Getting Started
- Gradescope integrations with Blackboard are available with an institutional Gradescope license.
- When you access Gradescope through Blackboard, you and your students won't need to create or use a separate Gradescope password, because you will be authenticated via your Blackboard credentials.
- If you already have a Gradescope account under the email address that's associated with your Blackboard account (e.g., your school email), when you access Gradescope in Blackboard you will be taken to your existing account. If you do end up with multiple accounts under multiple emails, you can merge accounts.
- Are you using Blackboard Original or Ultra? To figure out if you're using Blackboard Original or Blackboard Ultra course view, check out Blackboard's article on determining your course view.
Overview
Below is the general process you should follow to be able to use Gradescope with Blackboard.
Step 1. Link your courses
Step 2. Sync your roster
Step 3. Set up your assignments
Step 4. Grade submissions
Step 5. Post grades
Linking your courses
We don't recommend linking one Blackboard course to multiple Gradescope courses. If you have several courses on Gradescope that correspond to one Blackboard course, it is not recommended that you link your Blackboard course to Gradescope. In this case, when you link courses it would allow students to enroll in any of the Gradescope courses that are associated with the single Blackboard course.
Students are automatically added to the Gradescope roster once they select a Gradescope course or assignment link within Blackboard.
- Login to Blackboard. Click on the Blackboard course you'd like to link to Gradescope. If you don't see the course you need, contact your Blackboard administrator.
- Next, click Tools (Original) or View course & institution tools (Ultra; shown in gif), and then click Gradescope. Depending on your institution's settings, this will launch Gradescope in a new tab or in an embedded window in Blackboard Original/Blackboard Ultra. If Gradescope isn't listed as a tool, contact your Blackboard administrator.
- Once Gradescope launches, you'll see a dialog box with course-linking options. Choose to link to a new or existing Gradescope course, and then click Link Course to go to the Course Settings page.
- New Gradescope users: At this point, a new Gradescope account will be created for you if you do not already have one associated with the email address (e.g., your school email) that you use in Blackboard.
- Existing Gradescope users: If you already have a Gradescope account under the email address that's associated with your Blackboard account (e.g., your school email), a new Gradescope account will not be created for you, and clicking the Gradescope link in Blackboard will take you to your existing account.
- On the Course Settings page, you can update the course title, description, rubric types, and score bounds. Keep in mind that course title and description changes made here will only appear in Gradescope, not in Blackboard.
- When you're finished, click Update Course. Your course is now linked and your students can access this Gradescope course.
- Next, it's recommended that you sync your roster.
Syncing your roster
You can only sync your roster for courses that are set to available for students.
- Navigate to your course in Gradescope.
- If you are accessing Gradescope from Blackboard:
- Select your course in Blackboard.
- Select Tools if you are using the Original version of Blackboard or View course & institution tools if you use Ultra.
- Select Gradescope. This will open your course dashboard in the Gradescope view.
- Expand Gradescope’s left sidebar (if it isn’t already), and select Roster.
- Select Sync Blackboard Roster at the bottom of the page. The button may be customized by your institution to reflect whatever you call Blackboard internally. The standard text will display Sync *** Roster.
- A modal will appear explaining how user accounts will be synced. All names, emails, and student IDs will be auto-synced from Blackboard.
- User roles may also be synced depending on how your integration was initially configured. You may be asked to:
- Decide whether to allow Gradescope to automatically email users to notify them they have been added to the course.
- Sync Group Set to Sections - Decide whether to sync a group set from Blackboard to the Sections field in the Gradescope roster. This option will only appear if it has been enabled in the integration settings by an admin.
- The Sections field on the Gradescope roster is used for grading questions by section and is an added column in all data exports.
We only recommend enabling syncing group sets to sections if you use Blackboard groups to associate students with a section on course rosters.
- The Sections field on the Gradescope roster is used for grading questions by section and is an added column in all data exports.
- Select Sync Roster, or Cancel if you change your mind.
- Remember to re-sync if users are added or dropped within Blackboard. Any existing submissions and grades assigned to dropped students will be preserved in Gradescope.
