The Journal functionality available in Blackboard can be used for formative activities as well as assessment. It can be particularly useful in fostering reflective learning. Before setting up your Journal activities, please take a look at the good practice recommendations below.

Design Journal Activities 

Where possible, link the reflection to real situations  

Reflection is ‘a mindful process of looking back at one’s experience and evaluating it to gain insights about the complexity of learning and about oneself as a learner’ (Dewey, 1910 as cited in Guo, 2021, p. 118). As argued by Kolb (1984), observation and experimentation are key sources of reflection. Real-life experiences, such as field trips, practical sessions, clinical experiences or work placements where students can encounter doubt, conflict, dilemma, uncertainty or confusion can provide a richer ground for authentic reflection (Finlay, 2008). Where linking reflection to practical aspects of the course is not possible, it’s worth considering how students can draw from their personal, past or current experiences.  

Create effective journal prompts

Providing clear, detailed and specific prompts is essential to engage students in critical reflection (Guo, 2021), particularly in the early stages of learning where students may not be used to reflecting on their experiences. The prompts should address both the content (what should I reflect on?) and the process (how should I reflect on it?). To get students started you may want to introduce them to some of the reflective models such as Gibbs’s (1988) or Boud’s et al. (1985). Dr Dave Lawson and Dr Emily Bell who embedded reflective learning in the MSc Science Communication for a Better Planet programme asked students to choose and justify a reflective model themselves. This is an excellent way of introducing more autonomy into the activity design and prompting students to reflect on the process of reflection itself (see Embedding Reflection to Empower Students for the case study details).

Provide adequate scaffolding

In addition to effective prompts, you could also use other strategies to further scaffold student reflection. In their case study on Embedding Reflection to Empower Students, Dr Dave Lawson and Dr Emily Bell introduced reflective writing workshops in the early stages of the unit, focusing on the pedagogy of reflection, emphasising its importance and covering various reflective models. The reflection in their programme was embedded both in formative and summative assessment which enabled students to practice and develop their reflective skills. Lastly, they provided clear marking criteria which covered both the reflection’s content and format (see Embedding Reflection to Empower Students for the case study details).

Create a Journal

1. Click on the purple plus button anywhere in the course and choose Create.
2. Scroll down and click on Journal under Participation and Engagement.
   
3. Add the journal’s name and a prompt and click Save.
   

Journals include an AI generation feature which can be accessed by clicking on the Auto-Generate Journal button in the top-right corner. This feature can be used to generate some initial ideas but the prompts and outputs will need to be edited and refined as their quality may vary. Once you click the Auto-Generate Journal button, you will see a set of options. Click on Select course items to choose content from the course you would like to be used as a source for the prompt generation.

Check any AI-generated content for bias, accuracy and appropriateness in your course’s context.

Configure Journal’s settings

Change journal settings by clicking on the cog icon on the right. You can choose to:  

• Grade Journal (off by default) – if turned on, this will open up further settings related to grading.  
• Allow users to edit and delete entries (on by default)  
• Allow users to edit and delete comments (on by default)

Once you are done, click Save.

Make the Journal available to students by using the visibility dropdown to the right of the journal.

Adding Entries 

To add an entry, students need to: 

1. Click on the Journal.
   
2. Add their entry and click Post.
   
3. If this option is enabled, students can also edit and delete their entries.
   

View Journals

All Journals are visible only to the instructors and the students who added them.

1. A purple bubble will appear next to the Journal when new entries are available.
   
2. Click on the Journal and go to the Participation tab to see who added an entry. You can set the Student Status to Entry Made to see students who submitted to their Journal.
   
3. Click on the student’s name to see their Journal entries. The New label will appear next to entries you haven’t seen. If this option is enabled, you can add comments under the student’s entries.
   

References

• Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Reflection, turning experience into learning (1^st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315059051  
• Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’. Practice-Based Professional Learning Centre, 52 (January), 1–27. https://oro.open.ac.uk/68945/1/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf  
• Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing. A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit at Oxford Polytechnic. 
• Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice Hall. https://www.fullerton.edu/cice/_resources/pdfs/sl_documents/Experiential%20Learning%20-%20Experience%20As%20The%20Source%20Of%20Learning%20and%20Development.pdf  
• Lin Guo (2022) How should reflection be supported in higher education? — A meta-analysis of reflection interventions, Reflective Practice, 23:1, 118-146, https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2021.1995856  

Add a column

Blackboard Ultra provides several different calculation columns for calculating marks in the Gradebook. Which column you need depends on the action you wish to undertake and the type of assessment you have set in eVision. In most instances, this would be a “BB Other” assessment type. 

