Blackboard rubrics can be used to deliver structured feedback comments and build a scored grade. UoN recommends that the criteria used in a rubric align with the learning outcomes for the assignment. This page shows how to create a Blackboard rubric from the templates provided in NILE courses and how to use them during the grading process.
Blackboard rubrics belong to the course they were created in. In order to use a rubric created in a different course, it is possible to export it and import it into the new course. Please see the link at the bottom of this section for guidance on exporting and importing Blackboard rubrics.
In your NILE course, navigate to Course Tools, Rubrics.
There are two pre-existing templates in each NILE course; one for Undergraduate assignments and another for Postgraduate. This example will use the Undergraduate rubric for the remainder of this guide.
Access the contextual menu with the down arrow next to the rubric name and select Copy. Copying preserves the original for future use.
Select Edit next to the name of the newly created copy. The name will begin 'Copy of'.
Rename the rubric to something relevant so that you can easily locate it later. You may wish to use the module and assignment codes and use the format of module code + assignment name and year.
It is important to set the Rubric Type to Point Range so that a score is generated. The rubric template is set to 'No Points' by default, but there is currently a known issue with this rubric type and LearnTech no longer recommends the 'No Points' rubric within Blackboard Learn.
Change the Rubric Type to Point Range and follow the extra guidance in the link at the end of this section 'What grades (points) should I use in my rubric?' to assign values.
The levels of achievement for each column should be left as they are. The grading criteria can be edited to match the learning outcomes of the assignment. You may wish to break down any broader learning outcomes to smaller assessment criteria. If doing so, please relate each criterion back to the relevant learning outcome.
Access the contextual menu for each row heading and select Edit to make changes for each grading criterion. In the criteria column, you should substitute the placeholder Learning Outcome text with the full text of each of your Learning Outcomes. (Note. we do not recommend using letter codes from the module guide as the students will not understand these.)
Enter the point range for each cell, as chosen from the guidance 'What grades (points) should I use in my rubric?' linked to at the end of this section.
Optionally, enter text descriptors in all of the cells. For example, describe how a pass for learning outcome a) would be achieved. If you do not wish to pre-fill these cells, it is possible to add comments in the marking stage. If you do wish to pre-fill these cells, it is still possible to add further comments in the marking stage.
Use the Submit button to commit your changes. Completing the rubric may take some time, so consider periodically submitting the form to save your changes as you work.
Navigate to Grade Centre, Full Grade Centre in the Control Panel of the relevant NILE course.
Locate the manual column heading and select Edit Column Information from the contextual menu next to it.
Find the section titled Associated Rubrics, then use the Add Rubric button to choose the Select Rubric option.
Tick the checkbox of the rubric you wish to associate from the list of rubrics in that course and save your selection with the Submit button.
The rubric will appear in the table. In the last cell, change the option under the 'Show Rubric to Students' heading from No, to Yes (With Rubric Scores). This will ensure that students can see the rubric outline and the feedback left for them on the rubric when grades are released later in the workflow.
Use the Submit button to commit the changes.
Navigate to the Grade Centre, Full Grade Centre in the Control Panel of the relevant NILE course.
Locate the cell for the student you wish to grade and select View Grade Details from the contextual menu of that cell.
On the Attempts page, use the View Rubric button.
The rubric will open in its expanded view, but you may need to scroll to view the full rubric. Select the relevant cells to indicate a level of achievement against each learning outcome or grading criterion. As the cell is selected, there is the option to enter additional text specific to this particular student.
Under the rubric table, there is a Feedback to Learner text box. This is similar to the feedback found on the previous screen and either can be used to provide general feedback comments.
Use the Save button when the rubric has been completed.
You can find further details on applying a grade in the previous section of this guide, 'Recording grades and feedback in a manual grading column'.