Category: Blackboard Online

Warning: Posting marks for all students will lift anonymity for all students. This cannot be reversed.

Once all marking and moderation has been completed, marks can be posted to be viewed by students.

1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
2. Locate the assignment you wish to post marks and feedback for from the list.

Warning: Marks and feedback can only be viewed if the assessment remains unhidden.

3. If you wish to release all of the marks and feedback and are confident that marking has been completed on all submitted work, you can post marks to students from this screen by clicking on the Post # marks button associated with the assessment (see below).
   

Warning: Once marks are posted they cannot be unposted: the only way to re-hide them from students is to hide the submission point.

Warning: In order to transfer marks to SITS, marks will need to have been posted to students in Blackboard. If marks need to be extracted prior to their being displayed to students in Blackboard, the submission point must be hidden.

Warning: Only administrators with the Marks Extractor role in Blackboard can extract marks.

1. Navigate to the Blackboard course you wish to extract grades from
2. Click on View course and institution tools under the Course tools header in the course’s menu bar
3. From the list of tools, select Marks extract to SITS. This will launch a program that links both Blackboard and SITS, but it can take a few moments to load
4. From the list, select the unit code and course name you want to extract by clicking on the box to the left of the name so it turns green and a tick appears
5. Click on Grade column approval and transfer
6. Select the assignment/column name you wish to extract, again clicking on the box to the left of the name
7. Click Grade approval and transfer. In the next screen you can either:
   1. Search for specific students you want to extract marks for by entering their details in to the search bar. Once you have found the student, select them by clicking on the box to the left of their details
   2. Click the box at the top of the list of students to select all of the students in the list with submissions
8. Click on Extract grades.

Warning: Turnitin similarity and AI-writing reports are indicative and require review and interpretation. Encountering similarity, flagged content, or material suspected to be AI-generated does not automatically evidence academic misconduct without interpretation. Initial marks should be provided based on intellectual content with any concerns around academic misconduct escalated through designated channels in your school.

The process for marking submissions to a submission point with Turnitin enabled is the same as marking work on an individual submission point. However, a similarity and AI writing report is also included for each student, provided the work they have submitted meets the criteria for review.

To review the similarity report on a Turnitin-enabled submission point:

1. Navigate to the submission point and click the assignment title to enter it.
2. Click on Submissions to review all submissions to the submission point.
3. Change the Student Status filter to Submitted. To have a similarity and AI writing report, a student will need to have submitted work.
4. Depending on when you are reviewing similarity and AI writing reports, change the Marking Statuses filter to the required state. For example, if you are reviewing these reports prior to work being marked, change the filter to Needs Marking.
5. Enter a student’s submission by clicking on their name in the list.
6. In the top-right of the student’s work pane, there will be a similarity match score displayed (see image below). Click on this to review the similarity and AI writing report.
7. The similarity and AI writing report for the student’s work you are reviewing will open in a new tab within your browser (see image below). It will display the student’s work with annotations highlighting areas that should be reviewed, if any.
8. At the top of the newly opened Turnitin tab, you can select between three views:
   1. Similarity: this provides a review of the work that highlights areas similar to other works stored within the Turnitin database. PLEASE NOTE: similarity is indicative and requires interpretation. It should not be assumed that similar sections automatically indicate academic misconduct.
   2. Flags: this provides a review of ‘flags’ or potential indicators that the document has been manipulated in an attempt to bypass plagiarism detection. For example, there may be hidden quotation marks that affect the perceived level of quoted text, masking plagiarised text.
   3. AI Writing: this provides an estimate of the percentage of AI-generated text in the document, highlighting any areas of concern.

1. Navigate to the submission point and click the assignment title to enter it.
2. Click on Submissions to review all submissions to the submission point.
3. Change the Student Status filter to Submitted.
4. Change the Marking Statuses filter to Needs Marking.
   1. If you are using Distributed Marking, only the students who have been assigned to you and who have submitted work will be displayed.
5. With these filters applied, only those students who have submitted work that requires marking will be displayed.
   1. Alternatively, to view all students (or only those assigned to you if you are using Distributed Marking), change the Filter to All statuses.
6. Click on each student’s anonymous submission ID to enter the review and marking interface for their submission.
7. If you need to review work you have already marked, alter the filters to adjust what work is visible.

