Gradebook Setup Guide

Gradebook Guide Overview

This Gradebook Guide covers the following key Gradebook elements:

• Locating the Gradebook
• Gradebook Layout and Glossary
• Category Weights and Calculating Total Grades
  ->Advanced Grade Category Calculations
  • Items Not counted toward final grade
    
  • Using Groups and Groupings
    
• Letter Grades and Grade Scale Settings
• Creating Grade Items
• Hiding and Showing Grades
• Navigating Student Questions and Editing Student View

Locating the Gradebook

Two Ways to Access the Gradebook

1. From Course Administration

• Select Gradebook setup from the Course administration menu 

2. Via Course Management

• Select the Course Management tool from the top right 
• From the Menu window, select Grades 
• From the Grade Administration menu, select Setup->Gradebook Setup 

Gradebook Layout and Glossary

Category Weights and Calculating Total Grades

Gradebook Required Settings

• Check Grade Book Categories match Course Outline

• Check Category & Course Totals = 100

• Include Empty Grades

Weighted Mean Calculations

Understanding Category Weights and Grade Calculations

Grade Categories are calculated using a Weighted Mean of Grades.

• Each Grade Category has its own total Weight.
• Each Grade Item within that total Weight contributes a share of that total Weight.
• The calculation takes the sum total of all given Grade Item Weights and divides it by the sum total of all Grade Item Weights.

\( \frac{sum of all weighted scores}{sum of all weights} \)

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 Grade Item Weights as a Sum Total

Here, the individual Grade Item Weights add up exactly to 40.0 - which is the Category Weight. If a student scores 100 on all assignments, they would receive 100% of 40.

Sum of all weighted scores = 40
Sum of all weights = 40

\( \frac{40}{40} = 100% \)

e.g. A student scores 8/10, 9/10, and 86/100. This results in weighted scores of 6.4/8, 7.2/8, and 20.64/24. \( \frac{6.4+7.2+20.64}{8+8+24} = \frac{34.24}{40} = 85.6% \) AND \( 0.856 \times 40 = 34.24 \)

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Grade Item Weights as a Percentage

Here, the individual Grade Item Weights add up exactly to 100 - which is 100% of the Category Weight. If a student scores 100 on all assignments, they would receive 100% of 40.

Sum of all weighted scores = 100
Sum of all weights = 100

\( \frac{100}{100} = 100% \)

e.g. A student scores 8/10, 9/10, and 86/100. This results in weighted scores of16/20, 18/20, and 51.6/60. \( \frac{16+18+51.6}{20+20+60} = \frac{85.6}{100} = 85.6% \) AND \( 0.856 \times 40 = 34.24 \)

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Grade Item Weights as a Ratio

Here, the individual Grade Item Weights are calculated as a ratio share of the total weight - adding up to a total of 5. This translates to a percentage share of the Category Weight. If a student scores 100 on all assignments, they would receive 100% of 40.

Sum of all weighted scores = 5
Sum of all weights = 5

\( \frac{5}{5} = 100% \)

e.g. A student scores 8/10, 9/10, and 86/100. This results in weighted scores of 0.8/1, 0.9/1, and 2.58/3. \( \frac{0.8+0.9+2.58}{1+1+3} = \frac{4.28}{5} = 85.6% \) AND \( 0.856 \times 40 = 34.24\)

Items Not Counted Toward Final Grade

When you create Formative Assessments, which receive grades and feedback, Moodle will automatically populate these grade items in the gradebook.

In order to remove them from the overall grade calculation:

• Create a Grade Category with the name: Not Counted Toward Final Grade
• Set the Category Weight to 0.00
• Place all assessments that do not contribute to the Final Grade under the new Grade Category, it doesn't matter what they are scored out of or what weights they are given.

Why does this work? 

The Course Total is a weighted mean of grades, just like the various Grade Categories that make up the Gradebook.

If you have three graded sections with weights that equal 100, plus a section weighted at 0, the total is still 100.

• Discussions = 40
• Assignments = 30
• Exams = 30
• Not Counted Toward Final Grade = 0
• TOTAL = 100

No matter what score a student receives underneath the 0.0 parent category, they are still just receiving a percentage of 0.0. Which is 0.0.

Applying Groups and Groupings

The Moodle Gradebook does not allow for setting visibilities based on Group membership. This means that all Activities will populate the Gradebook for all students. 

In order to calculate the grades correctly, we need to drop assessments for some groupings of students and add assessments for some groupings of students.

To do this we need to create more Grade Categories.

