Creating Rubrics in Learn Ultra

This guide will demonstrate how to create rubrics for grading in Blackboard Learn Ultra.

Accessing Rubric Creation

image of an arrow pointing to the gradebook link in learn ultra

Rubrics can be created within the Blackboard Learn Ultra Gradebook. To access the Gradebook within your Ultra Learn course, click on Gradebook at the top of your Ultra course.

image of the gradebook with an arrow pointing to the cog icon for the gradebook settings

From any Gradebook view, click on the cog icon in the upper right hand corner.

Image of the Course Rubrics section of the Gradebook Options showing the Create and Generate buttons

The Gradebook Settings panel will now open on the right. Scroll down until you see a section labeled Course Rubrics.

  1. Use the Create button to create a new rubric manually
  2. Use the Generate button to create a rubric using the AI generation tools within Learn Ultra

Creating a Rubric Manually

Rubric Overview

Image showing a rubric in Blackboard with the following items: 1. Rubric Name 2. Rubric Type selector 3. Save button.

Blackboard will create a rubric with four rows (criteria) and four columns.

  1. At the top of the page, you can change the rubric name.
  2. Rubric Type: The Rubric Type dropdown menu allows you to change the type of rubric. The options are Points, Points Range, Percentage, and Percentage Range.
  3. When you are finished setting up the rubric, click the Save button to save changes to the rubric.

Additional steps for setting up rubrics are outlined below:

Adding Rows (Criteria)

Image showing a purple plus sign between two rubric rows.

Additional rows (criteria) can be added by hovering your cursor between the Align with Goals link and the row (criterion) below it, as shown in the image above.

image showing the text entry fields for a rubric row header.
  1. Enter the name for the row (criterion) in the space provided.
  2. Enter the point or percentage value for the criterion and then press the Enter key to save the information.

Editing a Row (Criterion)

image showing the editing options for a row header: 1. Edit Row. 2. Delete Row. 3. Align with Goals button.
  1. To edit a criterion, click on the pencil icon in the upper right hand corner of the criterion header.
  2. To delete a criterion, click the trash can icon.
  3. To align a criterion with a goal, click on the Align with goals link. You will be asked to save the rubric before you can assign a goal.

Adding Columns

Image showing a purple plus sign between rubric columns

Columns can be edited by hovering your cursor on the dividing line between two columns and clicking on the + icon that appears

Image showing a column with the column entry visible.

Enter the column name in the space provided and click enter to save the name.

Editing a Column

Image showing the following editing options: 1. Edit button 2. Delete button
  1. Click on the pencil icon to edit the column name.
  2. Click on the trash can icon to delete the column.

Editing Rubric Cell Descriptions

image showing an arrow pointing to the edit button.

To edit descriptions and point values for rubric cells, hover over the cell you wish to edit and click the pencil icon in the upper right hand corner.

This will enable editing for the entire row, so instructors can make changes row by row.

Image showing a rubric cell with the following items: 1. Points/Percentage. 2. Description entry field.
  1. Enter the points or percentage values for the selected cell.
  2. Enter a rationale for scoring in the provided field at the bottom. When you are finished making changes, click the Enter key.

Generating a Rubric Using Blackboard AI tools.

To generate a rubric using AI tools in Blackboard, click the Generate button under the Rubrics section

Image of the rubric generation menu with the following items: 1. Description. 2. Rubric Type. 3. Complexity. 4. Columns. 5. Rows. 6. Advanced Options. 7. Generate button.

You will now see a screen labeled Generate Rubric. On the left, you will see a prompt similar to the one above, which will allow you to input the rubric parameters.

  1. Description: Enter a brief description for generating a rubric here.
  2. Rubric Type: Use the dropdown menu to change the  rubric type (Percentage, Percentage Range, Points, Points Range)
  3. Complexity: Use the slider to change the level of detail in the rubric.
  4. Columns: Use the slider to change the number of columns in the rubric.
  5. Rows: Use the slider to change the number of rows  in the rubric.
  6. Advanced Options: Click on Advanced options to change the rubric output language.
  7. When finished, click the Generate button to generate the rubric.
Image showing generated rubric preview

The auto generated rubric will appear on the right for your review. When you are finished, click the Continue button.

Image of the completed generated rubric.

The generated rubric will now appear on screen and can be edited by the user. Once you have made the desired edits, click the Save button to save any changes made.