Posting simple grades in Concourse

As suggested in earlier articles, the grade book built into Concourse (Blackboard Vista) is not exactly a stunner. Many people do grade calculations in an Excel spreadsheet and export the results to Concourse.

The Concourse grade book is fine when you don’t have a lot of students (< 50) or a lot of grades. It can be an easy way to get final exam grades and course grades out to students.

First create a column:

• Log into Concourse and enter the course
• Go to the Teach tab and click “Grade Book”
• Click “Create Column” and choose Alphanumeric
• Enter a label for the column and click Save

Now enter the grades

• Click the small icon next to the column name and select “Edit Values”
• Enter number or letter grades under “Change to”
  (give the demo student a grade, too  – you’ll see why in a minute)
• After they’re all entered, click Save
• Afterward you can change an individual grade by clicking it and entering a new value

Finally, make sure the students can see the grades

• Click Manage Course on the side menu bar
• Click Course Menu and be sure it says “Hide Link” next to “My grades”
  
• Now go to the Student View tab and click “My grades”
  You should see the grade you gave to the demo student

NOTE: Concourse does NOT submit course grades to the registrar at Notre Dame. If you want to to upload grades from a spreadsheet rather than entering them one at a time, see the tutorial or contact the registrar’s office.