To add a column: 

1. Enter the Marks view of the Gradebook.
2. Hover your mouse cursor between two columns where you would like to create the new column.
3. Click the + icon that appears.
4. Select either Add Calculation or Add Total Calculation from the list that appears.
5. Add a title for the column.  

The calculation columns available are: 

• Total Calculation: This enables you to add the results of assessments together. You can do this either as:
  • Weighted total, where each assessment receives a % attribution that adds up to 100% overall.
  • Points total, where the number of points available in each assessment are combined to make a total.
• Calculation: This allows you to conduct calculations that are more bespoke, comparable to some of the functions you may otherwise carry out in a spreadsheet. However, the functionality is limited, and more complex needs may still require off-line work. For instructions on how to download an upload files you can amend in Excel, please see the section on Offline Calculations.

Choose which column to use

In most instances, the Total Calculation column will provide the functionality required to manage combined assessments (where several tasks add together or where only some scores from a set are counted towards a total, such as a “best of x out of Y” model).

A Calculation column can also be used to achieve the same results and may provide the functionality needed to conduct calculations previously managed outside of Blackboard. However, the interface and functionality is limited, and some calculations will still need to be managed outside of Blackboard (such as rounding to the nearest integer). Instructions on how to download and upload a file from Blackboard you can amend in Excel, please see the section on Offline Calculations.

Assessment types in eVision to use with columns

To extract marks from a calculated column to eVision, you will need to use the BB Other assessment type in eVision and then ‘map’ the calculation column and the one provided by eVision together.

Total Calculation Columns

Description and use cases

A Total Calculation Column lets you add several marks from other columns together, creating an overall mark.  

You can: 

• Give different assignments different weighting. For example, if you have three assignments, you could weight one at 50%, one at 30% and one at 20%. Any combination is possible provided the overall percentage adds to 100%, including adding up to two decimal places.
• Apply a Marking Schema. For example, you could include several assessments added up to a total and then apply a “Pass/Fail” marking schema, changing the display of the mark to students in the Gradebook to either a “pass” or “fail” moniker.
• Drop Scores. Set the number of highest or lowest scores to exempt from the calculation. For example, if you wish to discount the three lowest scores out of five total assignment results. This is commonly referred to as a “best x out of y” or “best of” approach to marking. 

This type of column is most useful when: 

• You want to only consider or value the best or worst grade on several assessments.
• You want to add together multiple assessment activities into one, overarching grade.
• You wish to ignore X number of the highest or lowest grades for Y number of assessments.
• You need the final grade for the assessment to be expressed as a percentage out of 100.

Key considerations: 

• You may still need to round grades to the nearest integer: When you combine several grades together into an overall percentage, some grades may be expressed as a decimal fraction (for example, 70.5%). University policy requires that such grades are rounded to the nearest integer before being returned to students. Currently, this rounding still cannot be achieved in Blackboard.  

General setup 

1. If you have not already put all assignments, tests or other Gradebook Items related to this calculation into a shared category, you should do this first:
   1. Navigate to the Marks view of the Gradebook.
   2. Click on the cog icon in the top-right of the screen. The Gradebook Settings menu will open on the right of the screen.
   3. Scroll down the menu and then select Add New Category under the Mark Categories header.
   4. Enter a name for your category and press return on your keyboard. You will be adding all of the assignments you want to total to this category, so give it an easily recognisable name. For example, you may want to name it after the overall assessment.
   5. Select the pink cross to close the menu.
   6. In the Marks view, find each Assessment you want to add to the calculation and:
      1. Click on the header to open the drop-down menu:
      2. Select Edit.
         1. For assignments or tests, select the cog icon.
            1. Scroll down until you see the Marking & Submissions header.
            2. Change the Mark category to the category you have just created.
         2. For items (columns created directly in the Gradebook not attached to an assignment, test or submission point), change the Mark category to the category you have just created.
      3. Repeat this for each item or assessment you wish to add to the calculation.
2. In the Marks view of the Gradebook, hover your mouse cursor between two columns where you would like to create the new Total Calculation column.
3. Click the “+” icon that appears.
4. Select Add Total Calculation from the list that appears.
5. Add a title for the column.
6. Select either Points or Weighted.
   1. Selecting Points will calculate a points-based total where the maximum score is equal to the total of all points available in all items.
   2. Selecting Weighted will create a total calculation that treats the results of each individual assessment as a weighted %. The total value must then add up to 100%. If you choose Weighted you must then select between:
      1. Proportionally: where the weight given to an individual assessment is defined by their relative points value to other assessments you add. For example, if one assessment has 10 points available and the other 90 points, the first assessment will be weighted at 10% and the latter at 90%.
      2. Equally: where the weight given to each assessment is equally distributed irrespective of each assessment’s individual points value. For example, if you have two assessments in your calculation, one with 10 points available and the other with 90, they will both be weighted at 50% each.
7. Total Calculation Columns initially consider all gradable items in your course. You need to exclude all but the one category you have created for this calculation. Working down the list of categories, select the exempt icon on all categories except for the one you want to work with. The exempt icon on deselected items will turn purple.
   