Option 1: Two different submissions within same Grade Category

This applies where the students are submitting different types of assessments but they are contributing the same overall Category Weight: 

e.g. The face-to-face students are graded on in-class participation, which is entered via a direct entry grade item. While the online students are graded for participation in a Forum discussion. Participation for both groups is weighted at 15% of their total grade.

1. Navigate to the Gradebook Setup
2. Select "Add Category"
3. Name the Category clearly delineating by group (e.g. "In-Class Participation" or "Online Forum Participation")
4. Under the Parent Category dropdown, select the overall Parent Category (e.g. Participation)
5. Save Changes
6. Move the relevant grade items under the newly created Grade Category
7. Set the new Category Weight to 100.0
8. Save Changes
9. Navigate to the Parent Category ("Participation") and select the Edit Dropdown > Edit Settings
10. Select "Show More" under the Grade Category dropdown
11. Enter [1] into the Drop the lowest field
12. Save Changes

Why does this work?

The Parent Category "Participation" is still worth 15% of the Total Grade. But when it calculates the weighted mean of grades beneath it, it only looks at the two Category Weights of "In-Class Participation" and "Online Forum Participation". 

Each of these are worth 100% of 15 so together would each be 50% of the grade category.

But the calculation also drops the lowest grade - which will be a zero - leaving only the single category remaining, still worth 100% of the parent grade. 

Letter Grades and Grade Scale Settings

Because each program has different grade boundaries for their letter grades, letter grades must be set up for each individual course.

1. Start with Course Administration
   
   
2. Open the Course Outline and find the Course Grades.  This is where the percentage boundaries for letter grades are detailed:

   

3. Click on the Gradebook Setup, then the Letters tab:
   • If the Lowest/Highest percentages match the Course Grades, then nothing further needs done
   • If the Lowest/Highest percentages don't match the Course Grades, then click Edit Grade Letters
     
     
4. Select/Check Override Site Defaults
5. Starting at the top of the table, enter the lowest number from the Course Outline Course Grade Table beside each letter. Use "0" next to your lowest grade letter.
6. Save Changes

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Creating Grade Items

Most often, Grade Items are produced via the Assessment Activity when it is initially created in the Course Homepage.

Activity-Based Gradebook Settings

To change these settings, select the linked item name from the gradebook. This will open the Activity Settings for the selected Assignment, Quiz, Forum, or other Activity.

Assignment Gradebook Settings

Quiz Gradebook Settings

Forum Gradebook Settings

Direct Gradebook entry of Grade Items

In some circumstances, you may need to create your own gradebook item. For example, an activity held in-person or a paper submitted directly in class.

To add a Grade Item,

• Select Add Grade Item button: 
• Set the Grade Category and the Item Weight - located under the Parent category dropdown
  
  

Hiding and Showing Grades

Hide and Show Grades via the Gradebook Setup

Hide and Show Quiz Grades in Quiz Settings

• As with the Gradebook - hidden titles will appear in a blue colour.

Editing the Student View

The student view of the gradebook is different to the Instructor view. 

To edit the student view default settings - see below.

Editing the User Report / Student View

Aside from the show/hide Aggregation settings, all User Report settings are found under Grade Administration -> Setup -> Course grade settings

1. Show/Hide Category Aggregation

You can remove the various Category Aggregation lines from your gradebook by using the hide/show function. 

1. Navigate to the Aggregation you wish to remove from view.
   
   
   
   
2. From the edit dropdown, select "Hide"
   
   
   
   
3. A hidden aggregation line will appear in blue on the Gradebook Setup page.
   
   
   
   

2. Grade Item Display Settings

First navigate to the Course grade settings page.

There are several modes of displaying your grades to students, the COTROnline default is "Real".

Real - the point score value of the grade out of the grade weight or scale. (ie. 19.50  - out of an item weighted at 25)

Percentage - the percent of the grade weight achieved (ie. 78.00%)

Letter - the letter grade based upon your course letter scale (ie. B+)

Combinations Look as Follows: 

Real (percentage) = 19.50 (78.00%)
Percentage (letter) = 78.00% (B+)
Letter (real) = B+ (19.50)

etc.

3. Show/Hide Percentage Column

The default establishes a separate column to display the percentage achieved on the grade item. When using any combination involving Percentage in your grade display type, you will want to turn off this column.

Under Course grade settings -> User report, set Show percentage to Hide.

4. Display Course Average to Students

To add the course average to your gradebook, you can set the course average to show. The default setting is hide.

The Average will display in whatever format was selected for the Grade Item display type.