The  Grade Center is the instructor’s central hub for keeping track of student assignments to grade, reviewing submitted assessments, and tracking student performance. Whenever graded items, such as an assignment or assessments, are created in a Bb course, the system will automatically create a column in the Grade Center.

Save time and paper by requiring students to submit assignments through Blackboard. Then, use the Inline Grading tool  to embed feedback. Describe expectations and standardize the evaluation process with Rubrics.

Instructors can customize many Grade Center  features, such as grading schemas (points/percentages converted to letter grades), categories (labs, projects), color coding (e.g., red to indicate at risk) and other important column information. The Grade Center also works well with many other areas of Blackboard including the Retention Center.  

To learn more about the Grade Center:

• please visit our Blackboard FAQ page

• open an RT ticket  for any technical issues

• view the schedule of training workshops at the DoIT group page

Please contact the Instructional Technology Team with any suggestions or concerns. 

Due to an unforeseen logistical issue, Blackboard has moved this event to October 20. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to seeing you in October.

Blackboard is going on tour and coming to the Baltimore area for a free teaching & learning day! This event is an official stop on the national Bb on Tour. 

Hosted by Towson University, this event will take place on Wednesday, October 20. [original date: September 17]

The agenda highlights include: 

• Dynamic Presentations: given by your fellow peers in the Maryland and DC area on their best practices.
• Breakout Sessions: robust multi-track breakout sessions for Higher Education, and Learn & Collaborate users.
• Ask the Expert Stations: sit down, one-on-one, with Blackboard technical experts and get your questions answered.
• Feedback Sharing: help shape the future of Blackboard products by sharing your feedback in person and tell Blackboard about your needs and concerns.
• Partner Interaction Zone: from content providers, media and technology companies to system integrators and more, Blackboard is bringing a select group of partners on tour. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet with them.
• Expanded Higher Education Faculty Track: hear about new ideas and learn best practices to increase efficiency, improve student engagement and further enhance your skills on creating engaging content to meet course objectives.

Register for free today! We look forward to seeing you!

Bb course shells for FA2014 were created on July 12, 2014 on the Bb production server at http://blackboard.umbc.edu.  Enrollments for FA2014 courses will continue to be updated daily. Bb shells are available for all courses (designated as lecture, lab, field or discussion) listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), provided that there is an instructor of record listed. The addition of new course sections and/or instructors will result in new Bb shells being automatically generated each morning. Student enrollment in Bb will continue to mirror the official registration in SA, and will update hourly.

If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your departmental scheduling coordinator to get that issue resolved. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically.

Note:

• By default, if an instructor is teaching multiple sections of the same course, all sections are combined into one Bb course shell. If you prefer separate shells, please submit an RT ticket to split sections. 
• If you need a shell for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request.

Bb course shells for SU2014 were created on April 17, 2014 on the Bb production server at http://blackboard.umbc.edu.  Enrollments for SU2014 courses will continue to be updated daily. Bb shells are available for all courses (designated as lecture, lab, field or discussion) listed in the UMBC Schedule of Classes (SOC), provided that there is an instructor of record listed. The addition of new course sections and/or instructors will result in new Bb shells being automatically generated each morning. Student enrollment in Bb will continue to mirror the official registration in SA, and will update hourly.

If you are an instructor, and your name is not associated with the course you are teaching in the SOC, please see your departmental scheduling coordinator to get that issue resolved. Once you are listed in the SOC, your Bb course shell will be created automatically.

Note: Previously, in situations where one instructor was teaching multiple sections of the same course, by default all sections were combined into one Bb course shell. This also included sections of the same course taught in both Summer Session I and II. DoIT has addressed this Session I and Session II issue so there will be distinct shells for each if taught by the same instructor. But if you find this is not the case, and you want separate shells for Session I and II, please submit an RT ticket with your request. If you need a shell for a research or independent study course, please submit a new course request.

1. The WT2014 Bb server will be taken completely offline on Friday, 3/21.
2. WT2013 courses will be restored on the UMBC Bb production server. We encourage you to download a copy of your grade center, and any other content that you might need to your local machine. If instructors have students finishing incomplete grades, and students must have continuing access to their WT2014 course over spring break, the instructors should put in an RT ticket request prior to Thursday, March 20.

Thank you for your patience during this transition.