Marking and Feedback in Blackboard Assignments

Blackboard assignments allows you to mark and add feedback to your students' submissions in multiple ways: you can mark using a rubric, annotate the submission, feedback in a separate word document, enter your comments in the feedback field or record verbal comments.

You can use Gradebook column settings to calculate, adjust and post marks.

Instructions

1 Notifications of student’s submission
2 Access student submissions
3 Marking using a rubric
4 Providing feedback using the Annotate toolbar
5 Adding overall feedback
6 Video guide to giving feedback in Blackboard Assignments 2'20min

Adding feedback with the Annotate toolbar in detail

Notifications of student’s submission

You can find if there are student submissions to mark in a number of ways:

In the Marks section of the Blackboard interface:

Receive an email notification by adjusting Activity Stream settings in the Blackboard interface

In your module’s Gradebook, under Overview or Markable Items tabs

In your module’s assignment dropbox under the Submissions tab:

Access student submissions

You can access student submissions via the assignment dropbox or Gradebook:

Accessing student submissions via the Blackboard assignment dropbox

Go to Course Content (default view) and locate the Assessment and Feedback folder or wherever you have located the assignment and click on Blackboard assignment dropbox (denoted by )

This opens up the assignment dropbox. Click on Submissions to see a list of student submissions. Note the bracketed number beside submissions denotes submissions

For Offline submissions, there will only be 2 tabs. Choose Marks to begin marking.

View of tabs in assignment submission view in ultra

Alternatively you can go straight to Gradebook area, select Markable Items and click on the name of the assignment.

Then click on the name of the student to mark their submission:

Clicking on the students name will open the student submission, you are now ready to mark the submission.

For Offline submissions, when you choose a student, you need to Create attempt and Save for that student to begin marking and adding feedback.

Create attempt in offline submissions.png

Marking using a rubric

If you added a rubric to your assignment you can use this to mark the submission. Click on the rubrics icon on the right-hand side to open the rubric.

This will open up the marking rubric in the right hand panel, you can select whether you want to view the descriptions for each achievement level.

Scroll down to view each criterion and click on an appropriate achievement level. Clicking on the achievement level e.g. Good will automatically increment the student mark if you used a percentage or point rubric.

If you have used a percentage range or point range rubric, you will need to enter an appropriate value, Blackboard will automatically add these values together.

You also have the option to add personalised feedback to each criterion by clicking on the feedback icon:

Add your feedback and click on the up arrow to save, the feedback icon goes purple to denote personalised feedback.

When you have finished selecting the criterion, your mark with be tallied at the top. You can click on the three dots to override or post the mark.

Or you can post marks later and continue marking submissions by navigating student submissions using the left hand panel:

When you post the mark, students will be able to view their marked submission in Gradebook, with their attained achievement levels in each criterion displayed.

Providing feedback using the Annotate toolbar

You can feedback directly within the student's submission using the Annotate toolbar. You can draw and write or attach comments directly inside the submission.

When you open the student submission in Blackboard, you will see a black toolbar at the top of the submission - this is the Annotate toolbar.

Click on the pen tool to draw onto the student submission.