Blackboard Ultra (Faculty) - Gradebook: Check Overall Grade Column with Student Preview

Checking the Overall Grade Column

Instructors can verify that the Overall Grade column is calculating correctly by using the Student Preview feature. This allows the instructor to use their student preview user as a sample student to ensure that total grades are calculating as expected. The Overall Grade column could be displaying total points or a weighted total, depending on how you set it up in the overall grade settings.

Steps to Enter Student Preview Mode:

1. In the top-right corner of your Blackboard Ultra course, click the Student Preview icon.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Start Preview. The course will now be displayed from the student's perspective.
   
   
   
   
3. To exit the student preview, click Exit in the black bar at the top right corner of the page. Be sure to choose Save when prompted to make sure your preview user appears as a student in the Gradebook.
   
   
   
   
4. Navigate to the Gradebook.YourName_PreviewUser has now been added as a student. 

Verifying Calculations:

Once your student preview user becomes a student in the Gradebook, you can verify the Overall Grade calculation by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the Grades tab in your Gradebook and find your student preview user's row.
2. Locate and click on the Grid view icon.
   
   
   
   
3. Manually enter the maximum points possible in each column. To do this, for each column, hover between the top of the column and the first students possible score. A purple pencil icon will appear. Click it. Then find the row for the preview user and enter the maximum points possible. If you need to check the maximum points available for an individual column, first click the name of each column to open up the assignment details panel.
   
   
   
   
4. Once all point values have been entered, check that the Overall Grade comes out to the maximum number of points or 100%, depending on how you have set up the overall grade calculation.

Need Additional Support?

This guide aims to provide useful information, but as technology changes, interfaces or steps might vary. Please use the Comment button to let us know if anything differs from your experience. Your feedback helps us keep this information accurate. Thank you!