How do I edit the Final/Weighted Column?

Before going into details about the two types of total columns it is important to address the effects of setting the column to calculate as a Running Total.

• Setting this option to "Yes" will display the students' scores based on the items they have submitted thus far. The problem that may arise with this setting is it does not count any column without some value entered. This means if a student submits only one item and makes a perfect score on it, then never completes anything else they will still show a perfect score in the total column, Unless a value of 0 is entered by the teacher for every item not turned in. Items with no value entered will show up as "--" in the cells of the grade center.
  
  
• Setting this option to "No" will display the students' scores based on the total points possible for the course. This means, until the course has been completed (all items submitted and graded), the students score will be displayed lower than it should be. This usually results in calls/e-mails from confused students who have thus far scored well but their "Total" in My Grades is displaying as a low score.

1.) Weighted Final Column: This column is calculated based on an assigned weight (%) of all or only selected columns in your grade book.

• All items included in the weighted calculation should add up to a total of 100%
  
  
• Along with the option for specific columns you can assign a weight to specific categories. This allows you to for example, set all quizzes in total to be worth 20% of the grade instead of each quiz having it's own set weight ( may be useful in a situation where you have an uneven number of quizzes or a large number of them).
  
  
• Adding bonus can be tricky in a course using weighted grades. If you want to add bonus it is best practice to add points to a specific item rather than trying to add any extra percentage to the weighted total as blackboard cannot calculate this correctly. Keep in mind, the greater the weight (% of the total) of the item you add the bonus points to, the greater over-all effect it will have on the students score.

Example of a configured Weighted Column.

 

2.) Total Column: This type of column is point based rather than weighted. Total columns can be calculated based on individual columns, categories, or the grade center as a whole.

• This column will calculate grade totals by dividing the points earned into the total points possible.
  
  
• Bonus can easily be added in this type of calculation by creating a bonus item or column and setting the point value to 0, then manually entering the desired bonus points for that item in the grade center.
  
  

3.) Importing Final/Midterm Grades into Banner: Midterm and Final grades must be imported into banner from the blackboard grade center. Here is a thorough guide created by the FRC on how to to this. As always, if you have any questions regarding creating/configuring the necessary columns or would rather Online Course Technical Support handle the creation of these columns for you, do not hesitate to contact us by Email or by Phone: [phone]