Creating a Blackboard Ultra Rubric
This guide has been created to explain how and why you create Blackboard Ultra rubrics for assessment within your modules.
Contents
- Creating a Blackboard Ultra Rubric
- What is a rubric?
- How can students use rubrics?
- About Blackboard Ultra rubrics.
- Rubric types.
- Updating or modifying the default rubric.
- Assigning a Rubric to a Blackboard Ultra assessment.
- Percentage-based rubrics.
- Benefits and Draws of using a percentage-based rubric.
- Percentage-range rubrics.
- Benefits and Draws of using a percentage-range based rubric.
- Points based rubrics.
- Assigning a Rubric to a Blackboard Ultra assessment.
- Assessing a Blackboard Ultra assignment using a points-based rubric.
- Benefits and Draws of using a points-based rubric.
- Points-range based rubrics.
- Assigning a Rubric to a Blackboard Ultra assessment.
- Assessing a Blackboard Ultra assignment using a points-based rubric.
- Benefits and Draws of using a points-range based rubric.
- Modifying rubrics
What is a rubric?
A rubric is a scoring tool you can use to evaluate graded work. When you create a rubric, you divide the assigned work into parts. You can provide clear descriptions of the characteristics of the work associated with each part, at varying levels of skill.
How can students use rubrics?
Students can use a rubric to organise their efforts to meet the requirements of the graded work. When you allow students access to rubrics before they complete their work, you provide transparency into your grading methods.
About Blackboard Ultra rubrics
Multiple rubrics can be created and used in each module. Rubrics consist of rows and columns. The rows correspond to the criteria. The columns correspond to the level of achievement that describes each criterion.
There are four different types of rubrics:
- Percentage
- Percentage range
- Points
- Points range.
When a new rubric is created, by default it will consist of four rows and four columns. You can add up to fifteen columns and rows, and you can delete all but one row and one column. Rubrics with assignments and discussions.
Rubric types
You can create four types of rubrics in a course:
- Percentage-based rubrics.
- Percentage-range rubrics.
- Points-based rubrics.
- Points-range rubrics.
Updating or modifying the default rubric
Additional grading boundaries can be added to the rubric before or after any of the current grade boundary columns by hovering the mouse on a column boundary line and clicking on the purple plus icon that appears. You can add multiple additional grading columns per criteria.
You can edit or remove grade boundary columns by hovering the mouse over the column heading and clicking the pencil icon (to edit) or trashcan icon (to remove)
You can add additional criteria to a rubric, before or after any of the current criteria by holding the mouse on the row boundary line and clicking on the purple plus icon that appears. You can add multiple additional criteria.
You can also edit or remove grading criteria rows by hovering the mouse over the row heading and clicking the pencil icon (to edit) or trashcan icon (to remove)
Assigning a Rubric to a Blackboard Ultra assessment
Having created the Blackboard Ultra assessment, click on the Assignment Settings cog.
Scroll down the list of configurable settings and under Additional Tools > Use marking rubric click Add marking rubric.
Scroll down through the list of rubrics (if you have previously setup) and select the rubric that you want to associate with this assessment.
Once the Add button has been clicked, the Save button must be pressed to complete the assessment and rubric setup process.
Percentage-based rubrics
For percentage-based rubrics, the criteria total percentage must equal 100%. You may only use whole numbers. You may add rows set to 0% as long as your total percentage equals 100.
If the total of the percentages doesn’t equal 100%, a warning message appears at the bottom of the screen.
Select Balance Criteria next to the message to auto-adjust the percentages so they equal 100 or, you can manually update the percentages as needed.
The system calculates the points achieved based on the assessor’s choice of performance per criterion (the default criterion includes, Excellent @ 100%, Satisfactory @ 75%, unsatisfactory @ 50%, and poor @ 25%). These are the only 4 values that can be applied per criterion, unlike the percentage range rubric that will be looked at next.
Within the screenshot above, for Criteria 01 the weighting of the total mark for this assignment is 30%. Based upon the default four criteria (as mentioned previously), the following achievement scores will be generated based on the grade the assessor gives for this criterion.
- Excellent scored as 100%. Therefore, 100% of 30 = 30 marks
- Satisfactory scored as 75%. Therefore, 75% of 30 – 22.5 marks
- Unsatisfactory scored as 50%. Therefore, 50% of 30 = 15 marks
After each section of the rubric (as shown above) you can add per Criterion Feedback to support and justify your assessment decision.