1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
2. Click Students.
3. Find the student who you wish to allow the additional attempt to and click on their name to enter their record.
4. Click on the … icon next to the relevant assessment and select Add or edit exceptions.
5. Change the number of attempts permitted to allow the student another attempt, if required.
6. Alter the due date and time, if required (for an extension).
7. If you have used any release conditions or prevented late submissions, you may also need to adjust the show on and hide after date/times to allow the student access.
8. Click save.

Warning:If you have prevented submissions after a specific date and students have already submitted, you will not be able to allow additional submissions. Preventing late submissions is not recommended.

1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
2. Select Markable items.
3. Drag and drop rows to reorder them by clicking on the Move total arrows ↑↓ at the end of the item you wish to reorder.

1. Navigate to the Gradebook
2. Navigate to the Marks view by clicking on Marks in the top-left section of the Gradebook.
3. Click on the Up/Down icon in one column:
   1. Once to organise the data by ascending marks
   2. Twice to organise the data by descending marks
   3. Thrice to remove the ordering of data.
4. Navigate to the Students view by clicking on Students in the top-left section of the Gradebook.
5. Click on the ↑↓ icon in one column:
   1. Once to organise the data by descending number order/alphabetically
   2. Twice to organise the data by ascending number order/reverse-alphabetical order.
   3. Thrice to remove the ordering of data.

Warning: Seeing which students have submitted is only possible if you have setup a Blackboard test assessment to track submissions.

To see who has and hasn’t submitted:

1. Navigate to the Gradebook and locate the Blackboard Test assessment you created to track submissions.
2. Click on the name of the Blackboard test
3. Click inside the Student status box at the top of the page to sort the list of students by status, ranking them by whether they have or have not submitted to the test. For those students who have submitted, the date and time of the attempt on the test appears underneath the student’s name.
4. Students who have not submitted to this test assessment should not be assumed to have not submitted an assignment. Rather, they should be communicated with and asked if they have a submission ID for their assessment. If they can provide one, this can be searched for in the anonymised submission point to confirm their submission.

Warning:Deleting an attempt is irreversible. If a student requires an additional attempt, it is recommended that an additional attempt is given to the student rather than an attempt being deleted.

1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
2. Click Markable Items.
3. Select the assessment from the list by clicking on its title.
4. Locate the student whose attempt you wish to delete. It may be useful to click on the Student Status column to organise the Gradebook.
5. Click on the row containing the student’s record. This will open the student’s attempt.
6. Click on the … icon in the top-right of the screen and select Delete Attempt.
7. A pop-up box will appear called Delete Attempt?, warning that the attempt and any associated mark will be removed from the system. If you are sure you want to proceed, select Delete.

Allocating groups of students to specific markers in Blackboard Ultra will prevent other markers from being able to see each other’s allocated students, their work or the feedback and grades others have provided.

If your markers undertake a standardisation process (where grades are considered relative to others) prior to moderation, or if there is one member of staff who reviews all grades prior to their release (such as a Unit Director), then you can toggle the allocated marking feature on and off as required, enabling all markers to see all work when required.

1. Go to the submission point in the course.
2. Click on the cog icon to enter the settings menu.
3. Scroll down to the Marking and submission section and toggle the Delegated marking feature OFF, removing the green tick. All markers will now be able to see all student submissions to this submission point.

To re-enable delegated marking:

1. Go to the submission point in the course.
2. Click on the cog icon to enter the settings menu.
3. Scroll down to the Marking and submission section and toggle the Delegated marking feature ON.
4. Click Assign markers.
5. Add the relevant marker to the relevant group.

Use a Test Student account to test your assessment setup as a student. Using a Test Student account provides the same experience any other student enrolled in the course will have, allowing staff to check the functionality and experience of any submission.

1. If you have not set up a test student user account, please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk, including the subject line Test Student User Request and providing your Blackboard username and an explanation of your need for a test student account.
2. You will receive an email that will confirm the user details, including the user name and password.
3. Once you have a Test Student user, either open a private or incognito tab in your current browser or open another browser.
4. Navigate to the Blackboard login page in this private/new tab and click Guest Login.
5. Enter your Test Student User’s user name and the password provided by the DEO.
6. Click on the profile tab on the left-hand side of the screen. This will be denoted by your Test Student User’s name (usually Your First Name Test[Your Initials]).
7. Click on Update External Account Password.
8. In the panel that opens:
9. Enter the password provided by the DEO in the box marked Old Password.
10. Enter a new password in the box marked New Password.
11. Enter the same, new password in the box marked Confirm New Password.
12. Store your new Test Student User password securely, or use a password that is easy for you to remember.
13. Click Save.
14. In your administrative Blackboard account, navigate to the course where you want to add your Test Student User.
15. Using the side menu, click on View everyone on your course under Class register.
16. Click on the + button in the top-right corner of the screen
17. Enter your Test Student User’s user name into the text box.
18. Click on the + button next to your test student user’s name, changing it into a green tick.
19. Ensure the box beneath your test student user is set to Student, using the drop-down menu to change it if needed.
20. Click Save.

