Blackboard Learn: Grade Submit Tool

The Grade Submit Tool allows instructors to directly transfer Midterm and Final Grades for students from Blackboard Learn into Purdue’s student information system, Banner. In this guide, you will learn how to transfer your grades.

If you prefer or find it more efficient for smaller enrollment courses, faculty still have the option to directly enter grades in Banner via the MyPurdue portal: (http://mypurdue.purdue.edu).

Setting the Grade Schema  

Blackboard offers a default schema for letter grades that you may need to edit to better work with your grading scale.  

Steps

1. From the Grade Center Click Manage and then Click Grading Schemas.
   

2. Hover the mouse over the Grade Schema you’d like to change, such as “Letter”.  

3. Click the options arrow, and then Click edit.
   
   

   NOTE:If you have multiple Grade Schemas, make sure you remember the change the Primary Display of the “Final Grade” column to the name of the Grade Schema you are wanting to use.

4. After making changes to the schema, click Submit
   

   Please note: Schema grades are determined by the percentage earned (total points/total points possible or by the percentage calculated if the grade is weighted). Certain grades that cannot be calculated, such as an incomplete, cannot be included in the schema.  
   
   

Setting the Midterm Grade Column

1. In the column with the students’ overall grades (typically “Total”), Click the options arrow by the column title.  It is strongly recommended you create a new total points calculated column for the midterm grades only.
2. Click Edit Column Information.
3. Click into the Column Name text box, and type in “Midterm Grade” (do not include the quotation marks) as shown in the image below.
   

4. Click the drop down arrow by the Primary Display list box and select the name of the Grade Schema you’d like to use.  “Letter” is the default Grade Schema; however you can use your own grade schema that you have created.
   
   NOTE: If you already know the letter grade for the student and do not need to convert from percentage score to letter, it may be best to create a regular column named “Midterm Grade” (not a calculated column) and set the Primary Display  to Text.  This will allow manual entry of the letter grades.   For more information, please see the option below: Manually Inputting Midterm or Final Grades to Blackboard.

5. Optionally, click the drop down arrow by Secondary Display and set this to either “Score” or “Percentage”.  This will allow you to quickly verify the given letter is associated with the correct score or percentage (depending on what you selected) when viewing the column in the Full Grade Center.
   
   NOTE: For full control of what grades are included in the Midterm Grade, in the Select Columns area, for the Include in Total option, click Selected Columns and Categories.  Here, you can pick specific grades to include for the midterm.  Use the right arrow buttons next to each list box to move specific columns or categories to the Selected Columns box.
   

6. It may also be a good idea to click No next to Calculate as Running Total.  This will ensure all grade cells with no value entered are correctly counted as zeroes
   
   

7. Click Submit.
8. You should now see the “Midterm Grade” column listed in the Grade Center with the letter grade listed for the student.

Preparing a course to use the Grade Submit Tool for Final Grades

1. In the column with the students’ overall grades (typically “Total”), click the options arrow by the column title. 
2. Click Edit Column Information.
3. Click into the Column Name text box, and type in “Final Grade” (do not include the quotation marks) as shown in the image below.
   
   
4. Click the drop down arrow by the Primary Display list box and select the name of the Grade Schema you’d like to use.  “Letter” is the default Grade Schema; however you can use your own grade schema that you have created.
   
   

   NOTE: If you already know the letter grade for the student and do not need to convert from percentage score to letter, it may be best to create a regular column named “Final Grade” (not a calculated column) and set the Primary Display  to Text.  This will allow manual entry of the letter grades.   For more information, please see the option below: Manually Inputting Midterm or Final Grades to Blackboard.

5. Optionally, click the drop down arrow by Secondary Display and set this to either “Score” or “Percentage”.  This will allow you to quickly verify the given letter is associated with the correct score or percentage (depending on what you selected) when viewing the column in the Full Grade Center.

6. NOTE: For full control of what grades are included in the Final Grade, in the Select Columns area, for the Include in Total option, click Selected Columns and Categories.  Here, you can pick specific grades to include for the midterm.  Use the right arrow buttons next to each list box to move specific columns or categories to the Selected Columns box. 
   

7. It may also be a good idea to click No next to Calculate as Running Total.  This will ensure all grade cells with no value entered are correctly counted as zeroes. 
   
   

8. Click Submit.

9. You should now see the “Final Grade” column listed in the Grade Center with the letter grade listed for the student.

Option 1:  Manual Input, Creating a Midterm or Final Grade Column

1. In the Grade Center, click the Create Column button.

   

2. On the Create Column screen, in the Column Name textbox, type Midterm Grade or Final Grade.
   
   
   

3. In the Primary Display area, on the drop-down menu listing display options, select Text.
   
   
   

4. In the Points Possible text box, enter a zero (0).

5. Click Submit to create the column.  You will be returned to the Grade Center.In the Grade Center, go to the Midterm Grade or the Final Grade column.  To enter a student’s grade, click on the specific cell in the column, and a text box will open.  Type the grade.  To save the grade, press Enter or Return on your keyboard.

Option 2:  Uploading Midterm or Final Grades to Blackboard from a Spreadsheet

If you keep your grades outside of Blackboard in an Excel spreadsheet, or if you use Excel for advanced grade calculations, you can determine the students’ midterm or final grades in Excel and then upload to Blackboard. 

NOTE:  If you wish to upload a spreadsheet, that file must have one column titled “Username” that has the Purdue career account usernames for all students in the class, and a column called “Midterm Grade” or “Final Grade”.

