Set exceptions and accommodations in Gradebook - Staff Guide
There are two options available when setting individual student exceptions/accommodations:
- You can give a student an accommodation which will apply to all Blackboard assessments: Blackboard Test, Blackboard Assignment and assessed Journals and Discussions. These are applied at the module level so cannot be applied to individual assessments.
- Alternatively, you can add individual exceptions per Blackboard Test and Assignment. This is also possible for anonymous assessments.
If you need to give students an additional attempt or exception for an integrated tool (e.g. Turnitin, Gradescope, PebblePad), please see the relevant assessment guide for further information, however you should note is not possible to do this in all of our integrated tools.
In this guide
- Set an Accommodation (these are applied at module level for a student).
- Set an Exception (these are applied at a Blackboard Test or Assignment level for a student)
- Review Accommodations/Exceptions per assessment
Set an Accommodation (these are applied at module level for a student)
Accommodations can be applied via the Gradebook or via Enrolments (which can be accessed via a module's Details & Actions menu). The guidance below describes how to apply them via the Gradebook:
1. Open the Gradebook from within your module.
2. Go to Grid View if this does not load by default.
3. Select a Student's name.
4. Select Accommodations (on the right, above the list of assessments).
The accommodation options are:
- Due date – A student’s work is never marked as late in the Gradebook. For group assessments, if the student is a member of the group, the group's work will not be marked as late.
- Time limit – For time limited assessments you can grant students extra or unlimited time to complete the assessment.
Read - Set Accommodations
For more information and step-by-step written guidance, see Accommodations on Blackboard's website.
Set an Exception (applied at a Blackboard Test or Assignment level for a student)
You can give an individual or group an additional attempt(s) on a Blackboard Test or Assignment or a different due date. You can also extend their access to an item e.g. if it is hidden from other students, you can allow an individual student/group to have access.
You cannot give a student additional time for an individual Blackboard Test or Assignment. This typically affects Tests where students need to complete it in a limited time after starting the Test e.g. complete within 60 minutes. This scenario would need to be achieved via Accommodations.
1. Go to the Grid View in Gradebook (you may need to select the Grid View option - the icon with 4 squares):
2. Select the cell for the student and assessment you need to add an exception for (you will either see a dash where there is no assessment or an icon showing anonymous marking has been enabled).
3. A panel will open, from the menu, select the Accommodations section.
4. Here you can apply various accommodations which will apply just to that student/assessment. You can exempt a student (meaning they do not need to submit), give additional attempts and change their due date. Use the 'Add extension' field to add in a due date just for that student. Bear in mind that if you set access dates on assessments, you may need to change these for the student too (so they can see the assessment to submit):
5. Once a rule has been applied, the cell for that student will display a clock icon to indicate a different due date/access rule or different number of attempts. Where an assessment has been exempted, the word Exempt will appear.
Review exceptions/accommodations per assessment
From the Gradebook, you can review all the exceptions/accommodations for an individual assessment.
1. Go to the Grid View in Gradebook (you may need to select the Grid View option - the icon with 4 squares):
2. Select the name of an assessment.
3. A panel will open with key information about the assessment. This will include information about who has an exception (different due date):