Info: As you are submitting to an anonymised submission point, you should ensure your document is clearly named so it can be identified. For example, name your document “TEST_SUBMISSION.docx”.

1. Either open a private or incognito tab in your current browser or open another browser.
2. Navigate to the Blackboard login page in this private/new tab and click Guest Login.
3. Enter your Test Student User’s username and password.
4. Navigate to the course you have enrolled your student into, using the Courses option in the left-hand menu and searching for the unit ID or name.
5. Click on the appropriate course and find the submission point. This will normally be found in the Assessment, submission and feedback area.
6. Once you find the submission point, click on the assignment name.
7. Click View instructions.
8. Click Start submission.
9. Either:
   1. Drag-and-drop the file you wish to upload into the space provided.
   2. Freely write your submission into the text box provided.
   3. Click within the text box and select the paperclip icon to browse files on your computer for upload.
10. Edit your submissions file name, if you need to.
11. Once you have uploaded a file/written a submission, you should see a preview of your work on the screen. If you are happy, click
    1. If you are submitting to a Turnitin-enabled submission point, you will receive a pop-up asking if you are happy to agree to the End User License agreement. Provided you are, click Submit.
12. A pop-up should appear entitled Your submission was successful! This is an on-screen version of your submission receipt. This should also be emailed to the email account linked to your test student user (usually your UoB staff account). Click download to retain a copy.
13. Log out of your Test Student User account.

If you require a means to identify individuals who have not submitted, perhaps to raise the issue with them or refer them to tutors, the following additional steps are one method of easily keeping records and identifying students:

1. Navigate to the Assessment, Submission and Feedback area of the course.
2. Locate the assessment. Once you have found it, click to enter.
3. In the Instructions field, enter the following text (or a localised version) in addition to the guidance already provided:

“Once you have completed your submission, you need to declare that you have submitted your work. Please complete the Blackboard Test provided below immediately after submitting. You will need your submission number.”

4. Click Save.
5. Return to the Assessment, Submission and Feedback area of the course.
6. Hover over the line at the bottom of the submission point so that the + button appears. Click on this and select Create from the options.
7. Select Test from the menu options under the Assessments sub-header.
8. Change the title of the test so that is obviously related to the assessment. For example, “[Assessment name] submission declaration”
9. Click the + icon below the Create your assessment message (see below)
10. Select Add Essay Question from the options.
11. In the text box, write:

Enter your submission number here and click Submit.

12. Click Save.
13. Un-tick the Allow students to add content at end of assessment
14. Click on the cog icon to edit the test’s settings.
15. In Details & Information select No due date.
16. In Formative Tools, enable Formative assessment and remove the Display formative label to students
17. In Marking & Submissions:
    1. Change the Attempts allowed to Unlimited
    2. Change the Mark using to Complete/Incomplete
    3. Toggle Post assessment marks automatically to ON.
18. Scroll down to the Description field and enter the following text (or a localised version):

Once you have completed your submission you need to declare you have submitted your work by completing this Blackboard test. Please complete this immediately after submitting. You will need your submission number, which you will receive via email after you have submitted your work.

19. Click Save.
20. Click on the drop-down arrow next to the visibility status in the top right-hand corner of the screen. This will read Hidden from students. Change this to Visible to students.

In some instances, it may be desirable to adjust when assessments are available to students. For example, to enable access after a certain date or only to a certain group.

1. Navigate to the submission point.
2. Click on the drop-down arrow next to the visibility status in the top right-hand corner of the screen. Depending on the conditions already applied, this will either read:
   1. Visible to students.
   2. Hidden from students.
   3. Release conditions

Select Release conditions, which will take you to a new screen.

