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Grade Centre - questions & issues

When you have run a subject for many semesters or have a large number of students submitting work online, it can become difficult to keep the grade centre organised. These common queries will help you with some of the common queries about the grade centre:

Removing obsolete columns

At some stage, you may have deleted old assignments from your subject, however, the associated Grade Centre Column still remains.

For some columns, if no student submissions exist when you delete the item, the Grade Centre column is deleted automatically or you are allowed to decide whether to delete the column. However, when you delete an assignment in your subject, you must also delete the corresponding column in the Grade Centre.

To delete these auto-created grade columns, first make sure that the gradable items have been deleted from your subject.

To delete a column:

Note: You cannot delete a Total column, if it is designated as the External Grade column (shared with UTS as your students’ grades for your subject), until you set another column as the External Grade. In new subjects, the default Total column is the default External Grade column, and the External Grade icon [External Grade icon] appears in the column header. You can decide which column is set as the External Grade.

Always make sure to back up your Grade Centre data before deleting any items in the Grade Centre.

  1. Locate the column you wish to delete.
  2. Click its Action Link Action Link to access the contextual menu.

    Delete Column option
     
    • Select Delete Column
    • Click OK.

See also: Total and weighted total columns

Making columns visible or invisible to students

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Show/Hide to Students option

 If you want to hide column results from students on their My Grades page:

  1. In the Control Panel, expand the Grade Centre section and select Full Grade Centre.
  2. Click the Action Link Action Link in the appropriate column header to access the contextual menu.
  3. Select Show/Hide to Students option.  
  4. The Visible to Users icon [Column Not Visible to Users icon] appears in the column header for any column hidden from students.

Note:You can edit the column again at any time to show the results to your students.

Alternatively, you can:

  1. Select Edit Column Information in the column's contextual menu. 

    Edit Column Information
     
  2. On the Edit Column page, select No for Show this Column to Students. 

    Show this Column to Students option
     
  3. The Visible to Users icon [Column Not Visible to Users icon] appears in the column header for any column hidden from students.

    Hide Column

Problems with displaying results to students

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It is possible to accidentally hide columns in the Grade Centre, whilst still making them visible to students. In the Grade Centre grid, the Column Not Visible to Users icon ( Column Not Visible to Users icon ) appears in the column header for any column hidden from students.

Instructors are able to reveal hidden columns along with all the associated data, restoring the display in the Grade Centre. To show columns that have been hidden from your view of the Grade Centre, follow these steps:

  1. In the Control Panel, expand the Grade Centre section and select Full Grade Centre.
  2. In the Full Grade Centre, point to Manage on the Action Bar to access the drop-down list.
  3. Select Column Organisation.

    Column Organisation
     
  4. You will see a list of all of your columns arranged vertically. Columns in the very top section, Shown in All Grade Centre Views can be frozen, moved or hidden to make your Grade Centre easier for you to view.

    Shown in All Grade Centre Views
     
  5. Select the check boxes of the Grade Centre columns to be revealed.
  6. Click Show/Hide.
  7. From the Action Link menu, select Show Selected Columns.

    Show Selected Columns
     
  8. Click Submit.
  9. Hidden columns will appear grayed out on the Organise Grade Centre page.

    Hidden Columns

    Remember:  Changes you make on this page do not affect what students see on their My Grades pages.
    See also: How can I hide column results in the Grade Centre fom students, for example so that I can review all the grades for an assignment before releasing them to students?

Total and weighted total columns

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The Grade Centre in a subject comes with two different total columns, a Total Column and a Weighted Total Column, that can be used to calculate and display total scores or grades. Each one can be set to display a score (default), a percentage, a letter grade, or complete/incomplete.

Columns in the Grade Centre

By default, both columns will be visible in your view of the Grade Centre as well as in your students’ views of My Grades. You can select which columns and categories are included in a Total column's calculation. You can rename, change the settings, change which columns are included, or delete this default column.

Which should I use?

The Total Column adds up all the points possible in other columns, while the Weighted Total Column allows you to assign differing percentage weights to an item, such as a research paper, and/or a whole category such as tests.

Examples of how to use the columns:

  • Some instructors use only the Total Column, but assign very different point values to different activities, for example 10 points for each quiz and 600 points for the term paper. In such a subject, the weighting of grades is handled directly through point values.
     
  • Other instructors prefer to score activities for 100 points possible, but consider 100 points for the final exam to be worth much more overall than 100 points for a weekly quiz; in a subject such as this, the weighting feature of the Weighted Total Column is very useful, since the percentage weights you announce in the Grading section of your syllabus can be reflected in Blackboard Grade Centre calculations.
     
  • Some instructors like to use both Columns, for example, displaying in the Total Column all the raw points a student has earned during the subject and using the Weighted Total Column to specify the weighting percentages and display the related letter grade.

To delete a column:

Note: You cannot delete a Total column, if it is designated as the External Grade column (shared with UTS as your students’ grades for your subject), until you set another column as the External Grade. In new subjects, the default Total column is the default External Grade column, and the External Grade icon [External Grade icon] appears in the column header. You can decide which column is set as the External Grade.

Always make sure to back up your Grade Centre data before deleting any items in the Grade Centre.

  1. Locate the column you wish to delete.
  2. Click its Action Link to access the contextual menu.

    Delete Column option
     
  3. Select Delete Column
  4. Click OK.

Displaying results as UTS grades

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The overall grade for an assignment can appear to users as a numeric value, letter grade, percentage, text, complete/incomplete,  or UTS Grades depending upon the Primary Display choice for the column created in the Grade Centre for the assignment.

To change the column's Primary display: 

  1. Locate the column you wish to change.
  2. Click its Action Link Action Link to access the contextual menu.
  3. Select Edit Column Information in the column's contextual menu. 

    Edit Column Information
     
  4.  On the Edit Column page, select UTS Grades from the Primary Display drop down menu.

    Primary Display options
     
  5. For the Secondary Display option, select Score.
  6. Click Submit.
  7. You will now see the UTS Grade displayed in the column with the Total mark (the Secondary Display) shown in brackets.
     

    8. Primary Display options

Note: This display option is shown in the Grade Centre only.

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