Illinois Central College Blackboard Blog

Question:

I use weighted grades in the Blackboard grade book; how can I award extra credit points to the student’s final grade?

Answer:

The setup for weighted grades requires that everything adds up to 100 percent. Ideally, you would want to have all of your regular assignments add up to 100 percent (example: 70% written assignments, 30% exams) and then add extra credit on top of that. The controls for weighted grades don’t give you an option for doing this, though.

Here is a work around we found at this website: http://www.blackboard.niu.edu/blackboard/faq/qa/weightedgrades.shtml

In the weighted grades settings make an extra credit assignment type and set it to 1% of the grade. Then add in one extra credit assignment worth one point. All of the rest of the work the students do for the course adds up to 99% of their grade. Everyone receives the last 1% by giving them a 1 in the extra credit column. For students that earn extra credit, you award them additional points in the extra credit column. Each additional point in the extra credit column raises their grade by 1%.

So someone who did no extra credit would have a 1 in the extra credit column. If I scored an 89, and I had done extra credit worth one percentage point, the instructor can put a 2 in the extra credit column—my score would be raised to 90. A 3 in extra credit would raise my grade to 91.