It's almost that time of the semester again....time to pull up your Excel spreadsheets, your calculator and red pen, and a box of Kleenex to sop up the tears of frustration from calculating grades manually. Wouldn't it be great if there was a program that calculated all of those assignments and percentages for you? There is!
Blackboard Weighted Total Column
You can use the Weighted Total Column in Blackboard to do all of the math involved with figuring out the final grade for you. You will need to make sure all of the columns in your grade center are in the appropriate category, such as Essays, Reflections, Discussions, Quizzes, etc. If you need help creating categories and categorizing assignments, let us know and we would be happy to help!
Here's how to calculate the final grade:
- Go to your course in Blackboard and navigate to the Full Grade Center.
- Click the drop down menu next to the Weighted Total Column and select Edit Column Information.
- Here you can change the title to something more informative, like Final Grade.
- Scroll down to the Select Columns section.
- Select a column or category on the left that you want factored into the final grade.
- Click the arrow to move it to the Selected Columns section on the right.
- Enter the percent of the final grade for this item or category.
- Continue to add columns and categories until the total is 100%.
- Click Submit.
The Blackboard grade center can do almost anything you want (except actually grade the student work--darn). It can be a little overwhelming when you get started, so please feel free to contact the UC Faculty Development Center with your questions or for a short lesson. Call us at (207) 262-7979, email uc-fdc@maine.edu, or drop in anytime Monday - Friday 10am-4pm in our zoom room athttps://zoom.us/j/2072627979.
