Gradebook overview, Creating Assignments, Rubrics, SafeAssign, Providing Feedback, Audio/Video Feedback, Tests, Discussions, Journals, Forms.


Gradebook Overview 

The gradebook is the place where you can find all the gradable items and submissions of your students.  

Assessment Exceptions 

There are times when you may need to give a learner either an extension of time to complete an activity or have them resubmit an assignment set for one attempt. For example, a learner has a disability that requires extended time. Or perhaps a learner had a legitimate excuse for missing a due date. 

Instructors can: 

  • Grant additional attempts 
  • Reschedule submission deadlines 
  • Allow extended access 

 


Create Assignments 


 


Blackboard Learn Items with Rubrics Capability 

To take full advantage of rubrics within Learn, the teacher must utilize course Rubrics within the gradebook or in the settings of an assessment item. If a rubric has already been created outside the Learn environment, it is possible to copy and paste the descriptions for the criteria and the associated levels of achievement. Rubrics can be created and modified in an online course by editing directly in the activity item or in the gradebook. Multiple rubrics can be created and utilized within a course, giving teachers the flexibility to associate rubrics to items based on specific criteria. 


From an Assessment 

When you create or edit an assignment, test, or discussion, you can create a new rubric. You can associate an existing rubric unless you've already graded the item. You may associate only one rubric to each assessment or discussion. 


From the Gradebook 

You can create, edit, copy, delete, and review existing rubrics from your gradebook. Rubrics are listed in alphabetical order. 


SafeAssign 

SafeAssign is a Blackboard product that maintains databases of both publicly available documents and submissions by learners. The databases include Internet documents as well as copies of other journals and publications. 


When teachers enable SafeAssign, the document in question is compared to the global database, and a report is generated. SafeAssign’s report is called an “originality report.” The report provides information on what was used in the submitted document that is replicated in one of the database sources, including papers submitted by other learners. 

It is then up to the teacher to interpret the results of the originality report and to then decide on authenticity and appropriate use of sources. 

Use Safeassign in Blackboard Learn https://youtu.be/6sWok3f2mLI?si=20fxfglOFUf_FKgK  

Feedback on Assignments 

Annotate Submissions 

You can read files in line and annotate them directly in the system to provide feedback rather than needing to download any files. This powerful inline grading feature is called Bb Annotate. Supported document types that can be annotated are Microsoft® Word (DOC, DOCX), Microsoft® PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX), and Portable Document Format (PDF). 


When using the annotation feature, learners will be able to review your comments within the system but cannot add their own annotations. Learners can, however, download the annotated document as a PDF file. Keep in mind that you should avoid using this feature for learners who will be accessing the platform using a screen reader. 


Download Assignments to Grade Offline 


Instead of grading assignments online and inside your course, you may prefer to download learner submissions to review offline. Usernames are included automatically in the file names for easy identification. To download an assignment, you will choose to download all or only selected submissions. Keep the following in mind when downloading assignments:  

  • If you download more than one submission, the files will be zipped with each submission saved as a separate file.   
  • If a learner submitted multiple attempts, the downloaded ZIP file will contain all files for that learner.  
  • If the learner submits using the text editor, the submission will be downloaded as a TXT file.  

 

Download Assessment Submissions - https://youtu.be/75vCLml1xVQ 


Audio and Video Feedback 

You can include a recording of your feedback so it appears with any text you've added for a student. Add feedback wherever you start grading. Blackboard Learn provides auto-captioning for assessment feedback to increase accessibility for students. You do not need to turn on this feature. 

Feedback Recording - https://youtu.be/nqOBqUbLAQE 

 


Tests 

Create a Test 

As you are designing tests, you will want to make sure you are assessing the intended level of learning. The most commonly used question types are multiple-choice, multiple-answer, matching, and true/false. These types of questions have the benefit of being graded by the system and providing the learner with immediate feedback. However, these types of question-and-answer assessments are inherently limited in the depth of understanding they can assess and typically only measure pure content knowledge. Therefore, in your course, you should try to include other kinds of assessments that evaluate the application of knowledge. This could be accomplished through the use of essay questions.


As part of your design, you may present multimedia to your learners. You can upload files to the test (e.g., with the instructions) or within individual test questions (as pictured below). When possible, your uploaded files (e.g., images) will be rendered in the browser for viewing; otherwise, the file will be represented by an icon and will need to be downloaded for viewing. 

Question Banks 


Start building out your semester assessments by creating question banks. A question bank houses a collection of questions that is stored for repeated use across assessments. 


You can use banks to create a database of questions you can reuse in multiple assessments. You can create new question banks or import existing ones to use in your courses.  


Discussions 

Discussions Overview 

The discussion tool allows instructors and learners to communicate asynchronously with each other on a given topic by exchanging ideas through posts and replies. They can create an engaging and collaborative climate for learners. 


Users can participate in a discussion from the activity stream or from within the course. From within the course users can find discussions in the course content outline and in the navigation bar. 


Discussions in the course allow the following: 

  • Instructors can provide learners with a thought-provoking question or link to content to which to respond. 
  • Provides a medium for the basic exchange of ideas between users through the creation of posts and replies, 
  • Any user can create a discussion at any time. 
  • Instructors can make discussions gradable or not gradable. 
  • Instructors can require learners to post first before being able to view other learner's responses. 
  • Instructors can create group discussions. 


Instructors can use discussions to promote collaboration in the classroom. It is important to understand that there is a marked difference in communication style when it comes to online course communication as compared to face-to-face. Online communication hinges on written messages that may reach your audience synchronously or asynchronously. Research indicates that written communication shared between instructors and learners will not only add to the formation of better relationships but will also contribute to higher quality learning. 


How to create Discussions - https://youtu.be/cz4Yad2H9s8?si=sCv6VZhHcFDuh0AC 

 


Journals 

Journals can be used to help encourage learners to engage with the course material on a personal level. The purpose of a journal, in general, is to reflect on own experiences. Journals allow learners to approach the information from their own position rather than expecting them to conform; unlike discussions, journal entries are private between the learner and the instructor. Because of these qualities, journals help promote student-directed learning.  


Rather than repeating back facts they have acquired, learners reflect on the information and then can relate the knowledge they have gained to their own lived experiences, which makes learning retention even better. A journal can be a safe place for a learner to explore ideas and draw their own conclusions. 


Even if you have a class that does not traditionally use journals, such as math or science, you may find it fruitful to have students articulate their understanding of a subject in a meaningful, personal manner. 


Forms 

Forms can be used in a variety of situations to get feedback from your students. You can use a form to place students in a clinical experience or learn about student interests and opinions.  

Forms are created in the same way as other assessments. You can assign forms to an entire class or to a group.