3. By default, your new rule will be called Rule # where # represents the number of rules applied to this assessment. For example, “Rule 1”. If you wish to change the name of the rule, click the name and enter text.
4. Choose between:
   1. All members to control access for all students on the course.
   2. Specific members or groups to add specific students or students you have added to a Blackboard group.
5. Toggle Date/Time option to expand more details.
6. Click either and/or both:
   1. Access from: to choose the date and time the submission point should become visible to students.
   2. Access until: to choose the date and time the submission point should become invisible to students.
7. Performance: should be left toggled off. If you would like to explore performance related (streamed) assessment workflows, please contact the Ultra Project team via blackboard-ultra@bristol.ac.uk.
8. Once you have made the changes you wish to, click save. This will create a rule. Additional rules (for different groups/individual students/dates and times) can then also be added).

Warning: Students will be prompted to accept Turnitin’s end-user agreement before they can submit work.

1. Navigate to the Blackboard assessment in the Assessment, Submission and Feedback area of your Blackboard course.
2. Click on the cog icon in the top-right corner of the screen to open the assessment settings.
3. Scroll down to the Additional Tools section and click Enable Turnitin under the Originality Report header.

Warning: Configuration of similarity settings should be discussed with the academic/teaching lead.

4. Configure the similarity check settings as desired. Recommended settings for most summative assessments and final submission points would be:
   1. Store student submissions in:
      1. Standard paper repository: this will store submitted papers in Turnitin’s global paper repository, making them available to all institutions for future similarity checks. You should only select this option if this is a final submission of work.
      2. Do not store the submitted papers: this will ensure that any submissions made to this submission point are not stored by Turnitin. If you are setting up a formative submission or a submission point for students to submit work in progress or drafts, you must use this setting. If you do not, the student’s final, summative submissions may generate erroneous Similarity Reports by comparing their initial draft with their final work.
      
      Info: In most instances, all of the comparison options should be toggled ON.
   2. Compare submissions against:
      1. Student database (on) will check all submitted work against Turnitin’s repository of submissions from both Bristol and other institutions using Turnitin.
      2. Website content (on) will check all submitted work against Turnitin’s repository of website content.
      3. Periodicals, journals and publications (on) check all submitted work against Turnitin’s repository of published materials.
      4. Institution database (on) will check all submitted work against the University of Bristol’s local repository of materials.
   3. Similarity Report:
      1. Toggle Exclude bibliographic materials on if you wish for the similarity report to ignore materials included in bibliographies. Toggling this on can provide a more accurate report in the first instance. It can be overridden in individual student’s similarity reports after submission.
      2. Toggle Exclude quoted materials on if you wish for the similarity reports to ignore materials included in quotation marks. Toggling this on can provide a more accurate similarity report in the first instance. It can be overridden in individual student’s similarity reports after submission.
      3. Toggle Exclude small sources on if you wish for the similarity report to ignore smaller sources cited in the text. If you choose this feature, an additional configuration to state how many words to ignore will appear and require adjustment.

5. Toggle Allow students to view Similarity Reports on if you wish for students to be able to view their similarity reports. This is shown to improve a student’s understanding of plagiarism and academic integrity practices.
6. Click save.

Warning:
This Delegated Marking option should be discussed with teaching staff before being implemented. If it does not meet requirements but you still require anonymity, consider Workflow 3: Turnitin (LTI). If anonymity is not required, consider Workflow 1A: Individual and group online without anonymity.

1. In the Blackboard course, navigate to Groups from the top menu.
   1. If you don’t already have group sets in your course, you will need to click the New Group Set option in the top right corner of the screen. If you have already created groups of students for delegated marking purposes, proceed to step 3 below.
2. In the Group students option box, click the drop-down arrow and select either:
   1. Create custom groups to manually choose how many groups to produce and which students you assign.
   2. Randomly assigned groups to automatically create a number of groups with students randomly assigned to them.

Regardless of which option you chose, you can manually move students between groups either by:

1. 1. Clicking on the … icon next to a student’s name and choosing another group to move them to.
   2. Clicking on several students, highlighting their details in black, then clicking on the … icon in any of the highlighted student’s details to relocate them all to another group.

3. Once you have assigned all students to groups, name each group so that they are easily identified by a marker. This may be the marker’s name, a pre-agreed number, or some other identifier. To rename a group, click on the current name. You should also name the group set so it is easily linked to the assignment itself, perhaps giving it the name of the assignment and the suffix, “Marking Groups”.

