Set for External Grade

You started your course and you are considering revisiting your grade book - good.  As you look at the Grade Center, you will see that the default is to include a “Total” and “Weighted Total” column.  You will also notice that a green checkmark appears next to the “Total” column and no other column.  Is this important?

The green checkmark on the left of the column represents that the column is set to appear externally from the course.  In Blackboard the course selects one column to extract and collect to give the students an overall snapshot of all the student’s course grades such as when using the My Grades feature on the Institution Page.

It is important that this selected column is meaningful, otherwise students will be either be misinformed or receive cryptic misinformation about their grade.  While the “Total” column is the default column that is set external, you should set the external column to reflect the students’ actual grades in a meaningful way. Similarly you might consider changing the column’s title from “Weighted Total”, to a term that makes sense to the students, such as “Your Grade So Far.”
When you do this, you supply feedback more effectively and help keep the students focused on the course. Supplying prompt informative feedback is a key part of meeting Gamson and Chickering’s 4^th principle of good practice for education. Coincidentally, it also helps retain students and contributes to their success.

How do you set a column to be external?

If you wish to designate a different column as the External Grade Column, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Full Grade Center.
2. Click the action link, or chevron, for the column that is to be designated as the External Grade Column
3. From the drop-down menu that appears, select Set as External Grade

You are done.
Once you complete these steps, the green checkmark will be assigned to this column - confirming that it is the External Grade column.

Remember, choose your External Column wisely.  This can help motivate students and keep them more engaged within the class.  It only take brief moment, but selecting a meaningful column to be set as External Grade can help your students succeed.