CIRT, University of North Florida

Why are there red exclamation points and/or blue locks in my gradebook?

An exclamation point icon indicates that the assessment has been attempted, but requires the attention of an Instructor, TA, or Grader before a grade can be calculated and displayed. This usually means one of two things has occurred:

1. The assessment has been completed by the student, but includes essay questions that need to be evaluated and graded by the Instructor. You can click on the icon to view the student’s test attempt and add the appropriate points for the each essay question, at which time Blackboard will calculate the student’s grade for the entire assessment and automatically replace the exclamation point with the grade.

2. The student exceeded the time limit for the assessment. If this is the case, when you click on the icon, the total time taken for the assessment will display at the top of the test attempt. The exclamation point will be replaced with the grade once you click Submit at the bottom of the screen.

A padlock indicates that a student has begun the assessment, but has not yet clicked Submit.

The padlock icon will also appear if the student experienced network or browser failure when taking the assessment and was unable to complete the assessment. If this is the case, you may click the padlock icon and click Clear Attempt to reset the student’s attempt.

Note: Do not reset the student’s attempt unless you are sure that the student is not currently taking the test, as resetting the attempt will prevent the student from submitting his/her copy of the test.