Assign Grades

You can choose where you want to start grading: 

• From the Activity Stream 
• From the base navigation menu 
• From an assignment 
• From the Gradebook 
• From the Submissions page 
   

 
Access grading from the Activity Stream 

When student submissions are ready for grading, you’re alerted in the Activity Stream. Select New submissions ready to grade in the Activity Stream to go to the course’s Gradebook and start grading. 
 

Access grading from the navigation bar

To view how many assignments are ready to be graded in all your courses and access grading options, select Grades from the left-hand navigation menu. All your grading tasks are listed by course. You see assignments that are ready to be graded, or assignments that are overdue for one or more students.
 

Access grading from an assignment

You can also start grading directly from an assignment in your course. Select the Submissions tab to see which students have completed the assignment and start grading.  
 

Access grading from the Gradebook

Access the course Gradebook from the navigation bar in your course to see who has made submissions and start grading.
 

You can grade coursework, manage items, and post grades from three views: 
 
Gradable Items view. The Gradable Items list is your default view. You can view all the coursework you've assigned, the grading status of each assignment, and whether or not there are grades to post.
 
Grades view. The Grades view displays the scores students have earned for each assignment and lets you know when you have assignments to grade. Select Grade Now from an assignment’s column to begin grading a student’s work. 
 

Students view. The Students view lists the names of all your students with their dates of last access and their overall grades. You can only see overall grades if you’ve set up the overall grade for the course. Students with grading accommodations have a purple flag with their name.

Learn more about navigating the Gradebook 
 

Access grading from the Submissions page 

The Submissions page displays all enrolled students and allows you to keep track of all submissions on one page. You can access the Submissions page either from an assessment or from the Gradable items view in the Gradebook. 
 
Quickly see which attempts are ready to grade. Use the Filter menu in the Submissions page to display only those submissions that need grading. The Filter menu doesn't appear for group and discussion items. 
 

Details in the Student column

• Student profile pictures appear with a red circle when they have late submissions or the due date has passed with no attempt submitted. 
• Unopened indicates that the student has not accessed the assessment.
• Opened followed by a date with a Student Status of No Submission indicates that the student opened the assessment and viewed the peek panel with instructions but did not view the assessment content. Nothing is recorded in the attempt log, and the Grading Status is Nothing to grade.
• Opened followed by a date with a Student Status of Draft Saved indicates that the student started the attempt but has not completed the assessment. If the assessment is timed, the timer started when the student selected start attempt. The attempt log has details of the student activity, but the Grading Status is Nothing to grade.
• Attempted on [date and time] with a Student Status of Submitted indicates that the student submitted the assessment. The Grading Status is set according to the properties of the assessment.
   

Grade an assignment with multiple attempts 

Multiple attempts change how the assignment's final grade is automatically calculated. Choose how you want to calculate the final grade: 

• Average of all attempts 
• First attempt with a grade 
• Attempt with highest grade 
• Last attempt with a grade 
• Attempt with lowest grade 
   

By default, the grading page displays the most appropriate attempt based on the Grade attempts setting and the grading completion status: 
 

 
This allows you to quickly evaluate and grade student work. When the grade calculation method requires additional grading tasks, you are taken to that task. If not, the most appropriate graded attempt is displayed.

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View individual attempts 

You can grade an assignment with multiple attempts from the same places you grade an ordinary assignment: 

• The Activity Stream 
• The Gradebook 
• The assignment 

When you select a student's name, a panel appears that displays each attempt, along with the date it was submitted. Select an attempt to view the submission. 

The feedback options appear next to each attempt. Select the chat bubble button to open the feedback panel. You can scroll through the assignment and add overall feedback and a grade. 

Use the panel on the right to navigate through tabs such as rubrics, feedback, and originality report. You can also navigate the submission view and the panel tabs with different scroll bars. Independent scroll bars allow instructors or graders to scroll up and down the submission content without affecting the side tab navigation or the header.

Reminder: When you post grades, students can view them along with any feedback you provide. All feedback for all attempts, even ungraded attempts, is shown to students. If you used a rubric or questions that are scored automatically, the grade may already exist for the attempt. 

Final grades 

The final grade for a multiple attempt assignment is calculated based on the Grade Attempts setting you chose in the Assignment Settings. In the panel that lists a student's attempts, the final grade appears when those attempts are graded. For example, if the final grade is calculated based on the highest graded attempt, the final grade appears immediately after at least one attempt is graded. However, the grade may change as you continue grading more attempts. After you finish grading the attempts, you can post the final grade for the student to see. 

What do students see? 

Assignments with multiple attempts list the number of attempts allowed, as well as how the final grade is calculated. Students view this information on the Details & Information page before they begin. When grades are posted, students can view grades for each of their attempts, as well as the final grade. If you decide to override the final grade, a message appears to let the student know. 

More on how students access assignments in Blackboard Learn 
 

Grade an assignment with a time limit 

When you allow students to work past the time limit for an assignment, you're able to view which assignments exceeded the time limit. If you added questions, you can also view how many questions were answered after the time limit. 

More on grading work with a time limit 
 

Grading and feedback using rubrics 

You can create a rubric, associate it to an assignment or discussion, and use it for grading. The rubric will appear on the assignment or discussion page you chose. Please note that you can only associate one rubric to each item. You can’t associate a rubric to an assignment with questions. 
 
Learn more about creating rubrics 
Lean more about grading with a rubric and providing feedback 
 

 Assigning a grade 

Select student names from the Submissions page to access their individual submissions, assign grades, and provide feedback.  

You can also access an attempt from the Gradebook grid view. 
 

Offline grading

If it’s more convenient to you, you can download students' assessment submissions and view them offline.   
 
Select the download button from these areas in the gradebook: 

• Grade Item's view: From the item's Submissions page, select the … menu in the header row 
• Grades view: Item's menu