1. In your spreadsheet, it is recommended you save your file as a comma separated value (CSV) file.  In your spreadsheet program, click File and Save As, and you should see an opportunity to change the file format.  Select CSV from the file type drop down menu.

2. After the file is saved, click the Work Offline button in the upper right of the Blackboard Grade Center, and select Upload from the menu.
   
   
   
3. In the Upload Grades screen, click Browse My Computer and locate the file you wish to upload to Blackboard.  After you select the file, you will see it listed on the screen.
   
   
4. If you have selected the incorrect file, click Do not attach to start over.  Leave Delimiter Type set to Auto.  Click Submit.
5. The Upload Grades Confirmation screen will appear, and you will see the grades from your file listed.  Click Submit to upload the grades.
   

   NOTE:  If you did not enter a grade for a student in the spreadsheet, Blackboard will inform you that the data may not upload properly – this is normal, as it is an indicator that there will be an empty cell in the Final Grade column for a student (or students). 
   
   Additionally, if you have a large number of students, you may need to scroll to the right to see the Submit button.

Using the Grade Submit Tool to Upload Student Grades

Access the Grade Submit Tool 

1. In the Course Management Control Panel on the left hand side of the Blackboard Learn screen, click on Course Tools

2. In the Course Tools menu, select Grade Submit Tool (see image below).
   
   

Submitting Grades

1. First, select the grades you are submitting – the Midterm Grade or the Final Grade.
2. If you wish to submit all grades at one time without viewing all student records, click the Select all grades in all pages checkbox located in the lower left part of the screen.
   
3. In the lower right, in will show the total number selected (in the black box) of the total number of grades.  When the above option is selected, these numbers will be the same, as shown in the image below.
   
   
4. Alternately, you can click the checkboxes next to the names of only the students for which you’d like to process grades.  The selected students will be highlighted in yellow, and You’ve Selected black box will show the number of students that have been individually checked.
   
   
   NOTE: If you do not see checkboxes next to the student names, make sure the Select All Grades in All pages in the lower left is unchecked.  
5. By default, only 25 students will display at a time.  Click the Show All button in the lower right if you’d like all students to appear on one page. 
   
6. Review the Grade column.  All grades in the column should be valid letter grades as defined by Purdue University academic policies.  All valid letter grades will be accepted into Banner; invalid grades will generate an error for that student. 
   NOTE: You do not have to have a grade saved in the Midterm Grade or Final Grade column for every student.
7. Some grades will require you enter a Last Date of Attendance for students receiving that letter grade (i.e. a grade of FN).  Enter the last date of attendance in MM/DD/YYYY format for any student requiring this information into the textbox under the Last Attendance Date column.
   
   
   
   NOTE: Grades entered as FN require a valid date to be entered in the Last Attendance Date column.  If a date is not entered for a student receiving an FN then the submission will fail and an error message will display at the top.
8. Click the Process Grades button at the top or bottom of the page.  Do NOT click more than once, and do not interrupt the process while the “Loading” message is displayed, shown in the image below.  It may take several minutes for grades to process.
   

Verify Grade Submission

1. When the grades are uploaded, the Grade Submit Tool screen will change and will display information about how many grades were successfully uploaded and where errors on upload may have occurred.
   

2. To determine success, first view the Statistics and Highlights at the top of the page. 

3. Under Statistics, “Last Attempt Date” should reflect the date and time of most recent submission. 

4. Under Highlights, a pie chart will show successful submissions (in blue) and submissions not processed (in orange). 

5. Hover the mouse over a section of the pie chart to view the details such as exact number and percentage.

6. The SIS Status will further offer details in the table allowing you to see specifically which students were submitted successfully.
   

7. A few common SIS Status messages are listed below with brief explanation:

   • “Success” – The grade was uploaded to Banner without any issues.
   • “ge08: grade not valid for section” – Banner does not recognize the grade.  This could be because no grade was entered in the Final Grade column, or the class is set up as Pass/ No-Pass and therefore does not recognize the standard grading schema.
   • “ge10: received grade already posted to student enrollment: no update performed” – Banner already has the same grade on file.  These will contribute to the “Not Processed” number on the Highlights pie chart, but they were likely a result of previous successful submissions.
   • “ge04: student enrollment does not exist or is inactive” – This means that likely the student is not officially listed in the course in Banner; for example, the student may have been enrolled but dropped the course. 
     
     
8. For grade values not reflected in the Blackboard Grade Schema (e.g. I, E, FN, P), those grades may be directly entered into Banner via the MyPurdue portal if you are using the Blackboard Grade Schema to convert scores and percentages to letter grades.
   
   NOTE:  Always check Banner directly after submitting the grades to verify all grade submissions are accurate by logging into https://mypurdue.purdue.edu.

Resubmitting Grades

1. If grades for one or more students change, you can resubmit grades via the Grade Submit Tool multiple times.
2. On a resubmission via the Grade Submit Tool, the only grades that will be changed are those that do not match the grades for the student already in Banner.

Notes of interest

1. If you teach a merged (cross-listed) course, grades submitted via the Grade Submit Tool will be assigned to the student’s correct section within Banner. 
2. Make sure you only have one Midterm Grade or Final Grade column in your Grade Center.  Errors may result if there are multiple Midterm Grade or Final Grade columns in the Grade Center, and you attempt to use the Grade Submit Tool.
3. You do have the option to manually enter grades into MyPurdue (Banner). If you use the Grade Schema in the Grade Center to set letter grades, you will not have the option to use all letter grade options (for example, FN, E, or I).  You can always submit the grades as-is to Banner, then login into MyPurdue and manually override the grades that were pushed from Blackboard.