If you are using D2L for your course and would like your students to be able to see their grades online, you can set up an online gradebook.
Selecting a grading system is the first step in setting up your grade book. The grading system determines how the grade items in your grade book contribute to a student’s final grades. Use the points system to calculate final grades based on total points possible in the course. The Max. Points you assign to individual grade items will determine how much they impact the overall final grade.
Use the Grades Setup Wizard
When you select the Grades link for the first time in any course, you will be prompted to use the Grades Setup Wizard. It is a seven-step process that allows you to set the basic structure of the gradebook before you add grade items. The Wizard makes selecting the necessary elements of your gradebook easy. Once the structure is in place, you can simply begin adding grade items and categories.
To begin, log in to your D2L course and select Grades on the Navbar. If this is a new course you will automatically be brought to the Grades Setup Wizard. (If you are not automatically brought to the Wizard, select the Setup Wizard button at the top of the page.) The page you see is a summary of the Grades defaults.
Select the Start button at the bottom of the page.
In Step 1, you will decide which grading system you want to use: weighted or points.
- Use the weighted system if you want grade items to be calculated as a percentage of a final grade worth 100%
- Use the points system if you want to calculate the final grade by totaling the points students received on grade items
To keep your gradebook simple, we recommend that you choose the points system by selecting on the radio button next to Points, and then select Continue. (There is a separate tutorial for the weighted grade system).
In Step 2, you will decide which final grade will be released to students at the end of the term: calculated or adjusted.
- Choose calculated if you want to plan to release the final grade at the beginning of the semester or at any time before the end of the semester. This grade will show the grade achieved by students based on grade item scores. It cannot be adjusted without editing individual grade item scores.
- Choose adjusted only at the end of the semester. This grade type should be used if there is a chance you would like to adjust a students' final grade (i.e. if a student has 89 points and you’d like to adjust the final grade to 90).
- If you want the final grade to be released to students automatically (right away at the beginning of the term), select Automatically release final grade
The Final Grade in D2L is not visible to students until you release it to them. You can manually release the Final Grade at any time; however, if you would like to Automatically release the final grade now, select the box. This means that students will see their cumulative final grade throughout the term. As you add more scores, the final grade will be updated.
Make your selection, and then select Continue.
In Step 3, you will decide how ungraded items will be used in calculating the final grade: drop ungraded items or treat ungraded items as 0.
- [Recommended] If you drop ungraded items, as you move through the term, the student's final grade will reflect how they are doing based on completed grade items
- If you treat ungraded items as 0, the student will start the term with 0 points and will work their way up. NOTE: If you decide to begin the term by dropping ungraded items, at the end of the term you can change the setting to treat ungraded items as 0. By doing this, you eliminate the need to manually enter 0's for all incomplete assignments.
- Leave the checkmark for Automatically keep final grade updated
Make your selection, and then select Continue.
In STEP 4, you will select a default grade scheme: percentage or one of the letter grade schemes.
- Choose percentage if you want your students to see the points received or the percent correct for all grade items, depending on the display settings
- Choose one of the letter grade systems if you want your students to see a letter grade for all grade items. You can select the preview button to the right of the scheme to see the details. NOTE: You are setting the default scheme in this step. If you want some grade items listed as percent’s and some as letter grades, you can modify the individual grade item settings later.
Make your selection, and then select Continue.
In Step 5, you will select one of your managing view display options: how many decimals to display. This setting controls how many decimals will be displayed to the instructor grading the course. The value must be an integer between 0 and 5. (NOTE: Other Managing View display options are available from the Settings link on the Grades page.)
NOTE: If you choose 0, all percentages of points will be rounded to the nearest integer.
Enter a number, and then select Continue.
In Step 6, you will select student view options: grade details, decimals displayed, characters displayed, and final grade calculation. These options affect the students’ view of the gradebook.
- Grade Details: Select how grades will be displayed to students. You may choose points, grade scheme symbol, and/or grade scheme color. You may select one or more options.
- Decimals Displayed: Select the number of decimals that will be displayed in the student's view of Grades. The value must be an integer between 0 and 5.