8. If you are simply looking to add a selection of assessments together into an overall percentage-based score, you can now Select Save. Alternatively, you can also: 
   1. Add additional categories and adjust their individual weighting (on Weighted Total columns). If you need to manually set the weighting of a or all items, add the item to its own category and leave both selected. You can add as many categories as you wish and adjust the weighting of each by typing your preferred weight into the text box.  
   2. Exclude specific items within a category. you can exclude specific items from the within a category from the calculation. To do this, click the ˅ symbol at the right-hand end of your category to expand all of the items you have added and then select the exclude symbol next to the item you want to exclude.
      
   3. Unlink items from a category (to set specific weighting to each). To do this, click the ˅ symbol at the right-hand end of your category to expand all of the items you have added and then select the unlink symbol next to the item you want to remove from the category. You can then adjust the weighting of that specific item by typing the weight you want to assign to it in to the text box. Note: the total for all items and categories must add up to 100% overall.
      
9. Drop worst or best scores (to create a ‘best of’ or ‘worst of’ mark). To do this, select Edit calculation rules on the category you want to adjust to open a panel of further options on the left-hand side of the screen and toggling the Enable option to on. From here, you can either:
   • Use only the highest or lowest scores from all of the added items, assessments or tests, or
   • Drop scores to set a specific number of highest or lowest scores to drop from the calculation.

Calculation Columns

1. In the Marks view of the Gradebook, hover your mouse cursor between two columns where you would like to create the new Total Calculation column.
2. Click the “+” icon that appears.
3. Select Add Calculation from the list that appears.
4. Add a title for the column.
5. Under Select a grade schema, select between:
   • Points
   • Percentage
   • Letter
   • Complete/Incomplete
6. You can then construct a calculation by adding and arranging functions, variables and operators as required.
   • Functions and Variables:
     • Average: generates the average from any number of selected graded items, categories or other calculations.
     • Total: generates a total from any number of selected graded items, categories or other calculations.
     • Minimum: returns the minimum grade for a selection of graded items, categories or other calculations.
     • Maximum: returns the maximum grade for a selection of graded items, categories or other calculations.
     • Variable: allows the addition of individual graded items or calculations. The maximum points for a graded item must be greater than zero.
   • Operators:
     • Add
     • Subtract
     • Divide
     • Multiply
     • Open Parenthesis
     • Close Parenthesis
     • Value: allows you to enter a numeric value to any calculation.
7. Once you have completed the calculation, select Validate to ensure it is working as required.
8. Select Save.

Offline Calculations 

In some instances, it may be necessary or desirable to download information from Blackboard, conduct calculations offline in Excel, and then reupload amended information to Blackboard.

Preparations

If you need to extract grades you have amended in an Excel file to eVision, you should use either a BB Other or Marks Only assessment type. 

If you are using a BB Other assessment type, you will need to add an additional Blackboard column where grades manipulated in Excel can then be re-uploaded to Blackboard. This column should then be mapped to the BB Other column for marks extraction. You cannot upload marks directly to a BB Other column. 

You can upload marks directly to a Marks Only assessment type column, so you can use this column in downloaded spreadsheets as a location for final calculations.

Downloading from the Gradebook

1. Navigate to the Marks view of the Gradebook.
2. Select the Download icon in the top-right corner to open an options menu.
   
3. Select Full Gradebook.
4. Either highlight specific items or assessments by selecting them from the Record Details list, or else select Select All Items.
5. Set the File Type to Comma Separated Values (.csv).
6. Select Download.
7. When the file has downloaded and been opened, you may be prompted by Excell to update or convert the file type. Select Don’t Convert to avoid making changes to the document that will prevent uploading it back to Blackboard.

When working with downloaded Blackboard Gradebooks, care should be taken to not affect existing grades you do not want to change. Similarly, changes in formatting can prevent the file from being reuploaded.

Uploading to the Gradebook

Once you have completed offline calculations, save your file in a sensible location, sustaining the .csv file format.  

1. Navigate to the Marks view of the Gradebook.
2. Select the Upload icon in the top-right corner to open an options menu.
   
3. Either drag and drop your file, or else select Upload Local File to browse your computer or a shared location.
4. Once a file is located, an upload progress indicator will appear. When it is complete, click Upload. You will be returned to the Gradebook and a “Upload Complete!” message will appear at the bottom of the screen.

You should check uploaded marks are correct before then releasing them to students or uploading them to eVision.