Instructor Guide

Gradebook

The Gradebook is very versatile and can be customized to fit your specific course needs. When you create an Activity (assignment, quiz, or simulation exercise) it will automatically appear as a column in the gradebook and be placed in the selected category (e.g., Assignment, Quiz, Lab, or a custom category). When students complete an activity their scores are automatically recorded in the gradebook. The desired weighting can be assigned to individual Activities, with overall weighting assigned to categories. Grading curves can be established to automatically determine a letter grade.

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to read the section below titled “Unattempted Activities Excluded from Grade Calculation”.

Access the Gradebook

To access the gradebook:

Click on your course in the side navigation menu so that the Course page appears.
In the side navigation menu click on Grades.

Overview of Gradebook

The navigation tabs appearing at the top of the gradebook page provide access to different viewing options and setup options. Each of the navigation tabs has a row of associated sub-menu tabs appearing immediately below it.

View tab

Under the View tab you’ll see the following sub-menu tabs:

Gradebook shows the complete gradebook for the entire class, including all graded Activities created for the course. Use the Turn editing on button at the top of the page to manually enter or edit grades.
Grade history shows a complete report of all grades entered and changed for the course. This can be particularly useful if there are multiple instructors and/or teaching assistants involved with grading.
Single view allows you to enter grades for all students for a particular Activity, or grades for a particular student for all Activities.
Student report shows a grade report for a particular student. This is the same view that students have of their grades. Use the Select all or one student drop-down menu to select a particular student.

Setup tab

Under the Setup tab you’ll see the following sub-menu tabs:

Gradebook setup controls the weightings for categories and individual Activities, and how they’re arranged.
Course grade settings determines how the gradebook appears for both instructors and students.
Peferences: Gradebook lets you customize your personal view of the gradebook, with settings such as how many students are shown per page and whether to display the average score for Activities.

Letters tab

The Letters tab allows you to customize the boundaries used for converting numerical scores to letter grades.

Import and Export tabs

The Import and Export tabs allow you to control the settings and file formats used for importing and exporting grades to and from the gradebook.

Gradebook Main View Features

To access the gradebook Main View page:

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click View, then select the Gradebook sub-menu tab.

Key Features

The gradebook displays Activities and totals in columns; students appear in rows. Note that categories appear at the top of the gradebook directly above the Activities.
The Course section drop-down menu on the upper-left allows you to view a selected course section or the Full Course Roster. (See the Instructor Guide Placing Students into Course Sections.)
You can sort the gradebook information according to any of the column headers. Clicking a column header sort icon will toggle between ascending and descending sort order. Sort by students first or last names, Activity scores, and category or course totals.
Clicking on the Activity in the column header will bring you to the Student Results page. The Student Results page contains a table summarizing how students performed on individual problems or questions in the Activity. (See the Instructor Guide Summary Statistics and Student Results.)
Clicking on the magnifying glass icon appearing next to a student’s score for a particular Activity brings you to an individual results page for that student. This page contains detailed information showing the student’s responses and scores to individual problems along with the problem text and start & completion times. Here you can edit the score received for an individual problem, or add a comment, using the link Make comment or override points.
The table and pencil icons appearing after a student’s name can be used to display a single view report, showing only a single student’s grades.

Unattempted Activities Excluded from Grade Calculation

By default, the gradebook’s Exclude empty grades feature will exclude unattempted Activities from grade calculations rather than treat them as zeros so that Activities that are not yet complete do not lower students' percentages or averages. This provides an up-to-date picture of students’ percentage score (or grade) at any point during the grading period. However, the Gradebook cannot distinguish between an Activity that the student has missed, and one that has simply not yet been completed. For that reason, instructors must manually enter zeros for students that miss an Activity or the student will NOT be penalized for the missing Activity.

The Exclude empty grades feature can be turned off, note that this will cause course totals to appear excessively low until the end of the grading period because all incomplete Activities will be calculated as zeros. This setting is configurable for the overall gradebook as well as for individual categories.

