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Needs Grading - Assignment Column Sorting Breaks for Percentage, Text, or Letter Primary Display

In the Original course Full Grade Center, assignment column sorting breaks when all of the following conditions are met: 1. Not all students have submitted the assignment, 2. All submitted attempts are in Needs Grading status, and 3. The assignm

Description

In the Original course experience, the Full Grade Center exhibits inconsistent and unreliable sorting behavior for assignment columns under a specific combination of conditions.

The issue occurs when:

  1. At least one student enrolled in the course has not submitted the assignment, resulting in a mix of submitted and non-submitted attempts.

  2. All submitted attempts are currently in a "Needs Grading" status, meaning no grades have been assigned yet.

  3. The assignment’s Primary Display setting is configured to a non-numeric format, specifically Percentage, Text, or Letter.

When these conditions are met, attempting to sort the assignment column (either ascending or descending) does not produce the expected ordering. Instead of organizing students logically—such as grouping submitted attempts, unsubmitted attempts, or ordering by status—the sorting appears incorrect or inconsistent, making it difficult for instructors to efficiently review and manage submissions.

This behavior suggests that the Grade Center sorting logic may not correctly handle a mix of "Needs Grading" statuses and empty (non-submitted) values when the display format is non-numeric. As a result, instructors may experience confusion or delays when trying to prioritize grading tasks or identify which students have submitted work.

Steps to Replicate

  1. Log into Blackboard Learn as an instructor

  2. Open course Original Course (regular course created previously)

  3. Enroll student and student2 in the course(regular students created previously)

  4. Go to Content > Assessments > Assignment

  5. Create a new assignment titled "Assignment Week 1"

  6. Set Points Possible, set the Primary Display to Score, and click Submit

  7. Enter Student Preview without submitting an attempt

  8. Exit Student Preview

  9. Log in as student and student2, and submit an attempt for the assignment

  10. As the instructor, go to the Full Grade Center

  11. Click the "Assignment Week 1" column header to sort submissions

  12. Observe that sorting works as expected

  13. Open the column menu (chevron) for "Assignment Week 1" and select Edit Column Information

  14. Change the Primary Display to Percentage, Text, or Letter and click Submit

  15. Click on the "Assignment Week 1" column header again to sort submissions

Observed Behavior:
Sorting by "Assignment Week 1" breaks.
​Expected Behavior:
Sorting by "Assignment Week 1" still works as expected.

Affected Versions

  • Learn 4000.12.0

  • Learn 4000.15.0

Target Release

Will Not Fix

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