There’s a new tool for submitting grades to Banner and it’s in Blackboard. DTS has heard concerns about how hard the grade submission tool in LConnect is to use. Over the summer we implemented a new tool that integrates with Blackboard and have identified a workflow that is easier to use.

Over the summer and fall term midterm grade submission periods we worked with instructors who opted to use the tool and have streamlined the process. For faculty using Blackboard’s Grade Center this means a much simplified workflow eliminating the need to enter grades into Banner  for each student. For faculty not using Blackboard’s Grade Center, the new interface is easier to use. Type each student’s grade into an easy to use interface (instead of using the drop down menu for each student in LConnect) and submit the grades to Banner with a single mouse click.

LIT will be holding drop-in sessions to assist faculty with setting up the Grade Center to send grades to Banner or to walk you through the process using the tool to manually enter grades for the first time. As always, we will also meet with faculty individually for assistance with using Blackboard and visit any department meetings on request. For those that want to get a head start, we’ve prepared documentation to help you  set up your Grade Center and use the Banner Grade submit tool or to use the Banner Grade Submit tool without using the Grade Center. In addition, we’ve created a video to step you through the process.

Drop-in Sessions:
December 15: 9 AM – 1 PM, Beatty 103
December 15: 7-8 PM: GoToMeeting session
December 16: 10 AM – 3 PM, Beatty 103
December 19: 9 AM – Noon, Cafeteria
December 20: 9 AM – 3 PM: 7-8 PM, GoToMeeting session

 A few bumps in the road…We’ve discovered that the letter grades pulled into the Banner Grade submit tool are based on the available schema in the course (locate the schema by selecting Grading Schemas from the Manage menu in the Grade Center). The system looks for a schema named “Letter”. You may find a schema with this name in your course if content was copied from an earlier semester before the WIT Undergrad and WIT Grad schemas were implemented. The “Letter” schema represents the “out of the box” schema that ships with the product but which does not reflect the schemas used here at Wentworth (it has the highest grade as A+). We recommend deleting this original Letter schema. Next rename either the WIT Undergrad or WIT Graduate letter schema to “Letter”. Contrary to previous instructions, do not select this new Letter schema as either display for the external grade column. If you want students to see this grade, create a separate column to display the Letter grade.

Some users have brought to our attention that some drops from courses did not process through to Blackboard. Technology Services staff from the Enterprise Applications group worked with technical staff from our vendor, Ellucian, to troubleshoot and correct the problem. We believe the real-time process is working correctly but some drops that occurred at the end of August may not have processed correctly.

IF you have any students not in Blackboard who should be or have students in Blackboard who have dropped, please open a ticket with the helpdesk so we can track down the cause and correct it.