Blackboard Original: Accessing online assessments as an external examiner
Find out how to log in to Blackboard and navigate courses, view student submissions in different online assessment tools, access samples of student work, and get support for your external examiner responsibilities.
Overview
The University of Sheffield uses Blackboard as its Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to deliver online teaching and learning activities.
Students complete online assessments using several different digital learning tools linked to Blackboard, such as Blackboard Tests and Turnitin assignments.
This page provides support for common tasks external examiners perform across the University. If you need help with an online assessment tool that’s not listed here or need help finding specific student work, contact your school.
Accessing Blackboard
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On the University of Sheffield website, select Log in to MUSE from the top left of the screen.
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Enter your username and password then select Log in.
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Set up multi-factor authentication when prompted to do so.
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Select My services from the toolbar at the top of the page then select Blackboard.
You should change your default password when you log in to your University IT account for the first time.
Accessing a Blackboard module course
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After logging into Blackboard, select the Courses tab on the left-hand menu.
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Module courses will display in order of academic year (most recent first) then by name alphabetically. Select the course name for the module you are examining to open it.
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You can also use the Search your courses field at the top of the page to find the relevant Blackboard course.
Which version of Blackboard am I using?
The University is in the process of moving to a new version of Blackboard. Your courses may use either the old version, Blackboard Original, or new version, Blackboard Ultra.
On Blackboard Original the navigation menu is on the left side of the screen (A), while on Blackboard Ultra a simplified navigation menu is at the top of the screen (B).
Visit Blackboard Ultra: Accessing online assessments as an external examiner if your school is using Blackboard Ultra courses.
Preventing accidental changes to Blackboard courses
Blackboard courses contain live material, and changes to the content will be reflected to all users (staff and students) on the course.
In the top right-hand corner, there will be a toggle button to turn Edit Mode on and off. To prevent accidental changes to a course, make sure that Edit Mode is turned OFF when you are navigating the course and student work.
Accessing online assessments and submissions
For most online assessments, you should open the module’s Blackboard course first. For PebblePad assessments, you will need to log in to PebblePad with your external account.
A student may have multiple attempts listed in the Grade Centre for an assessment. If it is not clear if you are reviewing the correct attempt, contact your school.
- Blackboard Tests
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Blackboard Tests can use a range of questions for an assessment, such as multiple choice, fill in the blank, or calculated formulas where students have different values for variables in the question.
To view a submission to a Blackboard Test:
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Scroll down the left-hand course menu to Course Management, then select Control Panel > Grade Centre > Tests.
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Find the column title that matches the assessment you need.
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Select the dropdown arrow in a cell and select Attempt DD/MM/YY to jump straight to a specific student’s attempt.
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All Test questions, given answers and marks will be displayed.
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At the bottom of the page, the Feedback and Notes for Attempt section will show any comments made by markers and the school for the specific student.
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When you are finished viewing the attempt, select the Exit button at the bottom of the page.
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You will be taken back to the Grade Centre.
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- Blackboard Assignments
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Blackboard Assignments are usually used when students need to answer one longer question, such as a dissertation plan, a video recording, or a more visual report.
To view a submission to a Blackboard Assignment:
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Scroll down the left-hand course menu to Course Management, then select Control Panel > Grade Centre > Assignments.
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Find the column title that matches the assessment you need.
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Select the dropdown arrow in a cell and select Attempt DD/MM/YY to jump straight to a specific student’s attempt.
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The student’s work will display on the left. Marks, feedback and comments will display on the right. If you cannot see the feedback box, select the small blue box to make this pop out.
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- Turnitin
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Turnitin assignments are usually used when students need to submit a longer piece of written work, such as dissertations or essays.
To view a submission to a Turnitin assignment:
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Find the content area (eg Assessments) containing the Turnitin assignment.
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Select the Turnitin assignment name.
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The Assignment Inbox will show all submissions to this assignment.
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Select the Paper Title for the student you wish to view.
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The Feedback Studio will open the student’s work in a new window.
You can select the Feedback Summary button (pencil in box icon) to open up overall feedback left by the markers, and the overall mark will display at the top of the screen (usually out of 100).
Any extra comments left inline will display as speech bubble icons on the work. The Match Overview button will display the percentage of text in the paper that matches other sources.
You can use the < and > buttons at the top of the Feedback Studio to cycle through other submissions to the assignment.
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- PebblePad
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PebblePad is used when students need to submit a portfolio of work, such as reflective clinical practice.
To view a submission to a PebblePad workspace:
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Visit the PebblePad login page.
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Select I have a guest account for PebblePad.
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Enter your login details.
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Select the workspace you need from the list of Workspaces you have access to.
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Select Submissions in the top menu.
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Select the name of a student’s submission to view this.
You can type a keyword or name in the filter the submissions box to go straight to a particular submission with a certain name, or a particular student’s work.
If Sets (groups) have been allocated, you can click the Filter sets dropdown menu to view the sets you have been added to.
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- Crowdmark
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Crowdmark is used for assessments where students need to submit handwritten work for marking online. Some Crowdmark assessments may also include multiple choice or typed free text questions.
To view a submission to a Crowdmark assessment:
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Find the content area (eg Assessments) containing the Crowdmark assessment.
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Select the Crowdmark assessment name.
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Crowdmark will open in a new tab/window.
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Select the Students tab.
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Select Submission next to the student you wish to view, or use the Search for a student bar to find a particular submission.
If you wish to only view students’ answers to a particular question, when Crowdmark first launches instead click the Overview grid button. This will show a grid of all submitted students against all questions. Selecting the grade given for a particular answer will take you directly to that question.
If you cannot open the Crowdmark assessment, contact your school.
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Accessing a sample of student work
You may only need to view a small sample of students’ work for an assessment. In these cases, your school may have set up a Smart View within the Blackboard course, which provides staff with a filtered view of grades and submissions for an online assessment. For example, your school may set up a Smart View so that you only see the specific piece of assessment or group of students you need to view.
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Open up the module’s Blackboard course.
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On the left-hand Course Management menu, select the Grade Centre.
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Under Full Grade Centre, Assignments and Tests will display by default. Any other Smart Views created for the course will also display in this list.
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Select the name of the relevant Smart View to open it. Each included student will show as a row, each assessment will show as a column.
Further support for external examiners
Schools provide materials and information to their external examiners in different ways. Your school may have built a hidden folder on the module’s Blackboard course containing this information.
If you are expecting to see a hidden folder in a Blackboard course, but cannot find it, first ensure that Edit Mode is switched ON in the top right-hand corner of the screen. This will show all content on the course, including areas and content that is hidden from students.
Be careful not to make any changes to course content when Edit Mode is turned on.
If you need support with finding specific content on Blackboard, student work, or other parts of the external examiner process, contact your school. Schools vary by how they organise student work, eg students given extensions may have separate assignment submission points set up or they may have extra text added to submission titles.
If you see error messages or need further support using Blackboard, you can contact the Digital Learning Helpdesk using your University email account: digital.learning@sheffield.ac.uk