To disable (or enable) Exclude empty grades:

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
Under the Actions column, in the very top row showing the course name, click Edit. From the Edit drop-down menu click Edit settings. The Edit page for this item will open. (This will configure the overall gradebook with the new setting. This same step can be performed for a particular category title so only that category is affected.)
For the Aggregation setting, uncheck (or check) Exclude empty grades.
At the bottom of the page click Save changes.

Display Numerical Scores, Letter Grades, or Percentages

You can set the gradebook Main View page to display numerical scores, letter grades, percentages, or some combination thereof. Every column in the gradebook can have its own grade display style. Individual assignments, individual quizzes, individual simulation exercises, assignment totals, quiz totals, and course totals can each display grades in the style that best meets your course needs.

Steps to setting the grade display style for individual items:

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
Under the Actions column, in the row for a grade item or category title, click Edit. From the Edit drop-down menu click Edit settings. The Edit page for this item will open.
Depending on which item you selected, click the Grade item heading or Category total heading to expand the section.
In the Grade display style drop-down menu, select from the following: Numerical score, Percentage, Letter grade, or some combination thereof. Note: This setting allows up to two grade display styles. For example, by selecting Percentage (letter grade) the gradebook will display "85.00% (B)".
At the bottom of the page click Save changes.

Grade display style default setting

You can also set the default Grade display style for newly added grade items. In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Course grade settings sub-menu tab. Grade display style can be found in the Grade item settings section.

Assign Weightings to Categories and Activities

Weightings can be established for grade categories and individual Activities. It’s best practice to place all Activities into a category. The gradebook does, however, allow Activities to be placed alone outside a category.
(Note: In order to use weightings within the gradebook, Aggregation must be set to Natural. See the section Add a New Gradebook Category.)

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
The gradebook setup page displays categories (indicated with a black folder icon) organized in rows. Individual Activities are also organized within rows, usually nested within a category.
In the Weights column, select the checkbox next to the item’s weight and enter the desired weight (in percent). Be sure to enter weights such that the sum of all categories equals 100 percent, and the sum of all grade items within a category equals 100 percent. If an item is assigned a weight of zero it will not be calculated in the total.
Important: After making changes to a weight, the corresponding checkbox must remain selected at all times. If the checkbox is unselected the custom weight values may unexpectedly be changed by the system. Note that if you enter values that do not add up to 100 percent for a given grouping, the system will replace your values with new values which meet this requirement.
Recommendation: As Activities are added to a category over time, the corresponding weights can remained non -checked with no custom weight value entered. The system will automatically set equal weightings for all grade items in the category. At the end of the grading period you can then enter your desired weightings. Alternatively, you can enter custom weight values at the time the Activity is added, and make the necessary weight adjustments for all grade items in the category.
At the bottom of the page click Save changes, or press Enter on your keyboard.

Note: If there’s an Activity you don’t wish to include in the course total (such as a tutorial or practice quiz), simply set its weighting to zero in the Gradebook setup page.

Add a New Gradebook Category

The gradebook categories Assignment and Quiz appear by default in the gradebook. You can add additional gradebook categories to provide further groupings, each having their own selected weighting. New categories can be added at any time. Existing assignments, quizzes, and simulation exercises can easily be moved into a new category.

