Instructors often use one Blackboard course for their content to save time from uploading to multiple sections' courses. Assigning grades to students in these courses can be difficult, as they may hold hundreds of students. Rather than finding each students' name in the course Gradebook, this technique allows instructors and teaching assistants to find names by section.

2. Create a column called "Sections"

To add a column, click the Add Item button.

Complete the Add Item page (as listed below), then click .

1 - Enter "Section Number" as the Item Name

2 - Under Category, select "Other"

3 - Under Display As:, select "Score". This sets the type of character to be displayed as a number (i.e. a section number 0101 or 0201).

4 - ****You must select No to not include this number in grade calculations. If the section number is include in their grade calculations, students will see an inaccurate representation of their grade.

Once the "Section Number" column has been created in the Gradebook, you can start adding the section numbers to each student name. If you have teaching assistants, it is recommended that you have them input the section numbers for their section(s).

To add a section number, click the underlined dash (see right), then add the number in the space provided.

NOTE: Section 0101, 0201, 0301, etc. become 101, 201, 301 as the zero is removed.

Click the small white triangle above the "Section Number" column. The students will then be sorted by section.

NOTE: To restore alphabetical sorting in the Gradebook, click the small white triangle above the far left column, "Student Name (Last, First)".

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bob Armstrong at 410.455.3885 or rarmstro@umbc.edu or blackboard@umbc.edu.