Posting Grades

In Blackboard Ultra, posting grades means making them visible to students. After grading an assignment, test, or other item, instructors must manually post the grade to release it—along with any feedback—to the student. This can be done for individual students or all submissions at once. Grades remain hidden until posted, even if grading is complete. Simply entering a grade does not make it visible.

To support transparency and manage expectations, grading timeframes should be clearly communicated. Let students know when they can expect assignments and tests to be graded, including specific deadlines for returning graded work and a general timeframe for final grades. Instructors can also choose to set up automatic grade posting for certain items to streamline the process.

Manual Posting

There will be an exclamation mark next to Gradebook in the navigation menu whenever there are grades that need to be posted. 

There are three easy ways to manually post grades in a course. 

First, Posting grades from the Gradebook Overview

1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
2. Click on Overview.
3. For each assignment listed, click on Post Now to post the grades.
4. Be sure to post grades for every assignment; there may be more than one page of assignments in the list.

Second, Posting grades from the Gradable Items

1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
2. Click on Gradable Items.
3. For each item listed, click on Post Now to post the grades.
4. Be sure to post grades for every assignment; there may be more than one page of assignments in the list.

Third, Posting from an Assignment

In most cases, instructors must manually post grades after they have been entered. This is often the case when essay questions are involved or when the instructor wants to delay the release of grades for other reasons. Instructors may post grades as they move through the grading of an assignment.

1. Navigate to the Gradebook.
2. Find the specific assignment, quiz, or student submission you wish to post grades for and click on the name of the item to open the Submissions page.
3. Grade the submission(s).
4. Once graded, return to the submissions page and choose to post students’ grades one at a time by using the Post option on an individual’s submission or collectively with the Post all

Auto-Posting Grades

Many learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard allow instructors to enable “Post grades automatically” in the assignment settings. When enabled, grades are made visible to students as soon as they are entered. Ultra allows professors to auto-post grades for quizzes, exams, assignments, and any test that does not have any essay-type questions. To set up the auto post option for an assignment or test:

1. Navigate to the assignment or test and click on it to open it.
2. Click the gear icon to access the Settings
3. Scroll down to Assessment Grade and check the box for Post Grades automatically
4. Click Save

Note: Auto-post will not post grades if essay questions are included in the assignment or test. Instructors must post the grades manually after grading those questions.

Additional Information and Technical Support

Additional information is available on the TCSG/GOLD training website. Use the keyword Gradebook to search the news. 

For further assistance, please submit a Blackboard Support Request.