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Add gradebook category button. The Gradebook category page will open.
Enter a Category name and select category options.
Important options include:
Aggregation: The type of calculation for grade items in this category. This is most commonly set to Natural which will sum up the scores in the category and allow weightings to be applied.
Exclude empty grades: When selected, Activities without scores will not be counted in the category total. The primary use of this feature is to give an up-to-date course total at anytime throughout the grading period, and ignore missing or unassigned grade items. When using this option, you must manually enter a zero (0) score to include in the grade calculation an Activity missed by a student. If you leave an Activity score blank, it is considered to be empty and will be excluded from the grade calculation. Alternatively, if this option is not selected empty grades are calculated as zero.
Drop the lowest: Excludes a set number of grade items with the lowest value from being calculated in the category total. This option begins dropping lowest grades once there are more grade items appearing than the number of lowest grades to drop (e.g. if a category is set to drop the 2 lowest scores, the 2 lowest scores will not be dropped until 3 or more grade items are present).
Note: When using Natural weighting, Drop the lowest is only allowed when all grade items of the category have equal weights, and all grade items of the category have equal max grade
Click Save changes at the bottom of the page. (Default settings should be used for Category total and Parent Category sections.)

Move Activities and Categories

Activities can be easily moved to different locations in the gradebook, they can also be moved in or out of categories. Categories can be moved as well. This allows you to completely restructure your gradebook whenever you wish.

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
At the left of the Activity or category you want to move, click the Move icon (vertical arrow). The word Move will appear next to the item to be moved, and dashed rectangles will appear in the possible locations where the item can be moved to.
Click any of the dashed rectangles to move the item to that location (do not drag the vertical arrow icon). The page will refresh showing the item in the new location. You can cancel your action at any time by clicking Cancel at the bottom of the page. If you move a category that contains items and/or sub-categories, all of its contents will also be moved to the new location.

Alternate Method: Move Activities

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
In the Select column, click the checkbox associated with the Activity you wish to move.
At the bottom of the page, for Move selected items to choose the category the Activity should be moved to. The move will occur as soon as you choose the category.

Edit Grade Letter Boundaries

You can customize the boundaries used for converting numerical scores to letter grades. The gradebook allows you to display a letter grade along with the numerical score.

Steps to editing grade letter boundaries:

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Letters. The View sub-menu tab will show the values currently being used to convert scores to letter grades.
Click Edit grade letters at the top of the table. The Edit grade letters page will open.
To edit the grade boundary values, check the box Override site defaults. The fields for Grade letters and Letter grade boundaries will become editable. The Override site defaults box MUST REMAIN CHECKED in order to save custom settings, if it is unchecked all entered values will be lost and default values will appear instead. (Note: Grade letters A and F must correspond to maximum and minimum, respectively.)
Enter new grade letters and/or boundary values as required. (Note: Numerical values will display as rounded to two decimal places but will actually store up to 5 decimal places.)
At the bottom of the page click Save changes.

Note: There can only be one points-to-letter grade conversion setup, individual grade items cannot have different conversion setups. The settings on the Grade letters page will be used for all grade items that are set to display as letter grades. Adjusting the setup will affect the letter grades displayed for all grade items.

Manually Edit and Override Grades

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click View, then select the Gradebook sub-menu tab. This will bring you to the Main View page.
Click the Turn editing on button in the upper-right corner. Grade cells will change to show an entry field.
Notice: Changes you make to this page cannot be saved if gradebook records are updated in a different browser window while this page is open.
Manually input grades into blank cells in the table, or edit grades already recorded.
At the bottom of the page click Save changes, or press Enter on your keyboard. Click the Turn editing off button in the upper-right corner. The edited grades will be highlighted to show the grade has been overridden.

Delete a Gradebook Category

Categories that were created in the gradebook can be deleted on the Gradebook Setup page.

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
Choose a category to delete, under the Actions column for that category click Edit. Select Delete from the drop-down menu.
On the Delete Confirmation page click Yes. (If you delete a category containing grade items, those items will not be deleted but will be moved into the parent category.)

Hide an Activity in the Gradebook

An Activity can be hidden in the gradebook. This can be helpful if you’ve created Activities to be used in the future, or are reusing Activities from the past, and wish to see in the gradebook only those Activities that are currently assigned or have been completed.

Go to the Course page and click on the Activity you wish to hide in the gradebook.
Click on Activity Menu in the upper right corner and select View/Add Problems & Simulations.
Set the Scaled total points value to zero, then click the Save button.

