Using the gradebook>>Creating and managing items
Each entry in the gradebook is a gradebook item. Gradebook items have the following properties:
Item name
Description (optional)
Date the item was added to the gradebook
Display option (how grades are displayed and calculated)
Visibility setting (visible to or hidden from students)
Inclusion setting (included in or excluded from gradebook calculations)
When you create an assignment or add an assessment to a content area in your course, a gradebook item is automatically created and named for the assignment or assessment. The status of the assignment or assessment is tracked using the gradebook item. For example, the gradebook tracks whether a student has completed a test, begun a test but not submitted it, or missed the test deadline (if you specified one).
Test scores are automatically posted to the gradebook; however, you must manually grade essay questions in tests. You also must manually grade assignments.
For other types of student work, such as term papers and group projects, you can explicitly add gradebook items. No data is automatically posted to the gradebook for these items; you must manually track and grade them. Grades you enter can then be included in gradebook calculations.
Categories
Gradebook items must belong to a gradebook category. Categories provide a way for you to organize, view, and weight different types of class work. CourseCompass provides a number of categories you can choose from, such as Exam, Paper, and Homework. You can also create your own categories. By default, gradebook items created for assignments you add to a content area are placed in the Assignments category. Tests and surveys you add to a content area are placed in the Exam category. TestGen tests you add to a content area are placed in the TestGen category.
You can change the category to which gradebook items are assigned. For example, you can change the category for a deployed survey from the default Exam category to the Survey category.
Points possible
Gradebook items carry point values (the total points a student can possibly earn), which provide the basis for grading. Items created automatically are assigned the total point value specified for the assessment or assignment. For example, if you create a test with 10 questions with each worth 5 points, the total point value assigned to the corresponding gradebook item is 50. You can modify preset point values and specify point values for items you create yourself.
Display formats
For each gradebook item, you set a grade display option, which determines how student results appear in the gradebook. The gradebook provides a number of formats, such as raw scores (40 of 50 points, for example), percentages (80%), and letter grades (B–). You can define your own display options and even modify the default letter grade format. For example, a score of 94% to 97% is set to show a letter grade of A by default, but you can change the range to be higher or lower.
Note: For more information about the choices in the Display As drop-down list, see Grade display options.
Visibility and inclusion
By default, students can view all their results in their personal gradebook. However, you can hide individual gradebooks from students. You can also specify that a gradebook item should be excluded from gradebook calculations. For example, if you assign tests for students to take for diagnostic or practice purposes only, you can exclude the scores for these items from gradebook calculations.