How Am I Doing?
How Am I Doing? report
The How Am I Doing? report gives you an overview of how you are performing in a course compared to other students. You can view changes in your overall grade and hours spent in a course from week to week. You can also compare your overall grade with your hours in a course. Students who spend more hours in a course tend to have higher grades. Use this report to identify whether you may benefit from extra help or by increasing your activity in your course.
The Overall Grade in Blackboard Ultra is called External Grade in Blackboard Original.
Topics on this page include:
Watch a video about How am I doing?
The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page. For a detailed description of what is portrayed in the video, open the video on Vimeo.
Access the How Am I Doing? report via Grades
To access the How Am I Doing? report, go to the Grades section of the base navigation. You can access this report in both Ultra and Original courses.
Accessing the report within Grades gives you an overview of how your overall grade and hours in course are changing from week to week. You can compare your performance to your classmates.
Select the Course Activity Related to Grades button, which appears as a pie chart.
You can now access the report.
My Grade
When a course doesn't have the overall grade set up by your instructor, the My Grade line chart and table are not available.
Line chart
The line chart provides you with a graphical representation of your overall grade over time in comparison to other students in the course. Each week begins on Monday. The current week's information is updated every 24 hours in the early morning. Your current grade may not match what is in the Gradebook because of this.
- Your overall grade displays in purple, and the overall grade course average displays in gray.
- Select a dot to review your overall grade or the course average overall grade on a specific date.
- Zoom in or out by selecting the + and – buttons.
What do the (*), (!), and (↓) icons represent when reviewing at the charts?
Asterisk: Indicates a positive notification for the student, such as activity or grades in top 10%
Exclamation: Indicates a negative notification for the student, such as low class activity
Down arrow: Indicates a performance drop notification for the student, such as grades dropping
Table view
The table view of My Grade has four columns: Date, Average grade in course, Range of average grade, and Overall Grade. Data is presented in rows organized by week. Each week begins on Monday. The current week's information is updated every 24 hours in the early morning. Your current grade may not match what is in the Gradebook because of this.
- Average grade in course is the average overall grade for all students in a course per week.
- Range of average grade is the average overall grade for all students in a course per week, plus or minus the standard deviation.
- Overall Grade is your overall grade in the course per week.
My Activity
Line chart
The line chart provides you with a graphical representation of your hours in a course per week in comparison to other students in the course. Each week begins on Monday. The current week's information is updated every 24 hours in the early morning.
Your hours in course display in purple and the class’s average hours in course display in gray.
- Select a dot to see exact dates and hours in course for yourself or the course average.
- My Activity is the hours in a course a student accumulated per week. Hours in course are counted from the time a student selects something within the course to when a student selects something outside the course. If a student is logged out from a course session for inactivity, only the time before the last action within the course is counted.
- Zoom in or out by selecting the + and – buttons.
Table view
The table view of My Activity has four columns: Date, Average hours in course, Range of average hours, and Activity hours. Data is presented in rows organized by week. Each week begins on Monday. The current week's information is updated every 24 hours in the early morning.
- Average hours in course are the average hours in a course spent by all students per week.
- Range of average hours are the average hours in a course spent by all students per week, plus or minus the standard deviation.
- Activity hours are the hours in a course a student accumulated per week. Hours in course are counted from the time a student selects something within the course to when a student selects something outside the course. If a student is logged out from a course session for inactivity, only the time before the last action within the course is counted.
Access the How Am I Doing? report via Activity page notifications
You can also access the How Am I Doing? report in the Activity page section of the base navigation. Select the button in a How Am I Doing? notification to open the report. You can access this report in both Ultra and Original Courses.
Accessing the report from the Activity page allows you to compare your overall grade with your hours in course. You can compare your performance to your classmates. The How Am I Doing? report gives you recommendations based on your current behavior.
Current Class Status
Scatter plot
The scatter plot provides you with a graphical representation of your overall grade and hours spent in course. The data shown is updated every 24 hours in the early morning. Your current grade may not match what is in the Gradebook because of this.
You are represented with a purple dot and other students in course are represented with gray dots.
You can:
- Compare your hours in course compared to the class average. Students who spend more hours in a course tend to have higher grades.
- Identify if you might benefit from more time in the course to have better results. If the whole class is struggling, you might want to message your instructor for help.
- Select a dot to show your or the overall grade course average, hours in course, and days since last access. Hours in course are the hours in a course a student accumulated per week. Hours in course are counted from the time a student selects something within the course to when a student selects something outside the course. If a student is logged out from a course session for inactivity, only the time before the last action within the course is counted.
- Zoom in or out by selecting the + and – buttons.
Configure your Activity page alerts
You can receive activity alerts related to the How Am I Doing? report if your institution has turned alerts on. Go to your Activity Page and select the Settings button, which appears as a gear. Expand the My grades and activity menu by selecting the arrow button. Select or deselect the options for My Grades and activity to adjust the alerts related to the How Am I Doing? report. Select the first option to apply your settings to all notifications in a category.
Notifications are only available for courses, not organizations. Your course must have a minimum of 10 and no more than 2000 students in order for you to receive notifications.
Your alert messages will be different depending on trends in your overall grade in course and days since last access.
The following table explains what setting is tied to notification messages and why you're getting the notification.
Overall Grade in Ultra or External Grade in Original must be turned on by your instructor for you to receive grade notifications, except for the notification about low performance compared to others.
| Activity stream setting | Notification message | Why you're getting the notification |
|---|---|---|
| No recent activity | You haven't been around much lately. Take a look at new course materials you may have missed. | You haven’t logged into your course within a certain number of days set by your instructor. Your instructor set up this notification to remind you to be active in the course. |
| Grade low or at risk | Variation 1: Curious how you’re doing? Knowledge is power! Review the course average to see where you stand. Variation 2: Want to boost your grade? Take a look at the course average to see where you stand. | Your overall grade has dropped below a certain percentage that was set by your instructor. Your instructor set up this notification to warn you if your overall grade drops below expected. |
| Grade dropped | Your course grade dropped a bit. Try studying with a classmate to boost your grade. | Your overall grade has dropped by 10% or more compared to your overall grade from last week. |
| Low course activity | You haven’t been around much lately. Take a look at new course materials you might have missed. | Your number of hours spent on the course during the last week is among the 5% lowest in your course. |
| Grade increased | You're doing great! Your hard work is paying off. Keep it up! | Your overall grade has risen by 10% or more compared to your overall grade from last week. |
| Course activity in top 10% | Your hard work is paying off! You're one of the most active students in this course. Keep it up! | Your number of hours spent on the course is among the 10% highest on your course. |
| Grade in top 10% | You know your stuff! Your grade is above average in this course. Keep it up! | Your overall grade is above most of the students in the course. Your overall grade is in the top 10% overall grades in your course. |
Take action
High Performance Notifications
If your performance is good or improving, your alert will recommend maintaining your current performance.
When you're doing well in a course, keep that motivation! You can also message your instructor to offer your help and share your interest in becoming a mentor for other students in the course. If you message your instructor, it’s helpful to include the purpose of the message.
The "Offer Study Help" section is not included in How Am I Doing? reports for Original courses.
Lower performance notifications
If your performance is lower than expected, your alert will recommend some actions to help increase your grade.
When you're not doing as well as expected in a course, don’t worry or feel discouraged! Information is power, and you are now aware that you need to pay special attention to a course. To improve your performance, you can:
- Check your course and complete missing activities
- Review your course content and study for upcoming assessments
- Consider forming a study group with classmates
- Message your instructor asking for study material or to request an academic mentor
The "What Can I Do?" section is not included in How Am I Doing? reports for Original courses.
