The following article discusses the process of marking a Blackboard assignment using a Blackboard rubric.

Before you begin

Make sure you have already set up a Blackboard assignment and have student work ready to mark in the Grade Centre. If you are unfamiliar with the use of Grade Centre please see the resources mentioned below. 

Steps to grade a Blackboard assignment

The process of grading a Blackboard assignment using a Blackboard rubric involves the following steps.

1. Check for needs grading notification in the Blackboard Grade Centre. Once a student submits an assignment there will be an exclamation mark in the assignment column. (You can also check the Needs Grading page.)
2. Click on the exclamation mark, and then open the student's submitted assignment attempt.
   
   
   
3. Click the thin blue line to show the grading panel. This will allow you to access the rubric and feedback interface. 
   
   
   
4. Click on the Rubric Title and tick Show Descriptions and Show Feedback to view the entire rubric. (You can alternatively click on the window icon to the right to open the rubric in a new window.)
   
   
   
5. Select a grade level for each criterion using the tick boxes and then use the drop-down percentage scores to refine the grade. You can also add feedback underneath each criterion.
6. At the bottom of the grading screen, a raw total score is calculated based on the criteria selected. Enter the final grade with any adjustments in the "Change the number of points to:" box. Add any final comments in the Feedback box and then click Save Rubric to confirm the grading and feedback.
   
   

   Showing rubric feedback to students

   When providing feedback in the rubric, it is critical that the Blackboard assignment grade centre column option Show Rubric to Students is set to Yes (With Rubric Scores). Otherwise, students are unable to view the rubric and the provided feedback. It is not possible to show only the feedback, the scores must be shown as well. This is by design and ensures transparency around rubric grading.

   

Adding annotations and comments

You can also provide written comments and feedback directly onto student work using the annotation tools. Access the Black toolbar about the student's work. The image below outlines the functions that are available.

Video walkthrough

The following video illustrates how the grading process works for Blackboard assignments.

More articles about Blackboard assignments

• Blackboard rubrics
• Group assignments
• Marking Blackboard assignments and providing feedback