Using Gradescope LTI 1.0 with Blackboard for Instructors

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 assignment
Step 4. Grade submissions
Step 5. Post grades

Linking your courses

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
   1. 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.
   2. 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.
4. 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.
5. When you're finished, click Update Course. Your course is now linked and your students can access this Gradescope course.
6. 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.

1. Launch your Course Dashboard in Gradescope.
   1. If you're continuing from the steps in the section above, you will already be there.
   2. If not, log in to Blackboard, click your course, click Tools (Original) or View course & institution tools (Ultra), and then click Gradescope. 
2. On your Course Dashboard, expand Gradescope's left sidebar (if it isn't already) and click Roster.
3. On your Roster page, select the Sync Blackboard Roster button. Next, a dialog box will appear explaining how accounts will be synced. All names, emails, and student IDs will be auto-synced from Blackboard. All user roles will be synced depending on how your institution initially configured your Gradescope integration. Section names or numbers will not be carried over from Blackboard, but you can add them and other identifying info after you've synced the roster (see note after Step 5).
4. By default, Gradescope will email users to say that they've been added to the course. If you don't want users to be notified, uncheck Let new users know that they were added to the course setting in the dialog box.
5. Select Sync Roster.
6. 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.
7. View or edit student information by hovering over their name in the roster and selecting Edit. You can edit the student's:
   1. First Name
   2. Last Name
   3. Email Address
   4. Student ID
   5. Section Name (if applicable)

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

1. Navigate to your Assignments page in Gradescope. To do that, log in to Blackboard click your course, click Tools (Original) or View course & institution tools (Ultra), click Gradescope, and then click Assignments once Gradescope launches. If you're already in your course in Gradescope, simply click Assignments in the left sidebar.
2. On your Assignments page in Gradescope, click an existing assignment or click Create Assignment to make a new one.
3. If you're updating an existing assignment, you can get 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, next you'll choose the assignment type and settings. When you're finished, click Create Assignment.
4. Based on the type of assignment you chose, you'll then be taken to a screen where you can add your assignment questions, create your outline, upload your autograder file, etc. Check out the suite of guides on the Assignment Workflow if you need help.
5. Save your work in Gradescope when you're finished.
6. For student-uploaded assignments, once your release date passes in Gradescope, students will be able to submit work via the Gradescope course link in their Blackboard course under Tools (Original) or View course & institution tools (Ultra).
7. For the Gradescope assignment to show in your Blackboard gradebook, you will need to create a Blackboard assignment, grade column (for Original), or gradebook item (for Ultra) and link your Gradescope assignment to it. If students will be submitting their own work, it's recommended that you wait until you're ready to post grades to do this step.
8. If you want to connect your Gradescope assignment to a Blackboard assignment, grade column, or gradebook item before grading is done, go to Posting grades and see Steps 1-3.

Grading submissions

1. Launch the Gradescope assignment you'd like to grade. To do that from your Blackboard course homepage, click Tools (Original) or View course & institution tools (Ultra), and then click Gradescope. When Gradescope launches, click your course and then the assignment.
2. When your assignment is open, expand Gradescope's left sidebar (if it isn't already), and select Grade Submissions.
3. Start Grading.

Posting grades

1. First, make sure you've synced your roster.
2.  Create or use an existing Blackboard assignment or another type of grade column (Original) or gradebook item (Ultra) in your course that you will connect to your Gradescope assignment.
3. Make sure the overall point value listed in Blackboard for this assignment, grade column, or gradebook item matches the overall point value listed in Gradescope for the assignment.
   

   Creating Blackboard assignments, grade columns, and gradebook items: If you need help creating an assignment, see Blackboard's Create and Edit Assignments guide for Original and Ultra users. If you need help understanding or creating grade columns (Original) or gradebook items (Ultra), see Blackboard's Grade Columns guide for Original and Ultra users. 

4. Once your gradebook item or grade column is set up, launch the Gradescope tool from your Blackboard course. When Gradescope launches, click the Gradescope assignment you'd like to link to Blackboard, expand the left sidebar, and click Settings. Scroll down to the Blackboard Assignment section and click Link. When the dialog box appears, select the name of the corresponding Blackboard assignment, grade column, or gradebook item from the dropdown. Your Gradescope assignment is now connected to your Blackboard grade column (Original) or gradebook item (Ultra).
5. With your assignment open, expand Gradescope's left sidebar (if it isn't already) and click Review Grades. On the Review Grades page in Gradescope, click the Post Grades to Blackboard button. When the dialog box appears, click Post Grades. Posting Grades to Blackboard will only post the students' final assignment scores from Gradescope to the corresponding Blackboard grade column or gradebook item. Only grades for fully graded submissions (which have a checkmark in the Graded column on the Review Grades page) will be posted.
6. If you want students to also see their graded, annotated submissions, question-by-question scores, rubrics, and feedback on Gradescope, select Publish Grades.
7. To alert students via email that their grades are now visible, select Compose Email to Students at the bottom of the page.
8. To see what your students will see when they view their grades, check out our Using Gradescope with Blackboard as a Student article.