This article discusses the process of grading student work within the Blackboard Grade Center.

How do I know when a student's work needs grading?

The Full Grade Centre page indicates student attempts that have yet to be marked by displaying the Needs Grading. You can also access the Needs Grading link in the Site Management section of the unit learning site as shown below.

There is a full description of the icons used within the Full Grade Centre located at the bottom right-hand side of the Grade Centre table (illustrated below).

Grading work

Student attempts can be marked by clicking on the downwards chevron arrow that appears when hovering your mouse over the entry with the Needs Grading icon, then selecting Attempt. This will open the Grading page for the attempt, allowing you to view, provide feedback and grade the submission.

Overriding a grade

A mark can be overridden if necessary by clicking on it and adding the new mark. Marks that have been overridden are clearly indicated by a small orange triangle on the top left of the mark field.

Grading Turnitin Assignments

Grades manually entered into Grade Center take precedence over any existing or future grades added using Turnitin Feedback Studio. In order for grades to remain synced between Turnitin and the Blackboard Learn Gradebook, ONLY use Turnitin Feedback Studio to grade student work. Also, see Grading with Blackboard.

Attempt in Progress

The Attempt in Progress icon indicates that a student has begun an assessment piece, for example, started a Test or begun an assignment submission, but they have not submitted this assessment. For tests, you can force the completion to remove this icon. For other assessment pieces, the easiest way to resolve this icon is to contact the student and let them know their submission was unsuccessful and ask them to resubmit.

Needs Grading

The Needs Grading page shows all gradable attempts at Turnitin assignments, Blackboard assignments, tests, blogs, journals, wikis and forums that are ready for marking or review. Items can be sorted according to a category, item, user, date submitted or due date.

VoiceThread

VoiceThread assignments do not show up in the Needs Grading page of the Grade Centre and need to be accessed through either the assessment submission portal or the Full Grade Centre.

Clicking on an attempt’s username will open a grading page for the attempt, allowing you to record the mark for the task as well as providing a place for the addition of student feedback and marker’s notes. Any student feedback recorded can be viewed by the student along with the mark, while marker’s notes are stored with the attempt and are accessible only to the teaching staff and not viewable by the student.

Marking, feedback and grading

For more details on providing feedback within Turnitin and Blackboard assignments, see our knowledge base articles on marking, feedback, and grading.

(Please note - it's better to refer to the Online version rather than export, as it's always up to date)