Add Gradable Items and Calculations

Instructors can manually add gradable items for items that may not be automatically graded. There are also options to create calculations within a course. There are two ways to add these. 

From the Gradable Items view: 

1. Select the purple plus sign between rows. Once selected it will turn to an X and a menu will appear with the following options: 
   • Add item 
   • Add Calculation 
   • Add Total Calculation  

From the Grades view: 

1. Select the purple plus sign between columns. The same options as in step 1a will appear. 

Add Gradable Item 

Instructors can create manual grade items for assessments that do not require student submissions via Blackboard, such as assignments and tests on paper or projects and presentations.  

1. From the Gradable Items view or Grades view, select the purple plus sign in the location where you want to add the item.  
2. Select Add Item. NOTE: The new item will not show up on students’ Course Content pages, but they’ll see the item in their gradebook.  
3. Enter a title for the item. 
4. Determine the visibility for students. 
5. Choose your grading options. 
6. Enter a due date if necessary. 
7. Enter a description. (Optional) 
8. Select Save. The item will appear in the gradebook. 

Add Total Calculation Columns 

The Total Calculation gives students another view of their Overall Grade. One can be in points while the other is in percentages. When you add a Total Calculation column, you can choose between Weighted calculation or Points calculation. These are the two most common and recommended calculation types. Weighted columns and grade items are calculated as percentages. Points categories and grade items are calculated as points. 

Create a Weighted Column 

Scenario: A course has 10 assessments. 5 have a percentage weight of 10% each, 3 have a percentage weight of 5% each, and 2 have a percentage weight of 17.5% each. The total weight equals 100%.  

1. From the Gradebook, in the Gradable Items view or Grades view, select the plus sign where you want to place the new column and select Add Total Calculation from the menu. 
2. Enter a title for the column.  
3. Under Settings on the right, enter a description (optional) and select a grade schema. You can choose between Points, Percentage, Letter, or Complete/Incomplete. 
4. In the top-right select Visible to students to display the calculation column on student Grades pages.  
5. Under Select a Calculation Type, select Weighted. 
6. Under Weigh gradable items within a category, select Proportionally or Equally.
   • Proportionally takes the raw scores of the included columns and categories and then divides the result by the total points possible to obtain a percentage for each item in the weighted column. Items with a larger point value have more effect on the calculated grade. 
   • Equally converts the columns and categories you select for the weighted column to percentages. These percentages are averaged to obtain an equal value for each of the items included in the weighted column.   

7. Next is a list of categories and grade items from the gradebook. Categories containing items are listed first and ordered by the number of items contained. Select the down arrow in the row of a category to expand it and see the items.  

8. From here you can: 
   • Unlink an item from its category. This is useful if you want to include the item in the calculation separately from the rest of the category.  
   • Unlock an item or category to edit its weighting. The calculation will automatically balance all unlocked items to ensure the overall calculation equals 100%.  
   • Exclude an item within a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the item points from the total number of points available in the course. The item or category turns gray to indicate that it’s not included in the calculation. Select the button again to include the item or category in the calculation again. 

9. For each category, you can select Edit calculation rules.  
10. Enable the Category Calculation Rule. Then you can select the following options:
    • Drop Scores removes the specified number of the highest or lowest grades for each category from the calculation.  
    • Use only removes all grades from the calculation except for the highest or lowest score.   
11. When done, select Continue. 

NOTE: All categories and grade items must equal 100%. 

12. Select Save. The column will appear in the gradebook. 

Create a Points Column 

1. Follow steps 1 – 4 in the “Create a Weighted Column” section above. 
2. Enter a Title. 
3. Next is a list of categories and grade items from the gradebook. Categories containing items are listed first and ordered by the number of items contained. Select the down arrow in the row of a category to expand it and see the items.  
4. Under Select a Calculation Type, select Points. 

5. From here you can: 
   • Unlink an item from its category. This is useful if you want to include the item in the calculation separately from the rest of the category.  
   • Exclude an item within a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the item points from the total number of points available in the course. The item or category turns gray to indicate that it’s not included in the calculation. Select the button again to include the item or category in the calculation again. 

6. For each category, you can select Edit calculation rules.  
7. Enable the Category Calculation Rule. Then you can select the following options:  
   • Use only removes all grades from the calculation except for the highest or lowest score.  NOTE: All categories and grade items must equal 100%. 
   • Drop Scores removes the specified number of the highest or lowest grades for each category from the calculation.  
8. When done, select Continue.  
9. Select Save. The column will appear in the gradebook. 

 

Add Calculations Columns 

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Use caution when creating a calculation column as it can be very complex.  It is highly recommended that your college Blackboard support team review any use of the advanced formula editor to build a custom grade calculation for accuracy. 

Instructors have the option to add a calculation column to the gradebook that consists of creating a custom formula. Calculations can be based on the average, total, maximum, or minimum of the variables you include, such as categories, graded items, and other calculations. Things to remember when creating calculations are: 

• Each element you add to the formula appears at the end.  

• To reorder your formula, select an element and drag it to the new location. 

• To remove an element, select it and select the X.  

• To start over completely, select Clear to remove all elements at one time. 

• You can reuse any function, variable, or operator. 

Follow the steps below to create a calculation column. 

1. From the Gradable Items view or Grades view, select the purple plus sign in the location where you want to add the calculation column.  

2. Select Add Calculation.  

3. Enter a title for the calculation column. 

4. Select a grade schema, then type a description (optional). 

5. In the top-right, choose the visibility for students. Select Visible to students to display the column on the student Grades pages. 

6. Start creating your formula. In the left pane, select a function, variable, or operator to add it to the right pane.  
   • In the Functions and Variables section, select the function or variable you want to use to add it to the right pane.  
   • On the right, select the drop-down arrow for the function you chose, then select the categories or grade items you want to include in the calculation. If you choose Variable, select the menu to choose the items to include. NOTE: Click outside of the menu to exit and save the selection in the right pane. 
   • Use the Operators to create formulas. 
   • Select Validate to check the accuracy of the formula. If the calculation fails the validation process, issues will be highlighted in red. Tweak the calculation then try again. NOTE: When validating the calculation, this does not mean that you receive the results you are looking for. It only means that the calculation you entered is correct to receive a result. You will still need to verify that your grade item calculations are correct. 
   • Once the formula is validated, select Save. 
   • You may then close the page and the new calculation column will appear in the gradebook.