Blackboard: Grade an Assignment

You can use the assignment tool to let your students submit their work, manage their grades, and give feedback on submissions.

Students can both upload their work and type short answers in the assignment area.  

This document presents the following:

• How to grade an assignment in the Needs Grading area
• How to grade an assignment in the Full Grade Center area

How to Grade an Assignment in the Needs Grading Area

There are two ways to view and grade the students’ submissions. The first one is through the “Needs Grading” area. To access; 

• Click Grade Center on the Control Panel.
• Click Needs Grading.

• The Needs Grading screen appears.
  • Click on user names in the User Attempt column to grade them.
  • You can also click Grade All to grade all user attempts one by one in the order they were submitted.
  • If you click the Filter button on the top-right side of the screen, you can see the filter options, which are category (assignment, test, etc.), item (the assessment items that you created such as assignment1, assignment2, etc.), user (the students enrolled in the course), and date submitted.
  • After clicking a student’s name, the student’s submission opens.

• After clicking a user’s name or the grade all button, you will see the screen below.

a. Student name and attempt number are displayed.

b. Drawing Annotation Mode allows you to draw lines to point out some important area. After drawing the line, it asks you to save or delete. After finishing, click Done.

c. Point Annotation Mode allows you to type comments. After typing the comment, click Post.

d. Assignment Details: Click the little arrow to see the details.

e. Grade: You can type the grade by clicking the pen icon.

f. Attempt: You can type a grade or feedback for the student.

g. Download submission: Click the download icon.

How to Grade an Assignment in the Full Grade Center Area

There are two ways to see and grade the students’ submissions. The second one is through the Full Grade Center area. To access,

• Click Grade Center on the Control Panel.
• Click Full Grade Center.

• The Full Grade Center appears. This icon means there is a submission that needs grading. Click the arrow icon to see the options for the submission.

a. View Grade Details: In this screen, you can see the grade details such as date created, date and time submitted, score, and actions including grade attempt, clear attempt, ignore attempt, and edit grade.

b. Exempt Grade: You can exempt a grade from a student’s record. When you exempt a grade, the grade is ignored in all Grade Center calculations. 

c. Attempt: If you click the attempt, you will be directed to the grade assignment screen. Then you can grade the submission.