- [Rarely Used] Characters Displayed: Select how many characters of a Text grade item display on the student list. The value must be an integer between 0 and 50. If the Text item is longer than the value specified, the text will be truncated.
- Final Grade Calculation: Choose whether or not students can see how their final grade was calculated
Make your selections, and then select Continue.
In Step 7, you see a summary of the new gradebook settings. Please review the summary and go back to make changes, if necessary. If you are satisfied with your selections, select Finish.
NOTE: To make changes to the Gradebook, or to access additional grade settings, select the Grade Settings button in the left sidebar.
Associate Grade Items
Grade items can be automatically created when you create D2L Quizzes, Assignments and Discussion Topics. In addition, when you embed MediaSpace videos containing quiz questions, and activities integrated into D2L from a publisher or other 3rd party tool, grade items may automatically be created.
You can manually create additional grade items for activities that are not associated with D2L, MediaSpace or a publisher activity (i.e. in class activities, lab work performed in class, attendance, etc.)
It is recommended that you create your assignments, quizzes, and discussions first since the associated grade items can be created during that process (you will enter the total points and select the grading option “In Gradebook”). Once those items are created, you can add additional items that are not connected to D2L activities, Mediaspace quizzes or publisher activities.
Create a Numeric Grade Item
Most of your grade items will be numeric. These items may include attendance, lab work, etc.
To create a Numeric Grade Item in a POINTS gradebook:
- Select Manage Grades at the top of the Grades page
- Select the New and then select Item
- Select Numeric from the list of grade items. You will be brought to the Properties tab of the New Item screen
- Enter a Name and a Short Name for the grade item. Entering a Short Name will save space in your gradebook
- [Optional] Select a Category for the grade item or create a New Category. Categories help organize your items rather than having all items in a single list
- Enter the point value in the Max Points field
- If students can earn more on this assignment than the Max. Points, select Can Exceed
- If this grade item is extra credit, select the Bonus button
- Select Save and Close to save your grade item or select Save & New to save your grade item and continue creating new grade items
Enter Grades
You have two options for entering grades into the gradebook: Enter grades by item and enter grades by student.
Enter Grades by Item
Entering grades by item allows you to enter the scores of multiple students for a single grade item. You will most likely use this option if you plan to enter scores for assignments as they are completed.
- Select the arrow next to a grade item and select Enter Grades
- [Optional]: Add Overall Feedback. Overall Feedback will be displayed to all users enrolled in your course
- Select Show details and overall feedback
- Enter Overall Feedback in the space provided
- Scroll down to the student names and enter scores for each student in the Grade column
- [Optional]: Add Individual feedback. You can add comments for individual students by selecting the Feedback button (pencil icon) to the right of each student’s score. A new window will open, allowing you to enter Feedback for that student, and an area to enter private comments, which are visible only to instructors in the course.
- When finished entering grades, select Save and Close, and select Yes to the confirmation prompt
Enter Grades by Student
If you have a student who turns in several assignments at once, you may want to Enter Grades by Student. This will eliminate the need to go in and out of grade items.
- From the Enter Grades screen, select a student's name. The Grade User screen that appears will contain all the grade information for that student
- Enter the scores for each grade item, select Save and Close, and select Yes to the prompt
Preview: If you would like to see how an individual student will view their grades, select the arrow next to the student’s name and then select Preview.
Re-Ordering Grade Items
When a new Grade Item is created, it is automatically placed at the end of the Grades List. To re-order grade items:
- On the Manage Grades screen select the More Actions menu and then select Re-Order
- Use the Sort Order drop down menus to select the order for each grade item
- Select Save to save your changes
Deleting Grade Items
WARNING: Deleting a grade item will delete all students’ grades that have been entered for that item.
NOTE: If a grade item is associated with a quiz, discussion, or assignment, you must remove the association before the grade item can be deleted.
- In Grades, select Manage Grades
- Select the More Actions menu and then select Delete
- Select the items that you would like to delete
- Select Delete to complete the process