Below is the Blackboard Ultra Gradebook Video Series published by Athens Technical College's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). These videos show all the steps needed to set up the gradebook in Blackboard Ultra completely. These videos are intended for faculty use to ensure course grades are calculated correctly each semester.
The solution article, Blackboard Ultra Gradebook Set-Up, is a document that shows step-by-step directions with Blackboard images and is a great companion to the videos listed below.
The Blackboard Ultra Gradebook Checklist is a short list summarizing the seven main steps to ensure proper grade calculation. The CTL recommends using this checklist to double-check your grade book settings after reviewing this video series.
The submitting grades to Banner document follows the video by the same title linked below showing how to Submit Grades to Banner. The document describes how to verify the submission using BannerWeb.
| Release Date | Video Link | Description |
| 09/09/2024 | Intro to the Monday Minute Video Series | The Monday Minute Video Series Introduction video introduces viewers to the Monday Minute video series and explains the purpose of the videos. |
| 01/06/2025 | Start Here Module Overview | The Start Here Module Overview video reviews the first module of the Blackboard Ultra Course Content area and demonstrates how to update generic PLACEHOLDERS with course-specific information. |
| 01/13/2025 | Gradebook Overview | This video shows where to locate the Blackboard Gradebook Settings gear icon and the different Gradebook view options. |
| 01/13/2025 | Gradebook Settings: Grade Schema | This video shows how to select the "Letter" Grade Schema if available, remove the phrase "No Rounding" if needed, how to check the percent and letter score ranges and make any necessary changes. |
| 01/20/2025 | Gradebook Settings: Grade Categories | The Create Gradebook Categories video demonstrates how to create a category, move an item from one category to the newly created category, and adjust the category weight. |
| 01/27/2025 | Gradebook Settings: Set Overall Grade | The Set Up Overall Grade video demonstrates how to do the initial Blackboard Ultra Gradebook setup to meet Blackboard minimum use standards, set the calculation total to weighted, and add category weights from the syllabus. |
| 02/03/2025 | Gradebook Settings: Automatic Zeros | The Automatic Zeros video demonstrates how to enable this Blackboard Gradebook feature to assign zeros based on assignment due dates. |
| 02/03/2025 | Gradebook Settings: Drop Lowest Grade | The Drop Lowest Grade video demonstrates how to drop a low score from the Blackboard Ultra Gradebook grade calculation. While the video shows how to interact with a quiz category, the principles are the same for every category with multiple graded assessments. |
| 02/03/2025 | Grading Student Submissions | The Grading Student Submissions video demonstrates how to locate and grade student submissions from the Activity Stream, the Gradebook Overview option, the Gradebook Gradable Items option, and from a Course Module assessment. NOTE: Some portions of the video have been obscured to protect privacy. |
| 02/10/2025 | Gradebook Requirement: Adding Notes for Grade Changes | When entering grades manually in Blackboard Ultra, there are some cases where instructors are asked to include a note in the Grader Notes field of the grading panel. This information is requested to give background information for a manually entered or changed grade when addressing a grade inquiry or challenge. |
| 02/10/2025 | Gradebook Settings: Grading Rubrics | The Blackboard Grading Rubrics video demonstrates creating, modifying, and applying a grading rubric. The video also shows AI's ability to create a grading rubric based on specified criteria. |
| 02/17/2025 | Gradebook Settings: Student Performance | The Student Performance video shows how to set an alert notification for the number of days a student is inactive, missed due dates, or if a student’s overall grade percentage drops below a certain point. The video also shows how to communicate with students from this tool page. |
| 02/24/2025 | Submit Grades to Banner | Grades are submitted from Blackboard to Banner. This video shows each step required to ensure grades are transferred. This document gives written directions for submitting grades to Banner and shows directions for verifying the grade submission using BannerWeb. |