Creating a Grade Item
- Stephen Tosh
- Daspina Fefekos
Analytics
Grade items represent the individual assignments, quizzes, performance measurements, etc. on which you want to assess users. Grade items can be tied to other course objects, such as quizzes or discussion forums, or they can exist independently. Associating dropboxes etc. with the gradebook are covered in the area specific to that tool. Grade items can be graded numerically, based on a grade scheme, or with a simple text message, depending on the grade item type chosen.
Each grade item has its own entry in the gradebook and is the place into which you will enter or import grades.
Table of Contents:
Types of Grade Items
Numeric: (Most Common) Grade users by assigning a value out of a specified total number of points. E.g., 8/10
Pass/Fail: Grade users using a simple pass/fail grade scheme. E.g., "Pass" or "Fail"
Formula: Automatically grade users using a custom formula based on achievement on other grade items. E.g., Give users who received at least 50% on all of their Weekly Participation grades a Perfect Attendance bonus. IF{ MIN{ [ITEM1.Percent], [ITEM2.Percent] } < 50, 0, 100 }
Formula grade items cannot belong to a category. You must create all of the grade items you want to include in the formula grade item before you create the formula item. Formula grade items cannot contribute to the calculated final grade unless you are using the Formula or Points (recommended if using formulas) grading system.
Calculated: Display users’ cumulative achievement across multiple grade items. E.g., Midterm Grade Item1 + Item2 + Item3 / Total points * 100 = 73%
Calculated grade items cannot belong to a category. Calculated grade items cannot contribute to the calculated final grade.
Text: Provide comments that are not counted towards users’ final grades. E.g., "Consent form received" or "Course evaluation completed"
Creating a Number grade item (the most common grade item type)
Select Grades from the course navbar.
From the Manage Grades area, click the New button and select Item from the drop-down menu.
Select Numeric for the Grade Item Type.
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, select a category from the Category drop-down list. You can also create a New Category from this page.
Enter a Description of the grade item by selecting Show Description (optional). If you want to make the description available to users, select Allow users to view grade item description.
Enter the value you want the item to be graded out of in the Maximum Points field.
If you are using a category and selected, “Manually assign weight to items in the category” when creating the associated Category, enter the Weight you want the grade item to contribute to its category. If the item does not belong to a category, enter the Weight you want it to contribute to the final grade. For grades that are being recorded, but not included in the final grade calculation, you can set the Weight to 0.
If you want users’ grades to be able to exceed the total value of the item, select Can Exceed.
Select Bonus, if you want the item to be counted as a bonus item. Bonus items are not counted towards the maximum points for a category or final grade. Depending on how the extra marks will be used, you must select Can Exceed or Bonus to allow users' grades to exceed the maximum points specified. More on Bonus Grades in a later section of this document.
Select a Grade Scheme to associate with the item, if applicable. Grade Schemes let you represent users' grades with symbols or labels. E.g. A,B,C or 4.0, 3.5, 3.0. The default scheme is percentage.
If you would like to associate a rubric with the item, click Add Rubric to add an existing rubric or, select Create Rubric in New Window to make a new one. See the Rubrics documentation for more detailed information.
Select Display Options to enable the following features:
Display class average to users - allows users to see the class average on the item.
Display grade distribution to users - allows users to see a graph showing how grades were distributed between different percentiles.
Override display options for this item - allows for graded users to view grade information for this item differently from other items in the grade book. You can then select what you want to show.
Under Managing View, select override display options for this item if you want to view grade information for this item differently from other items in your grade book.
Click Save and Close, Save or Save and New.
