In this article we explain what Grade Items are, which Grade Items you should use when and how you can create Grade Items, depending on the grading system you have set up.
Table of contents
What are Grade Items?
Grade Items in your gradebook represent all the work you want to grade students for in a course. Grade Items can appear on their own in your gradebook, or you can link Grade Items to assessment tools such as discussions, quizzes, and assignments. The grades and feedback you enter into those grading tools are automatically synced to your gradebook.
Get started with Grade Items
After you have completed setting up the Gradebook for the first time with the Grade Setup wizard, you can create Grade Items, which can be grouped into grade categories as desired.
How do I create a Grade Item in a Weighted Grading System?
First navigate to Grades > Manage Grades. Then select New and click on Item. The screen below appears:
Choose a Grade Item Type. In this example we will continue with the most common type: Numeric.
- Enter a name for the Grade Item.
- Optional: Choose a category.
- Enter the value you want the item to be graded by in Maximum Points.
- Enter the Weight % you want the Grade Item to contribute to the final grade. If you selected a category in the previous step, the weight you enter here will become a contribution to the category.
If you are unable to enter or change the weight, you have chosen Distribute weight evenly across all items when creating the grade category. This means that the weight of the Grade Items is set automatically and cannot be adjusted manually. Click here for more information about Grade Categories.
- Optional: Select this option if you want student grades to exceed the maximum points for the item.
- Optional: Select Bonus if you want to allow bonus points. Bonus items are not part of the maximum number of points a student can earn for a category or final grade, but are added to the calculated (final) grade. Please note that students will not be able to exceed the maximum score due to the bonus points unless you have selected Can Exceed.
- Select the desired Grade Scheme.
- Optional: Add a Rubric to the Grade Item.
- Adjust the Display Options as desired.
Finally, click on Save and Close and you are done!
With Display Options and Setting Restrictions you can determine when and which elements of a Grade Item students can see.
Which Grade Items can I use?
There are six different types of Grade Items. However, we recommend using only two.
The following two grade items can be linked to an assessment tool and used in the calculation of the final grade:
- Numeric: Assess students by assigning a value from a certain total number of points.
- Selectbox: You can assess students with a Grade Scheme of scale, for example A, B, C; Pass/Fail; or any other Scheme you want to use.
Some common assessment types and associated Grade Item types:
| Assessment type |
Grade Item type |
|---|---|
| Exam - 100 points |
Numeric |
| Presentation - 10 points | Numeric |
| Practicum - Pass/Fail |
Selectbox + Pass/Fail Grade Scheme |
| Presence - Yes/No |
Selectbox + Custom Grade Scheme |
Other Grade Item types
The Grade Items listed below cannot be linked to an assessment and do not count towards a student's final grade. Therefore, we do not recommend the use of the following Grade Items:
- Text: Use text grade items to post comments that do not count toward students' final grades. Instead, use general feedback.
- Pass/Fail: You can grade students using a simple pass/fail grade scheme. Note that you can't associate calculated grade items with grading tools such as discussions, quizzes, and assignments. Instead, use the Selectbox Grade Item + the Pass/Fail Grade Scheme.
- Calculated: add multiple grade items. The same can be achieved by using a category. It cannot be associated with assignments or in final grade calculations.
The next steps:
- Set resits in a Gradebook
- Calculate students
- Export figures
- Import numbers
- Release grades to students
- Copy your Gradebook and Grade Settings to another course