Blackboard 9 - Creating Categories in the Grade Center

Transcription

1 University of Southern California Marshall Information Services Blackboard 9 - Creating Categories in the Grade Center Categories allow you to place Blackboard data columns (i.e. non-calculated columns) into groups and then perform various manipulations on those groups. This guide covers: Creating, Editing, and Deleting Categories. Assigning Categories to Data Columns (i.e. Non-Calculated Columns) Filtering the Grade Book View by Category To see how to create calculated columns that use categories, see the Calculated Columns guide. Contents Areas where Categories are of Use in the Grade Center... 1 Creating / Editing Categories... 2 Creating Categories... 2 Renaming a Category / Deleting a Category... 2 Assigning a Category to a Data Column (i.e. Non-Calculated Column)... 3 Assigning a Category to a Data Column While Making the Data Column... 3 Assigning Existing Data Columns to a Category (or An-Assigning)... 4 Using Filter to Only View Columns within a Specific Category... 5 Areas where Categories are of Use in the Grade Center Categories can be used in four places within the grade center: CREATING CALCULATED COLUMNS Calculated columns in Blackboard are based upon data columns and data columns can be categorized. The advantages of using categories when creating calculated columns are: o Dropping Highest/Lowest Score This is only possible if you use categories. You can tell Blackboard to drop the lowest or highest x number of scores in the category. This can be used with the Average, Total, and Weighed Total calculated columns but not the Maximum/Minimum column. o Calculate a Straight Average The Average calculated column returns a weighted average. The o only way to get the Average calculated column to return a straight average is to use categories. Speed of Creation Selecting a category is much faster than selecting each column in that category individually. FILTERING GRADE BOOK BY CATEGORY Blackboard s Filter option allows you to hide/display various columns and rows based on different criteria. One of the filtering options available allows you to just display columns in a specific category. FILTERIONG GRADE BOOK BY SMART VIEWS (Smart Views is not covered in this guide) Smart Views are another way to filter columns and you can base a Smart View on a category and hence, only display columns in that category. CREATING REPORTS (Creating Reports is not covered in this guide) Blackboard allows you to build reports for each student. When creating a report, you can manually specify each column you want on the report or you can select a Category and all the columns in that category will appear on the report. Marshall School of Business Categories_BB9.docx 12/3/2012 Page 1 of 5

2 Creating / Editing Categories This section covers how to create and edit categories. The next section covers how to assign categories to data columns. Creating Categories 3. Click Manage then Categories. 4. Click Create Category. 5. Type a Name for the category. 6. If desired, type a Description. 7. Click Submit. 8. Click OK to exit the Categories area. Renaming a Category / Deleting a Category This section covers renaming and deleting a column. 3. Click Manage then Categories. Renaming a Category If you rename a category, any columns that were assigned to the old name will automatically be assigned to the new name. Further, any calculated columns using the old name will automatically update to refer to the new name. a. Click the category s options button. b. Select Edit. c. Type a new name then click Submit. Deleting a Category Blackboard will not allow you to delete a category if it has been assigned to any data columns. a. Follow the steps above but select Delete instead of Edit. Note that Delete will not be available if the category has been assigned to any data columns. Marshall School of Business Categories_BB9.docx 12/3/2012 Page 2 of 5

3 Assigning a Category to a Data Column (i.e. Non-Calculated Column) You can assign a category to a data column at the same time you create the data column or later. For a complete explanation of data columns, please see the guide on creating data columns. Assigning a Category to a Data Column While Making the Data Column 3. Click Create Column. 4. Type a Name for the column. 5. Set Primary Display to Score or Percent if you wish to include the column in an average or total. 6. At Category select the category you wish to place the column in. 7. Specify the Points Possible for the column. Note that you can edit these settings at any time by clicking the columns options button then Edit Column Information. 8. Set the other options as desired then click Submit. Marshall School of Business Categories_BB9.docx 12/3/2012 Page 3 of 5

4 Assigning Existing Data Columns to a Category (or An-Assigning) If you have already created your data columns and now wish to place them in a category, you can edit each one individually as mentioned at the bottom of the previous page, but there is a faster method shown here. 3. Click Manage then Column Organization. 4. Check the boxes next to the columns you wish to place within the same category. 5. Click Change Category to. 6. Click the category you wish to assign. (Note you can also unassign a category by selecting No Category.) This column displays the currently assigned category. 7. Click Submit. Marshall School of Business Categories_BB9.docx 12/3/2012 Page 4 of 5

5 Using Filter to Only View Columns within a Specific Category This option allows you to display only columns within a specific category within your grade book. Note that this does not affect what students see, just the instructor. It is a quick way to work on specific columns only. ( Control Panel Grade Center Full Grade Center ). 4. Click the Categories button and select the category you wish to filter by. 3. Click the Filter button to make the bar shown below appear. Remove Filter Select All Categories to clear the filter. Close Filter Bar This button closes the filter bar but does not clear the filter. Marshall School of Business Categories_BB9.docx 12/3/2012 Page 5 of 5