December 17, 2010

Good morning instructors,

This will be my last Online Instructional blog post for the quarter. With next week being the last week of the quarter, I wanted to share some last minute tips on using the grade center to assist in the calculation/reporting of final grades and Learner Outcome Assessment scores. I've shared this information before, but I've received a few emails this week with questions so thought I'd send the information to everyone as a refresher.

Calculating Learner Outcome Assessment (LOA) Percentages:

• All LOA associated assignments should already be set up for you in the grade center to reflect two numbers in the appropriate grade center column. The first score is the actual point score of the assignment; the second score in parentheses is the calculated percentage score (this is the score you will be entering into the faculty portal).
• IF you are finding that your grade center column is not displaying two scores, you can quickly and easily make this modification by completing the following steps:

1. Click on the appropriate grade center column's down arrow;
2. Scroll down to and select Modify Column;
3. Click on the drop down arrow for the Secondary Display option;
4. Select Percentages;
5. Click Submit

Calculating Final Course Grade Totals/Percentages for Final Course Grade Reporting:

Blackboard is set up to do all final grade calculations/percentages for you as long as you follow a few simple steps.

1. Within the grade center, click on the down arrow for the Total column;
2. Scroll down to and select the Modify Column option;
3. Select the Primary Display down arrow to show the Points;
4. Select the Secondary Display down arrow to show the Percentage (this will give two scores just as in the above LOA description);
5. Select "Yes" for a running total;
6. Click submit;
7. Enter a zero into any empty grade slot for any student;
   
8. Use the percentage score in parentheses to identify the appropriate corresponding letter grade that you will now enter into the faculty portal.
   

If you have any questions on any of these steps, please let me know.

Thanks and have a safe and happy holiday season! I'll be blogging again in winter :)

Heather Thomton-Stockman
Online Instructional Specialist