Assignments not submitted via the Assignment tool cannot be graded by rubric

Problem:  When an instructor is using the assignment tool and associated grade center column, but students submit an assignment outside of the assignment tool, the instructor cannot use the Rubric Tool to create a grade. For example, if students send their assignments via email or provide a paper version instead of using the online dropbox, there is no submission recorded in the grade center column for that assignment.  This means that the instructor cannot use the Rubric Tool to calculate and provide feedback on the grade.

Solution:  This is a known issue, however Blackboard has not indicated a fix as being planned in a future release.  Workarounds aren’t ideal, and include asking students to submit an empty document digitally in addition to the alternative (paper, email, etc) submission.