Although the achievement percentage is calculated automatically you can also manually override the overall score by editing the overall marks out of 100%.
Benefits and Draws of using a percentage-based rubric
Benefits
- Speed: You only need to select which of the grade boundaries to apply to each criterion.
- Setup: This system is quick to setup as each criteria to be graded needs only one variable setting.
Drawbacks
- Lack of control: A grade of Excellent has only one specific point total associated with it so all students who achieve an excellent in a criterion will achieve the same percentage mark. To differentiate scores, more grade boundaries would need to be add to the default four. For example:
- Excellent = 25%
- Good = 20%
- Satisfactory = 15%
- Unsatisfactory = 10%
- Poor = 5%
- Non-submission = 0%
Using this system would take longer to setup and still wouldn’t allow completely unique grades to be awarded to students.
Percentage-range rubrics
For percentage-range rubrics, each level of achievement (Excellent, Satisfactory etc.) has a range of values. When a student’s work is graded, a level of achievement must be selected and then an appropriate percentage for a particular level of achievement.
In the example below, for Criteria 01 a lecturer can judge the assessed work based on the criteria as “Excellent” however, they will also need to grade the work with a specific percentage value between 75% and 100%.
The system calculates the points achieved by multiplying the achievement percentage by the item points.
For example, within the screenshot above, for Criteria 01 the weighting of total mark for this assignment from Criteria 01 is 50%. The lecturer has judged the assessed work as being Excellent. Excellent has a point scoring range between 75% and 100%, within this range the lecturer has awarded a specific mark of 80%. The overall percentage achieved for this criterion is calculated by working out what 80% (Criteria 01) of 50 (Overall available marks) is, which in this case it is 40.
Some more examples taken from Percentage-range Rubric.
After each section of the rubric (as shown above) you can add Criterion Feedback to support and justify your assessment decision.
Although the achievement percentage is calculated automatically you can manually override the overall score by changing the overall marks out of 100%.
Benefits and Draws of using a percentage-range based rubric.
Benefits
- Control: Two students can be graded as “Excellent” in the grade boundary decision but can then be differentiated by assigning different percentages within the allowed range for Excellent.
For example, Student 01 achieved Excellent and is given a percentage score of 24 and Student 02 also achieved Excellent but is given a percentage score of 21. Both percentage decisions that have been awarded can be justified within the assessment feedback and Blackboard Ultra rubric.
Drawbacks
- Speed: Every criterion being assessed will need a grade boundary to be chosen (such as Excellent or Satisfactory etc.) as well as a specific percentage from within the allowed range (such as for Excellent the grade boundary might be between 21% and 25%).
- Setup: This system will take longer to set up as each criterion to be graded will need multiple variables setting.
Points based rubrics
By default, when you select this rubric type, like in other rubrics previously covered, the rubric grid will include four criteria (Criterion 1, 2 ,3 and 4) and four grading boundaries (Excellent, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory and Poor). No overall points will be allocated to any of the criteria and no points will be allocated to the grading boundaries. These must all be manually set.
The example below is taken from a four criteria-based assignment, only criteria 2 is shown in this example. It will be marked out of a maximum available points value of 25. In this example the points per criterion will be allocated as follows:
- Excellent = 25 points
- Satisfactory = 20 points
- Unsatisfactory = 15 points
- Poor = 10 points
To enter the points available values for the four columns listed above (Excellent, Satisfactory etc.), hover the mouse over any of the four grade boundaries points cells that are specific to the criteria in question, a pencil icon will appear, click this and enter values for all the associated grade boundaries.
By setting the point values for the four grade boundaries, the maximum points available per criterion are automatically assigned based on the highest value entered. In this example, the “Excellent” grade boundary was set as 25 points, so this becomes the maximum possible points value.
For each grade boundary (Excellent, Satisfactory etc.) you should also add a description that identified how that assessment grading decision has been achieved. This can be done by hovering the mouse over the grading boundary and clicking on the pencil icon.
For example:
To achieve Excellent in Criterion 2: “Makes a strong stand and defines the context in the introductory paragraph. The position is restated throughout and reinforced with examples and included in the conclusion”
Or
To achieve Satisfactory in Criterion 2: “Makes a strong stand and defines the context in the introductory paragraph”
Once the points-based rubric has been set up and all assessment criteria and grading boundaries have been added and updated accordingly, click Save to complete the points-based rubric setup.