- View or edit student information by hovering over their name in the roster and selecting Edit. You can edit the student's:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email Address
- Student ID
- Section Name (if applicable)
The account name is synced from the Blackboard and cannot be edited in Gradescope. After syncing the roster, you won't be able to edit the student's name and email address.
For more tips, like editing your roster or how to add sections manually, check out our Adding Students and Staff article.
Having issues with your roster sync? See the Troubleshooting Blackboard Issues article.
Setting up your assignments
- Launch a Gradescope assignment from your Blackboard:
- In Blackboard Original, go to your course homepage in Blackboard > click Content (left sidebar) > click Build Content (header bar) > select Gradescope.
- In Blackboard Ultra, go to your course homepage > click the + button under Course Content > click Content Market > you will see two Gradescope buttons > select Gradescope Assignment.
If the Gradescope Assignment button isn't there in Blackboard Ultra: Contact your Blackboard admin. First, verify with them that you're using LTI 1.3. Then ask them what button you should click in the Content Market to link a Gradescope assignment to Blackboard.
- When Gradescope launches, you will see a dialog box about assignment-linking. Decide whether you'd like to create a new Gradescope assignment or link to an existing one (if you have any in this course). Then, select Link Assignment.
- If submissions will be student-uploaded, it's highly recommended that link your Gradescope assignment to Blackboard before releasing it to students so they can easily access the assignment via Blackboard.
- If submissions will be instructor-uploaded, it's recommended that you wait to link the assignment until you're ready to publish grades.
To enlarge/restart the gif: Right-click on it. Then select Open Image in New Tab.
- If you're updating an existing assignment, you can go to your assignment's settings, questions, outline, etc., from Gradescope's left sidebar. Save your updates when you're finished.
- If you're creating a new assignment, you'll choose the assignment type and settings. When you've chosen your settings, click Create Assignment. This will take you to the Content (Original) or Course Content page (Ultra) in Blackboard where you and your students will now see a direct link to this Gradescope assignment.
- To finalize the assignment link and set up, select the assignment link you just created in Blackboard to go back to Gradescope. You won’t be able to post grades until you do this step.
Once the assignment is linked via LTI 1.3, the Gradescope assignment name is synced from Blackboard and can only be edited in Blackboard, not Gradescope. For more information on editing your assignment, check out the Assignment Settings article.
- Save your work in Gradescope when you're finished. For student-uploaded assignments, once your release date passes in Gradescope, students will be able to submit work when they access Gradescope via the assignment link you just created or via the Gradescope course link under Tools (Original) or View course & institution tools (Ultra).
Grading submissions
- Launch the Gradescope assignment from your Blackboard course homepage, click Tools (for Original) or View course & institution tools ( for Ultra), and then select Gradescope.
- When Gradescope launches, select your course and then the assignment. You will be taken directly to the assignment in Gradescope.
- When your assignment is open, expand Gradescope's left sidebar (if it isn't already), and select Grade Submissions.
- You can get started Grading Submissions.
Posting grades
- First, make sure you've synced your roster and linked your assignments before attempting to post grades.
- Then launch your graded assignment in Gradescope, expand the left sidebar (if it isn't already) and select Review Grades.
- On the Review Grades page, scroll down and select Post Grades to Blackboard. Keep in mind that if your institution uses a different name for Blackboard, that customized name could appear on the button instead of "Blackboard."
- When the dialog box appears, click Post Grades.
Don't see a Post Grades button? Go to your Blackboard course. Click your Gradescope assignment link there to launch it. Click Review Grades (left sidebar in Gradescope). The Post Grades button should be in the footer of the Review Grades page now. If that didn't work, contact help@gradescope.com.
Student grades will now appear in your gradebook in Blackboard. Keep in mind that posting grades to Blackboard will only post the students' final assignment scores from Gradescope to the corresponding Blackboard grade column or gradebook item. Grades are posted only for fully graded submissions (which have a checkmark in the Graded column on the Review Grades page).
- If you want students to also see their graded, annotated submissions, question-by-question scores, rubrics, and feedback on Gradescope, select Publish Grades.
- To alert students via email that their grades are now visible, select Compose Email to Students at the bottom of the page.
- To see what your students will see when they view their grades, check out our Using Gradescope with Blackboard as a Student article.