Relevant to: faculty and staff
This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, policies and procedures may effect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.
Introduction
The gradebook is where you will set up the grading system for your course, determine how students see their grades and manage and enter grades. This article explains how to access the gradebook and gives an overview of its features.
Definitions
- Primary course: a standardized course that is taught in one or more sections during a term.
- Non-Primary course: a unique course that stands on its own, such as for an independent study, virtual study group, residency, or special topics course.
Access the Gradebook
From the course homepage, select Grades from the Course Menu option in the navbar. The gradebook has three sections:
- Enter Grades
- Manage Grades
- Setup Wizard
Enter Grades
This is where you will be able to view student grades and manually enter grades as necessary (for instance, after a student hands in an agreed-upon correction to an assignment). On this tab, you will find many tools available to you. You have the option to export grades to or import grades from a spreadsheet (please note that importing grades requires the use of a CSV, TXT, or TSV file), as well as viewing event logs to determine when a student submitted their work.
Manage Grades
The grade book itself will be set up according to the parameters set in the Manage Grades tab. Grade categories (quizzes, discussions, written assignments, etc.) will be listed first, followed by individual grade items within those categories. If your gradebook does not use categories, only the individual grade items will be listed.
A "grade item" represents some activity you want to assess, such as a quiz, discussion, or written assignment.
Grade items are displayed in a table, with columns showing the following:
- Grade Item
- Type of item (e.g. "Numeric," "Select Box," "Pass/Fail," etc.)
- Association with a specific graded activity (e.g. "Discussion," "Assignment," or "Quiz")
- Maximum Points
- If you are using a weighted grading system, you will also see a Weight column.
Click on the chevron next to an item's name to see a list of things you can do with that item, including editing the item and entering grades.
The Setup Wizard
The setup wizard walks through all the decisions needed to be made about how activities will be graded in the course and how to display those grades to students. The Setup Wizard can be accessed at any time to revise the settings after the initial setup has been completed. The Setup Wizard has six steps:
- Choose grading system: choose a weighted, points, or formula system.
- Final grade release: choose a calculated or adjusted final grade. Tip: if you plan to round up final grades (for example, 89.7 becomes an A), choose adjusted final grade.
- Grade Calculations: choose whether or not you want ungraded items to automatically be counted as zeros. The option to drop all ungraded options is the default setting.
- Choose default grade scheme: choose how grades will be presented. The Percentage option is the default setting.
- Manage view display options: choose the number of decimal points used in grading.
- Student view display options: choose how students will see their grades.
You will see a "?" icon next to many of the settings in the wizard. Click on the icon to see more information about that setting.
Event Log
The event log shows you a list of everything that has happened in the gradebook. Access the log as follows:
- Go to either the Enter Grades or Manage Grades section of the gradebook.
- Click on the More Actions button and select View Event Log.