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Blackboard Ultra: Add A Weighted Overall Grades Calculation

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  5. Blackboard Ultra: Add A Weighted Overall Grades Calculation

What is a weighted overall grade?

The weighted overall grade calculates categories and grade items as a percentage of a final grade worth 100%. You can assign percentage values to any course item and category and choose whether to weight items in the same category proportionally or equally.

Where to find the weighted overall grades calculation

Purple line under Gradebook Purple line under Grades Purple line under Overall Grade Arrow pointing to Overall Grade Arrow pointing to Edit
  1. Go to the Gradebook Tab
  2. Go to the Grades Section
  3. Click on the Overall Grade Icon
  4. A small new window will pop up, click on Edit

Edit weighted overall grades calculation

Overall Grade page Weighted Calculation chosen with black box
  1. A new Overall Grade page will open, under Select a Calculation Type, select Weighted. 
  2. 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. The resulting percentages retain the proportional weight of each item so that items with a larger point value have more effect on the calculated grade.
    • When the columns and categories you select for the weighted column have different point values, Equally converts them to percentages. These percentages are averaged to obtain an equal value for each of the items included in the weighted column. 
Screenshot of all the grading categories

3. There are 9 default Grading Categories. Categories containing items are listed first and ordered by the number of items contained. Expand a category to see its items. 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. 

4. For each category, you can select Edit calculation rules to verify or update the current settings:

  • 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.
Overall Grade Settings image Green check mark next to "Calculate grades based on points earned out of total grades points" Green check mark next to "Show to Students"

5. On the right side in Overall Grade Settings, choose how to display the overall grade — as a letter grade, percentage, points, Complete/Incomplete, or any grading schema created in the course. When you select Points, instructors and students see the overall grade as a fraction of the total points earned, divided by the total points available in the course. For example, 745/800.

6. When you select Show to Students, students can view the overall grade and calculation details from the information button in their Gradebook. 

7. Select Save.

To Learn more click Grade Columns to read the article.

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This article was created and is maintained by the Office of Academic Technology

If you have found an error in this article, or if you need assistance incorporating this article into your course, please contact the Educational Technology Support Team.

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