Brightspace Grade Book Configuration

About

This article takes you through a grade book setup and configuration in Brightspace for new and converted courses.

NOTE THIS ARTICLE IS BEING WORKED ON AND DISTRIBUTED FOR FEEDBACK. IT MAY CHANGE OVER TIME FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

Part I Complete the Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard is the first step in creating your gradebook. If this is your first time accessing Grades in your sandbox or course, you will automatically be directed to the seven-step Setup Wizard. You can return to the Setup Wizard at any time through the Setup Wizard  tab. You will only need to do this once per course.

The Setup Wizard allows you to: 

• Establish a grading system 
• Determine your final calculation method 
• items (i.e. assign a zero? Or ignore?)
• Choose grade scheme 
• Set Display settings 

TIP:  While you are completing the setup wizard, you can click the question mark icons for additional information about certain settings options.
To complete the Setup Wizard:

Access the Setup Wizard

In the navbar select Content>>Grades>>Click the Setup Wizard tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Start. You will automatically be taken to step one of the seven-step Setup Wizard.

Step 1: Choose Grading System.

Choose one of the following grading systems to determine how your students will be evaluated:

• Weighted system: grades are calculated as a percentage of the final grade; grade items can be organized into categories.
• Points: Each grade item has a maximum point value; final grades are calculated by adding all grade items together and dividing by the total points. 

Click Continue. 

 

Step 2: Final Grade Released.

• Choose Calculated final grade. Final averages can be adjusted as needed.

NOTE: Ensure that "Automatically release final grade" is selected.

Click Continue.

 

Step 3: Grade Calculations

• Choose Drop ungraded items. Items without a grade are dropped.

NOTES:

• You must register a grade of 0 for each assignment not submitted or it will not count against a student's average
• You must register a grade the student has earned or it will not count towards a student's average
• Ensure the Auto Update box is selected to keep final grades updated in the grade book.

Click Continue.

 

Step 4: Choose Default Grade Scheme

• Keep the grading scheme as the percentage scheme default.

NOTES:

• A percentage scheme is recommended as the default.
• Letter grade schemes may be selected at the end of the semester to facilitate the conversion of grades to letters if you've built out a scheme in Brightspace.

Click Continue.

 

Step 5: Managing View Display Options

• Enter the number of decimal places that will be displayed in the grade book.
  • The number must be between 0-5.

NOTE: The number of decimal places is for the Enter Grades view only. Manage grades will still show several decimal places.

Click Continue.

 

Step 6: Student View Display Options.

• Customize the following Student View Display Options: 
  • Points Grade – Grades will be displayed to students as a point value  Ex. 75/100
  • Weighted Grade – Grades will be displayed to students as a percentage of their final grade.
    • For a category worth 50% that contains four grade items, the weighted grade for each contained grade item would be out of 12.5% (1/4 * 50)%.
  • Grade Scheme Symbol – Grades will be displayed to students as a symbol (letter grade) Ex. B+ NOTE: Only select this option if you have set up a grade scheme
  • Grade Scheme Colour – If a grade scheme has been set up, the student’s grade will have a shaded background color that corresponds to the grade scheme symbol. Ex. a green background for an A grade.
  • Decimals displayed – Enter the number of decimals used for student grade calculations. The default is 2. The number must be between 0-5.
  • Characters Displayed – This setting determines how many characters of a Text grade item display on the user list. The default is 50 characters.

NOTES:

• These settings only apply if the final grade has been released to students.
• Final Grade Calculation – We recommend you keep this box selected per OSCQR; allowing students to view their final grade calculation.

Click Continue.

 

Step 7: Grades Setup Summary

• Review your Grades Setup Summary 
  • Click Finish.

TIP:  Click Go Back to return to previous steps and adjust any of your grade settings. You have now set up your gradebook and can begin adding categories.

NOTE: You can change these settings by accessing the Grades tool Settings gear after you have setup your gradebook. You do not need to use the Setup Wizard again. 
 

Part II Set up grade categories

Grade categories allow you to organize and categorize the items in your gradebook. You can use categories to group assessments in your gradebook, such as assignments, quizzes, or discussions.

Set up a grade category:

1. Click the Manage Grades tab.

2. Click the New button.

3. In the drop-down menu, select Category.

On the New Category page, configure your category settings under the following headings:

• General
  • Enter a name for your category.

NOTES:

• The settings under the grade heading will differ depending on whether you have set up your gradebook using a weighted or points grade calculation system.
• We do not advise mixing points and percent assessments or mixing points with a weighted grade center and vice-versa.
• You should decide on points or weighted percent for grading assessments and calculating final averages. 
• We may not be able to support grade configuration if the calculations are not streamlined before transposing them to a DLE.

If your gradebook is set up using a weighted system:

• Enter a weight for the category. Brightspace defaults to a weight of 10.
  • We advise not to Check the option of allow the category grade to exceed the category weight. We may not be able to support that grade configuration with that option chosen.
• Select one of the following Distribution options:
  • Manually assign weight to items in the category – Choose this option if the grade items in your category will have different weights. We advise not to choose this option. We may not be able to support that grade configuration with that option chosen.
  • Distribute weight by points across all items in the category – Choose this option to distribute the weight according to the number of points given for each item in the category. You may choose this option.
  • Distribute weight evenly across all items –  Choose this option to make all grade items in your category evenly weighted.  We recommend this option.
  • You can enable Brightspace to automatically drop the highest or lowest grade items in the category by entering the number of non-bonus items to drop for each user (optional).

If your gradebook is set up using a points system:

• Select Distribute points across all items.
• Enter the number of points per item. 
• Adjust any display options as desired.
   

Click Save and Close. Your grade category will now appear under the “Manage Grades” tab of your gradebook

 

Part III Create Grade Items that will appear in the Grades Area.

There are multiple ways for setting up a Grade Item in Brightspace. Depending on how you choose to set up the activities and gradebook in your course, you may find that one method is more suited to your needs. Grade items can be created within the gradebook or you can create/link a gradebook item through a tool, such as an assignment, quiz, or discussion. It does not matter which is created first as long as you verify your assessments are linked in the gradebook.

 

How to setup link an assessment to the grade area

• How to setup and link a discussion topic to a grade item
• How to setup and Link an Assignment to a grade item
• How to setup and Link a Quiz to a grade item

OR

Create a grade item in the Gradebook

Create grade items in Brightspace (Manual Grade Columns)​​​​​​

 

Verify your grade items are linked to your activity in Brightspace

1. Click the Manage Grades tab.
2. Verify the grade item is linked in the Association column of your grades table. You should see the name of the associated tool and a question mark. Click the question mark icon to view confirmation of the associated activity name.                            

Grade Category Settings Options:

• Short Name: If your Category name is complex, you can choose to add a Short Name that will appear in the grade spreadsheet.  
• Description: Adding a Description of the Category is optional.
• Select one of the following Distribution options:
  • Manually assign weight to items in the category – Choose this option if the grade items in your category will have different weights. We advise not to choose this option. We may not be able to support that grade configuration with that option chosen.
  • Distribute weight by points across all items in the category – Choose this option to distribute the weight according to the number of points given for each item in the category. You may choose this option.
  • Distribute weight evenly across all items –  Choose this option to make all grade items in your category evenly weighted.  We recommend this option.
  • You can enable Brightspace to automatically drop the highest or lowest grade items in the category by entering the number of non-bonus items to drop for each user (optional).
  • Exclude from Final Grade Calculation: To exclude a Category from the final grade calculation, set the Category weight to zero. 
• Student View: Select from the three options if you want to modify grade information in the student view. The default is that students will see the points, the weight and the grade scheme symbol.