Info:
It is important that groups can easily be linked to markers and assignments, especially if there will be pre-moderation standardisation or oversight by one marker.

4. Ensure that the visibility option in the top-right of the screen reads Hidden from students.
5. Click save.
6. Navigate to the Blackboard submission point in the Assessment, Submission and Feedback area of your Blackboard course.
7. Click on the submission point’s name to enter it.
8. Click on the cog icon in the top-right corner of the screen to open the assessment settings.
9. Scroll down to the Marking and Submissions section and toggle the option for Delegated Marking
10. Click on Assign markers.
11. Select the group set from the Select group set
12. In each group in the set, click into the Search by marker name box and search for the marker you wish to assign to those students. NOTE: you will need to know the marker’s name or user ID to find them in the system.
13. Add one marker to each group. You can assign multiple groups to each marker.
14. Click on save.

For details on marking using distributed marking, please refer to the Marking, Feedback and Moderation section. For details on managing and supporting teaching and academic staff during the marking process, please see the administration section.

If the assessment has been listed as a ‘BB submission’ in eVision, the Blackboard assignment will automatically be created in the relevant course in the Assessment submission and feedback area. For further advice on setting up assessments in eVision see the Bristol Education Administration Manual (BEAM)

1. Navigate to the Assessment, Submission and Feedback area of the course.
2. Locate the assessment sent from eVision. It will have the title entered into the eVision system. Once you have found it, click to enter.

Warning:
It is important you do not change the assessment’s title whilst making configurations. Making changes to these details can impact mark extraction.

3. Click the text box below Instructions and enter the following text (or a localised equivalent):

“This submission is anonymously marked. You must submit your work with your student number in the file name. For example, “123456-Assignment name.docx”. Submissions made without the correct file name and/or with identifying information will forfeit anonymity. It is vital you record your submission number after you submit. You should receive your submission number by email and on-screen once you’ve submitted. Do not delete the email and download your receipt.”

Warning:
Text in this box does not appear as a description on the submission point but it does appear before the student submits their work. It is not recommended that this area be used for assessment-critical information studens need to know in advance of beginning their assessment as it is only visible once the student has clicked on the submission point and entered it. To add a description to your assessment, see point 10 below.

4. Click Save.
5. Click on the cog icon in the top-right corner of the screen to open the assessment settings.
6. It is recommended that the Due date section is not changed from defaults:
   
   
   Warning:
   It is important you do not change the assessment’s due date whilst making configurations. Making changes to these details can impact mark extraction.
   1. 1. Prohibit late submissions should be left toggled off.
      2. Prohibit new attempts after due date should be left toggled off.
   
   Warning:
   If Prohibit late submissions or Prohibit new attempts after due date settings are active, it may increase the complexity of allowing students additional submissions in exceptional circumstances or administering the management of extensions. If you are looking to prohibit late submissions after a specific period (e.g., five working days), you can instead use Release Conditions discussed in the Optional Configuration (in Blackboard) section below.
   3. Collect submissions offline is not used. Rather, if you have an offline submission, choose either “Physical (marks only)” or “No submission (marks only)” whilst creating the assessment in eVision.
7. Scroll down to the Marking and Submissions section and adjust the following options:
   1. Attempts allowed (recommended: 3)
   2. Attempts to mark (recommended: Last attempt)
   3. Mark using (recommended: Points, unless using 21 point scale or a pass/fail model)
   4. Maximum points: (recommended: 100)
8. Toggle Hide student names to on to enable anonymous marking.
9. Scroll to the Additional Tools section and add a rubric, if desired, by clicking on Add marking rubric in the Use marking rubric
10. Scroll down to the Description field and enter the following text (or a localised version):

“This submission is anonymously marked. You must submit your work with your student number in the file name. For example, “123456-Assignment name.docx”. Submissions made without the correct file name and/or with identifying information will forfeit anonymity. It is vital you record your submission number after you submit. You should receive your submission number by email and on-screen once you’ve submitted. Do not delete the email and download your receipt.”

Add any additional assessment and submission guidance should also be entered here, but note the limit of 750 characters.

10. Assignments are hidden from students by default. Once you have finished configuring the assessment, you can release the submission point to students manually by toggling the Hidden from students option in the top-right of the submission point’s screen to visible to students. Alternatively, you can set a date for release – see “Optional configuration (in Blackboard)” below.