Note: Simply set Scaled total points to a nonzero value to have the Activity appear in the gradebook.

Delete an Activity the Gradebook

Go to the Course page and click the Turn Editing On button.
Click the Edit menu appearing directly to the right of the Activity you wish to remove from the gradebook.
Select Delete from the Edit menu.
In the pop-up window, confirm you wish to delete the Activity.

Warning: The Activity will be permanently deleted and will not be available for future use. This action cannot be undone.

Expand and Collapse Categories

On the gradebook Main View page, entire categories can be collapsed in order to hide Activity columns from view, creating a more compressed gradebook. The overall course category (appearing above the regular categories and bearing your course name) can also be collapsed so that only the Course total appears in the gradebook.

Category views cycle through the following options:

Total only: Click the minus icon (—) next to a category heading to collapse the grade items in that category and show the category total only.
Grades only: Click the plus icon (+) next to a category heading to show grade items, but no category total.
Full view (default): Click the rectangle icon ([]) next to a category heading to show the grade items and category total.

Manually Create a Grade Item

You can manually add columns to the gradebook Main View page to record extra grade items that are separate from Physics LE Activities, for example if you administer a written midterm exam.

To manually add a grade item:

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Setup, then select the Gradebook setup sub-menu tab.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add grade item. The New grade item page will open.
In the Grade item section, click Show more… to show all the options in the section.
In the Item name field enter a name for the grade item, this will appear as the header for the new column. Use short alphanumeric names; do not use special characters, commas, ampersands, or quotes.
In the Grade type field, select Value if you’ll be manually entering numerical values for this grade item. (Select Text for written entries having no numerical value.)
In the Maximum grade field, set the maximum point value for the grade item.
In the Grade display style field, select Numerical Score, Letter grade, Percentage, or some combination thereof.
(Optional) If you are using gradebook categories, in the Parent category section you can use the Gradebook category field to select the desired category.
Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.

Note: To manually make entries to this grade item column, click Turn editing on in the gradebook main view page.

Export Gradebook Data

You can take data from your gradebook and export it for use in a different grading system, or to have your own copy of the gradebook for convenient referencing or archiving purposes. The following export file formats are available: (1) Plain text file .csv (2) Excel spreadsheet .xlsx (3) XML file .xml (4) OpenDocument spreadsheet .ods

In the side navigation menu click on Grades (be sure to first click on your course in the side navigation menu).
In the navigation tabs (at top) click Export.
Below the Export tab in the sub-menu tabs, select the desired export file type.
For Course section, select whether the exported file should include the Full Course Roster or a particular course section.
Under Grade items to be included, select the check boxes for the gradebook columns to download.
Note: By default, every column in your gradebook will be included. At the bottom of the list, you can click Select all/none to make selecting columns more efficient.
Under Export format options, select the check boxes for the desired options.
Options include:
Include feedback in export: Include a column in the exported file for existing feedback or to add feedback for future upload.
Require active enrollment: Only include students in the export whose enrollment is active and has not been suspended.
Export new or updated grades only: Exports only grades that have been changed since the most recent import. (This option is only available for XML file export.)
Grade export display types: Select which grade display styles you wish to include in the export. Select any number of the following: Numerical score, Percentage, Letter grade. Note that each additional display style will be placed in a new column which could potentially create more columns than desired.
Grade export decimal places: Select the number of decimal places to be used in the downloaded values. Values range from 0 to 5.
Separator (delimiter): Select the delimiter for the exported data. A comma is commonly used for .csv files. (This option is only available for Plain text file export.)
Click Download to start downloading your gradebook file. Your web browser settings determine whether the downloaded file will automatically go to a pre-selected download folder, or if a dialog box will allow you to enter the name and destination for the downloaded file.

Physics LE Instructor Guide—Gradebook