Assigning a Rubric to a Blackboard Ultra assessment
Having created the Blackboard Ultra assessment, click on the assignment settings cog.
Scroll down the list of configurable settings and under Additional Tools > Use marking rubric click Add marking rubric.
Scroll down through the list of rubrics you have previously set up and select the rubric that you want to associate with this assessment. If this rubric was created specifically for a one-off assignment and therefore has grading criteria and point total that is unique to this assessment, tick the Use rubric’s possible points tick box. If the rubric you have setup up is generic by nature and so can be used across multiple assessments, then you can choose not to use the points associated with the rubric. It is also possible to view the contents of the rubric for example if you are not sure if it is the correct rubric that is required.
Once the Add button has been clicked, the Save button must be pressed to complete the assessment and rubric setup process.
Assessing a Blackboard Ultra assignment using a points-based rubric
To access the submitted work, open Blackboard Ultra and the specific module in question and access the Gradebook. Open the assessment in question.
Select the student’s submission to assess. Do not enter the mark manually.
Click on the Rubric option to start assessing the work.
Each criterion can now be assessed within the student’s work and a grade boundary selected. As each boundary is selected, the overall Submission score is updated. After each section of the rubric, Criterion Feedback can be added to support and justify assessment decisions.
Once the assessment of the student assignment using the rubrics has been completed, click on the arrow next to the Rubric heading.
You can now add feedback to the assignment submission and click save to complete the assessment process.
Benefits and Drawbacks of using a points-based rubric
Benefits
- Speed: You only need to select which of the grade boundaries to apply to each criterion. For example, Excellent or Satisfactory etc.
- Setup: This system is quick to setup as each criterion to be graded needs only one variable setting.
Drawbacks
- Lack of control: A grade of Excellent has only one specific point total associated with it so all students who achieve an excellent in a criterion will achieve the same point mark. To differentiate scores, more grade boundaries would need to be add to the default four. For example:
- Excellent = 25 points
- Good = 20 points
- Satisfactory = 15 points
- Unsatisfactory = 10 points
- Poor = 5 points
- Non-submission = 0 points
Using this system would take longer to setup and still wouldn’t allow completely unique grades to be awarded to students.
Points-range based rubrics
For points-range rubrics, each level of achievement (Excellent, Satisfactory etc.) has a range of point values. When students work is graded, a level of achievement must be selected and then an appropriate number of points for a particular level of achievement awarded.
By default, when the select this rubric type, like in other rubrics previously covered, the rubric grid will include four criterion (Criterion 1, 2 ,3 and 4) and four grading boundaries (Excellent, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory and Poor). No overall points will be allocated to any of the criterion and no points will be allocated to the grading boundaries. These must all be manually set.
In the example below there are four criteria (only criterion 1 is shown) that all carry an available points value of 1 to 25 (the assignment is being marked out of 100 points). In this example the points per criterion will be allocated as follows:
- Excellent = 20 to 25 points
- Satisfactory = 16 to 20 points
- Unsatisfactory = 11 to 15 points
- Poor = 0 to 10 points
To enter the available point values for the four columns listed above (Excellent, Satisfactory etc.), hover the mouse over any of the four grade boundary points cells that are specific to the criteria in question, a pencil icon will appear, click this and enter values for all the associated grade boundaries.
By setting the points values for the four grade boundaries, the possible points available per criterion is automatically assigned. In this example, the “Excellent” grade boundary was set as 25 points, so this becomes the maximum possible points value.
If you incorrectly enter a point range value, Blackboard Ultra will inform you of the mistake, which must be corrected before the changes can be saved. In the example below the 26 value that has been entered should be lower than the highest possible value of 25. Changing this to any value lower than 25 will rectify the error.
For each grade boundary (Excellent, Satisfactory etc.) you should also add a description that identified how that assessment grading decision has been achieved. This can be done by hovering the mouse over the grading boundary and clicking on the pencil icon.
