Grade Center
From USF Information Technology
This page is an overview of features. Please see Spreadsheet Interaction for details on how to use the new Grade Center Interface.
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Contents |
[edit] The Grade Center
The myUSF Grade Center is a major improvement in functionality over the former Gradebook in other versions of Blackboard. It allows you to track student's grades and export a final grade, but it also has many other features to make assessment in your courses easier and as detailed as you care for it to be. It also introduces client-side functionality, which alleviates some of the slowness associated with managing courses with large enrollments.
This document will introduce you to the tools you have at your disposal within the Grade Center and direct you to an in-depth explanation of what each can do. Feel free to use the Contents box at the right for quick navigation.
[edit] Accessing
The Grade Center is accessed by clicking on its link in the Assessment Area of the Control Panel.
[edit] Spreadsheet View
When you enter the grade book you will see the "spreadsheet view," with toolbars across the top, item headings just below, your roster of students to the left, and grades in the joining grid. Before you can start entering grades you will need to have at least one item for grading.
When entering grades, after the number is typed and you select "Enter," the cursor will automatically move down the column to the next student. You can use the arrow keys to shift to another column or row, or simply click on the grade you would like to enter.
Note: When you post grades only the individual student will see his or her own grade; they will not see the scores of the other students.
The Icon Legend in the lower right corner will help you understand what the contents of individual cells represent.
[edit] Capabilities
This section will highlight the main functions of the Grade Center and direct you to the branch pages associated with them.
[edit] Add Grade Column
This is the most basic feature of the Grade Center, and the minimum you will need to complete to utilize it. Click on the 
button to begin.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
How to Add a Column in the Grade Center
Note that gradable items such as Assignments and Tests that you add in Content Areas of your courses will automatically create their own columns in the Grade Center. See those associated pages for more information on creating these items.
[edit] Add Weighted Column
Under the 
button you will find tools to help you customize your Grade Center to be more efficient and helpful to you in assessing your students' progress. The first option is to add a Weighted Column, which will assign varying importance to the numbers associated with each assessment.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
How to weight grades in the Grade Center
[edit] Add Average Column
Another calculated column which might helpful to you is the Average Column. This allows you, for example, to display an overall quiz grade from a group of different quiz columns.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
How to use averages in the Grade Center
[edit] Add Minimum/Maximum Column
The final calculated column option is for a Minimum/Maximum to show you the lowest or highest value of a given set.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
Adding a minimum or maximum column
[edit] Dropping the Lowest Grade
You can use a Weighted Column to find the lowest grade in a group of items and drop the lowest of them.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
[edit] Emailing Users
You can use the Grade Center to select students for mailing, either by individual selection or targeting a group.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
Email through the Grade Center
[edit] Generating Reports
The Grade Center now allows you to generate reports to analyze student performance in greater detail, or to print out and share with them. Click on the 
button to begin.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
Generating Reports in the Grade Center
[edit] Hiding Columns
Moving into the 
menu, you will find options which help you control the way that the Grade Center presents its contents to you. For example, you can hide which columns display in the spreadsheet view.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
How to hide/show columns in the Grade Center
[edit] Hiding Users
You can also choose to remove certain students from the spreadsheet view. This will of course not remove them from your course, or from grade calculations, but simply allow your view to be less cluttered if you wish to focus on certain students.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
How to hide/show users in the Grade Center
[edit] Setting Grading Periods
Your Grade Center spreadsheet can be set to only show you grades within date ranges you designate.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
[edit] Using Smart Views
Your Grade Center has the capability of displaying students based on membership in a pre-defined group, whether they meet certain grading criteria, or of focusing on individual students. You can also combine these, so members of a group with a score below a certain value, for example.
Explore the following page for a detailed view and instructions:
