EXPORTING GRADES TO THE REGISTRAR

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1 EXPORTING GRADES TO THE REGISTRAR A Blackboard Best Practices Guide The Blackboard Grade Center allows instructors to choose which total column to export to the registrar, and gives them all the tools to make this process quick and seamless. T This guide is intended for instructors who are already using the Blackboard Grade Center to keep track of student grades. If you have not been using Blackboard for recording your grades, please refer to the registrarʼs website to manually enter your grades ( This Best Practices guide will show you how to: Adjust your grading schema Select the External Grade column, and configure its settings Use the grade export tool DEFINE YOUR GRADING SCHEMA In order to export your grades to the Registrar, you must be sure that your Grading Schema within Blackboard is configured properly. It must not only be in compliance with both the Universityʼs grade structure, but it should be adjusted to match your grading policies as well. The default grading schema is shown in Figure 1. If you need to customize the percentages equivalent to the various letter grades and/or remove plusses or minuses, follow the directions below. Otherwise, you may skip this process.

2 To define your grading schema: From within your course, expand the Evaluation area of your Control Panel, and click the Grade Center link. Place your mouse over the Manage button to reveal a menu, and select the Grading Schemas option. Create a copy of the default Letter grading schema by selecting the menu options button ( ) to the right of the schema. (Creating a copy of this scale affords you some security against the possibility of correcting time-consuming mistakes.) Your new letter schema will be called Letter (2). Modify this schema by selecting the menu options button ( ) next to its name, and choosing Edit. To remove a plus or a minus grade, click the Delete Row button for that grade. Change percentages as necessary. When you change the low end of a row, or delete a row, the high end of the row beneath it is automatically changed for you. However, note that the Will Calculate as value is not automatically changed, and you must adjust this to your liking. This value is used if you enter a grade as a letter rather than a score in a column in the grade center; you may or may not use this method to enter grades, but if the values of these items are not in the range for that row, you will not be able to submit your changes. After you have adjusted your grading schema, click the Submit button to save your changes. Figure 1 Default Grading Schema 2

3 SELECT THE EXTERNAL GRADE COLUM After your grading schema has been modified, you must now select the column in your Grade Center that will be uploaded to the Registrar. This is defined as selecting the External Grade Column, and must be done before you initiate the export. By default, Blackboard sets the Total column as the external grade source for each course; however, any column can be used. If the column you wish to export already has a green check mark icon ( skip this section. ) indicating it as the external grade source, then you may To set a column as the external grade source: Click the menu options button ( ) within the columnʼs header. Select the Set as External Grade option. A green check mark ( ) will then appear inside the columnʼs header to denote success. Select the Set as External Grade option. Figure 2 Set as External Grade 3

4 ADJUST PRIMARY DISPLAY AND RUNNING TOTAL OPTIONS In order to submit your grades to the Registrar, the grades must be formatted in a way that the Registrarʼs system will understand. This involves changing the Primary Display setting for your external grade column to a value of Letter. The Registrar will only accept columns with this display setting. You must also be sure that your column is set to calculate as a running total, in order to obtain accurate grade information. To modify the Primary Display: Click the menu options button ( ) within the columnʼs header and select the Edit Column Information button. In Section 1 (Column Information,) choose the schema you created from the Primary Display drop-down menu. By default, it is named Letter (2), but you may have given it another name. In Section 3, be sure that Calculate as Running Total is set to Yes. This makes your external grade column calculate the total based only on columns that have grade values. Click the Submit button to save your changes. ENTER MISSING GRADES In order to calculate the correct final grade for each student, you will need to enter a grade for any blank items. To enter grades: Click on the cell associated with an empty (-) grade, and then type in a desired score. o NOTE: If a student did not complete an item, you must enter a 0 (zero) so that your total column will calculate correctly. Press the Enter key on your keyboard to save this grade. Repeat the process for all remaining ungraded items. 4

5 USING THE EXPORT TOOL Your grades are now ready to be submitted. As the instructor of record, you are responsible for verifying that the grades you are submitting have been calculated correctly, so please double-check the grades before submission. Once your grades have officially been submitted to the Registrar, they cannot be resubmitted online. To export grades: Expand the Course Tools area of your Control Panel, and select the Export Grades to Online Class Grading link. o NOTE: You must be the official instructor of record in order to complete this process. If you have attempted to submit grades for this course at a previous time, you will see a screen asking if you wish to overwrite your previous submission. Otherwise, you will be redirected to the Registrarʼs website to review and officially submit your grades. Follow the directions on the Registrarʼs site to finalize the submission of your grades. Within the Grade Center are many features designed to allow instructors seamless interaction with their students, their course and grading management, and external university systems. The grade export tool enhances this capability and links instructors from their course directly to the Registrar with ease. This concludes the Blackboard Best Practices Series: Exporting Grades to the Registrar. For more information about course building with Blackboard, we recommend the Blackboard Basics & Beyond Instructor Guide now in its 5 th edition! Download the guide for free! Go to and click the Instructors button. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to read the guide. Have questions or comments about our Blackboard Best Practices Series? Send your comments to blackboard@uc.edu. We appreciate your feedback! Blackboard Best Practices Series UCit Blackboard Support Team 5