For example:
To achieve Excellent in Criterion 1: “Makes a strong stand and defines the context in the introductory paragraph. Position is restated throughout and reinforced with examples and included in the conclusion”
Or
To achieve Satisfactory in Criterion 2: “Makes a strong stand and defines the context in the introductory paragraph”
Once the points-range rubric has been set up, all assessment criteria and grading boundaries have been added and updated accordingly, click Save to complete the points-based rubric setup.
Assigning a Rubric to a Blackboard Ultra assessment
Having created the Blackboard Ultra assessment, click on the Assignment Settings cog.
Scroll down the list of configurable settings and under Additional Tools > Use marking rubric click Add marking rubric.
Scroll down through the list of rubrics (if you have previously set it up) and select the rubric that you want to associate with this assessment. If this rubric was created specifically for a one-off assignment and therefore has grading criteria and point total that is unique to this assessment, tick the Use rubric’s possible points tick box. If the rubric you have setup up is generic by nature and so can be used across multiple assessments, then you can choose not to use the points associated with the rubric. It is also possible to view the contents of the rubric for example if you are not sure if it is the correct rubric that is required.
Once the Add button has been clicked, the Save button must be pressed to complete the assessment and rubric setup process.
Assessing a Blackboard Ultra assignment using a points-based rubric
To access the submitted work, open Blackboard Ultra and the specific module in question and access the Gradebook. Open the assessment in question.
Select the student’s submission to assess. (Do not enter the mark manually.)
Click on the Rubric option to start assessing the work.
Each criterion can now be assessed within the student’s work, a grade boundary selected, and a specific point score given within the boundary point range. As each criterion’s grade and points are added, the overall Submission score is updated. After each section of the rubric, Criterion Feedback can be added to support and justify assessment decisions.
Once the assessment of the student assignment using the rubrics has been completed, click on the arrow next to the Rubric heading.
You can now add feedback to assignment submission and click save to complete the assessment process.
Benefits and Draws of using a points-range based rubric
Benefits
- Control: Two students can be graded as “Excellent” in the grade boundary decision but can then be differentiated by assigning different points within the allowed range for Excellent.
For example, Student 01 achieved Excellent and is given a percentage score of 24 and Student 02 also achieved Excellent but is given a percentage score of 21. Both percentage decisions that have been awarded can be justified within the assessment feedback and Blackboard Ultra rubric.
Drawbacks
- Speed: Every criterion being assessed will need a grade boundary to be chosen (such as Excellent or Satisfactory etc.) as well as a specific point total from within the allowed range (such as for Excellent the grade boundary might be between 21 points and 25 points).
- Setup: This system will take longer to set up as each criterion to be graded will need multiple variables setting.
Modifying rubrics
If a Rubric has been created but not used for grading it can be modified, this includes the rubric title, rows, columns, and percentages. However, if the rubric has been used for grading, modification of the rubric is not permitted.
There is however a partial solution to this, if you’ve already used a rubric to grade an item, you can create a copy of the rubric and edit the duplicate version and attach this to the assessment instead.
To do this, from the Gradebook open the Settings cog.
Scroll down the list of settings to locate the rubric with the identified mistake/s and then either:
Click on the three dots to the right of the rubric and choose Duplicate.
Open the rubric (might be useful to check it is the correct rubric) and click the Create a Copy button in the bottom right of the screen.
When you create a copy of a rubric you used to grade a test or assignment, the new rubric is associated with the item. Any grades calculated with the original rubric are preserved, but these grades are converted to overrides.
The duplicate copy of the rubric will now open with the original rubric name appended with the current date and the word “copy” at the end. The new copy of the rubric will now be live and editable.
You can edit aspects of the duplicate rubric by clicking on the pencil icon that appears as you hover the mouse cursor over aspects of the rubric. In the example screenshot below the points ranges for the first three criteria have been updated.
Once the required changes have been made (remember to check that any changes to point ranges in the copied rubric correctly add up to the required total), click Save.
You must now remove the erroneous rubric that is currently attached to the assignment.
For any assessments already graded using the old rubric, the grades and feedback will remain but no longer be associated with the rubric (appear as added manually). Press the Delete button to confirm the action.
Once the original rubric has been removed you can now add the newly created duplicate rubric. Click Add marking rubric.
From the list, locate the new rubric, ensure you click Use rubric’s possible points and click Add and then click Save to complete the process.
You can now regrade all assignment submissions with the new rubric. For assignment submissions graded using the previous rubric you may need to tick the, You may re-mark with the rubric option.
