Setting up a Weighted Gradebook

After you log in to your course in D2L, select Grades on the navigation bar.

Grades Setup Wizard

When creating a new Gradebook for the first time, the Grades Setup Wizard will take you through several steps that are designed to help you select options that best fit your gradebook needs. The first screen in the Wizard will tell you the current settings in your gradebook. Once you have finished reviewing the settings, select Start to begin the Wizard. Select Continue after each step to proceed to the next step.

Note: The Grades Setup Wizard will not start automatically if you already have an existing gradebook in the course. In that case, simply select the Setup Wizard tab.

Step 1: Select the type of grading system you will be using . Choose the Weighted option.

Weighted System: Under a Weighted System, grade categories are assigned a weight as a percentage of the final grade. For example, Discussions are worth 20% of the Final Grade, Assignments are 30% and Exams are worth 50% of the Final Grade.

Note: All the Grade Categories need to add up to 100%.

Step 2: Final Grade Released . Choose Adjusted Final Grade.

Calculated Final Grade: This option displays the final grade as the total number of points calculated from all the scores that have been entered.
Adjusted Final Grade: This option allows you to alter a student's calculated grade. For example, you may want to round a calculated score up to the next letter grade or round down to penalize a student for absences. Adjusted Final Grades is usually preferred.

Please Note: Selecting an option does not automatically release the Final Grade to students.

Select the option you prefer and then select Continue.

Step 3: Grade Calculations

Drop ungraded items: If this option is selected, grade items that have not been assigned a grade value will be ignored when final grades are calculated. This option creates a running total in your gradebook. If a student has received a 0 for an assignment, it is important that you enter a score of 0 for that assignment. If you do not, the student's final grade will not be accurate.
- Treat ungraded items as 0: If this option is selected, grade items that have not been assigned a grade value will be ignored when final grades are calculated. This option creates a running total in your gradebook. If a student has received a 0 for an assignment, it is important that you enter a score of 0 for that assignment. If you do not, the student's final grade will not be accurate.
- Auto Update: When this option is selected, the Calculated Final Grade will re-calculate automatically when any change that affects final grade calculations (i.e., modifying a user's grade, changing the 'bonus' property of a grade item, etc.) is made. If this option is not selected, the Calculated Final Grade must be manually re-calculated . Out-of-date final grades are indicated by a small calculator icon beside a user's final grade.

Select the Auto Update option.

Step 4: Choose a Grade Scheme . For now, leave Percentage as the setting and then select Continue.

Percentage: The Percentage Grade Scheme displays calculated grades as a percentage of the total possible points. Percentage is the default grade scheme.
Nursing (FRCC): The Nursing (FRCC) scheme displays grades as the letter grade (A, B, C, D, F) corresponding to the calculated value.

Note: You can create a custom grade scheme (like a letter grade scheme). For more details, refer to the document Creating and applying a Grade Scheme.

Step 5: Managing View Display Options. This setting allows you to set how many decimal places will be displayed in the gradebook . It is recommended that you leave the default setting at 2.

Step 6: Student View Display Options . This step allows you to specify how students will see their grades.

Note: It is recommended that you do not select the Weighted grade option. This displays how much weight was achieved for a particular grade and could look confusing to students.

Step 7: Grades Setup Summary. This gives you a summary of all of the options you selected . Select Finish to complete the Setup Wizard.

Creating Grade Categories

Grade categories let you organize and group related grade items into sections. For example, you could have separate categories for Assignments, Quizzes, Participation, Discussions, etc. When grade items are grouped together in a category, you can distribute the weight evenly across all grade items and drop the highest or lowest item in the group.

There are two options for creating Grade Categories.

Option 1: You can begin creating grade categories immediately after completing the Grades Setup Wizard. To do so, select Create a New Grade Category.

Option 2: If you completed the Setup Wizard earlier, or are coming back to create a new category, select Manage Grades and then select Category from the New dropdown menu.

You can now create the New Category.

Step 1: Enter General information for the new category.

Type a Name for the category.
If you type in a Short name (optional), this is what will appear in the grade book.
Type a Description of the category (optional).
Select the Allow users to view description checkbox if you want to make the category description available to users (optional).

Step 2: Select Grading options .

Weight: Enter the percentage that you want this category to contribute towards the final grade. Leave the Allow category grade to exceed category weight box unchecked.
Distribution: Select a Distribution option, which will determine how the weight is distributed across grade items in this category.
Manually assign weight to items in the category lets you specify the weight of each grade item in the category .
Distribute weights by points across all items in the category causes grade items weights to be assigned automatically according to the points you assign for each item.
Distribute weight evenly across all items assigns the same weight to all items in the category. Select this option if you want to drop the highest or lowest score in this category. Enter the number of items to drop.

Step 3: Select Display options.

These options determine how this grade category will appear to students.

Display class average to users: Select this option if you want students to be able to see the class grade average.
Display grade distribution to users: Select this option to allow users to see a graph showing how grades were distributed between different percentiles.
Override display options for this item: Select this option if you want users to view grade information for this category differently from other categories in the grade book.

Step 4: Select Save and Close to save this newly created category or Save and New to start creating another one.

Once you have finished creating your Categories, start creating your Grade Items.

Creating Numeric Grade Items

Step 1: From the Manage Grades area, select Item from the New dropdown menu.

Step 2: Select Numeric.

Enter a Name for the grade item.
Enter a Short Name to display in the Gradebook (optional).
If you want the grade item to be associated with a category you just created, select a category from the Category dropdown.

If you want to make the description available to users, select Allow users to view grade item description (optional).

Step 3: Grading options. Enter the value you want the item graded out of in the Maximum Points field . Enter a Weight for the grade.

Note: You do not have to enter the weight if you have placed this item under a Category and had selected to automatically or evenly distribute the weight in the Category.

If you want users’ grades to be able to exceed the max points, select Can Exceed (e.g., 12/10).

Select this as a Bonus item if you want the item to be counted as extra credit.

Note: Bonus items are not counted towards the total possible points for a category or the final grade. They are added to the student’s total points.

The default scheme is ‘Percentage .’ Leave the default setting unless you have created your own grade scheme (more advanced).

If you have a Rubric (previously created) or you would like to create, you can add it to the grade item.

Step 4: Display Options . If the Display options do not appear, select Show Display Options

Under Display Options: Choose your preferred Student View options.
Under Display Options: Choose your preferred Managing View options.
Select Override display options for this item, if you want to customize your display settings for students.

Step 6: Select Save and Close to save this item and return to Manage Grades . Select Save and New to save this item and start creating another one.

What’s next?

When you have finished creating all your Grade Categories and Grade Items, your Manage Grades area will show the completed Category/Grade items.

Entering Grades

You can now start Entering Grades by selecting the Enter Grades tab on the top left. The Enter Grades page will show your student list in the first column followed by your Grade items.