To check the type of column you have created:

1. Click on the chevron icon beside the title of the column.
2. Click on Modify Column.
3. If you have a Select Columns option available to you in panel number 3 you have created a Calculated Column.
4. Go back to your Grade Center.
5. Find the mistakenly created calculated column.
6. Click on the chevron icon.
7. Choose Remove Column.

Check out this Creating a Grade Center Item video for instructions on how to create a column to manually enter grades.