Color Coding the Grade Center

Instructors can use color coding in the grade center to visually differentiate items in progress, needs grading, and exempt. Color coding can also be used for grade ranges such as items falling above or below a certain percentage.

Set color coding preferences:

1. On the Control Panel, click Grade Center and select Full Grade Center.
2. Click the Manage drop down arrow and select Grading Color Codes.
3. In the Color Code Information section, place a check in the box by Enable Grading Color Codes.
4. In the Color Coding Options section, use the drop down in each category (In Progress, Needs Grading or Exempt) to determine the color coding.
5. In the Grade Ranges section, click Add Criteria to add color coding for grade items that are more than, less than or between specified criteria. Multiple criteria can be set.
6. Click Submit.

A Blackboard Tip of the Week: Grading Discussion Boards

Grading Discussion Boards

Discussion boards can be graded from within each forum. To grade discussion boards, first verify that grading is enabled. Grading can be enabled at any point, even after students have posted to the discussion board.

Verify grading is enabled:

1. Navigate to the discussion board.
2. Click the drop down arrow by the specific forum and select Edit
3. Under Forum Settings, check that Grade Forum or Grade Threads is selected
• Grade Discussion Forum will allow you to assign grades for students’ posts to that forum
• Grade Threads will allow you to assign grades for students’ replies to each thread in a forum

Grading discussion boards:

1. Click the Grade icon next to the forum or thread to grade
2. Click the Grade button next to a student’s name
• The student’s posts to the forum or thread will display
• You can filter, sort, and print the student’s posts
3. Type a grade in the Grade box and click Submit

Discussion grading and the grade center:

It is important to note that when you enable grading for a forum or thread, columns for those forums or threads are automatically generated in the grade center.

• When you enable grading by forum, a column for that forum is created in the grade center
• When you enable grading by thread, a column for each thread in a forum is created in the grade center

Keep this in mind when choosing whether to grade by forum or thread. Grade center management can become cumbersome if you choose to grade a large number of threads.

A Blackboard Tip of the Week: Hiding Columns in the Grade Center

Hiding Columns in the Grade Center

Instructors are able to hide columns from display within the Grade Center. There are two types of “hiding” grade center columns: from the instructor or from the students.

NOTE: Hiding columns in the grade center from instructor view does not hide the grade column from students.

Hiding a column from students:

1. On the Control Panel click Grade Center and select Full Grade Center.
2. Click the action link (or down arrows) next to the column title. Click Show/Hide to users. A grey circle with a red line will appear next to the column name to indicate that the column is unavailable to students.
NOTE: As the instructor you will still be able to see this column in your Grade Center.
3. Click Submit.

Hiding a column from instructor view:

Hiding columns that are not being used from instructor view reduces the need for continuous scrolling across the page.

1. On the Control Panel click Grade Center and then Full Grade Center.
2. Click the action link (or down arrows) next to the column title. Click Hide Column.

Unhide a column from instructor view:

1. From the Manage drop down menu, select Column Organization.
2. Select the check boxes next to the Grade Center Columns to be shown.
3. Select Show Selected Columns from the Show/Hide menu.
4. Click Submit.
   NOTE: Hidden columns will appear greyed out in the Column Organizer.

A Blackboard Tip of the Week: Multimedia Mashups in the Discussion Board

Multimedia Mashups in the Discussion Board

Students can add interest to discussion board posts by incorporating multimedia mashups. When using this feature, students can add a Flickr Photo, SlideShare Presentation, or YouTube Video.

NOTE: For this feature to work, the instructor must enable Allow File Attachments in the forum settings.

How do students add mashups to the discussion board?

When students are posting to a discussion board the mashup button is a part of the Text Editor tools.

1. When posting in the discussion board, click the mashup tool. It is the last tool in the third row of tools.
   
   Mashup tool icon:


2. Select Flickr Photo, YouTube Video, or SlideShare Presentation.
   Flickr Photo: search by full text, only tags, or specific photo (url). Search by keywords using all of the words, any of the words, or exact phrase.
   
   YouTube Video: search by all of the words, any of the words, without the words, or exact phrase. Also, a language selection is available.
   
   SlideShare Presentation: search by full text, tags only, or specific presentation (url). Also, a language selection is available.


3. Click Select to choose an item.
4. In the View area, select Thumbnail, Text Link with Player or Embed Video.
5. In the Show URL or Show Information, select Yes or No.
6. Click Submit.
7. In the Attachments area, students can select Browse My Computer to attach items saved locally.
8. Click Submit to complete the discussion board post.

A Blackboard Tip of the Week: My Courses Module

The My Courses module on the Blackboard homepage is a list of all courses in which you have a role. This list can be modified to suit individual preferences.

Changing the Courses Displayed in My Courses

1. Log in to Blackboard and locate the My Courses module, usually located on the right side of the screen.
2. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner of My Courses to customize the My Courses module.
3. You will now see a list of courses and you can uncheck the Course Name column for the courses to be removed from display.
4. Click Submit to save changes.

Blackboard Byte: Organize your course list

(click to see video)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HKjinBFjmU