Setup the D2L Gradebook

The Gradebook is one of the most complex and powerful areas of the D2L platform. The Gradebook can be customized in many different ways (to fit any course need), but this customization also requires many decisions that can be confusing and overwhelming.

Thankfully, if you can setup the Gradebook effectively at the beginning of the semester, you won’t have to adjust it later in the semester. Once the Gradebook is setup accurately, it can be a trusted source of information for both students and instructors.

This webpage provides a step-by-step tutorial for setting up the Gradebook. The process for setting up the Gradebook involves five major steps:

Part 1: Run the “Setup Wizard.”
Part 2: Create Gradebook “Categories.”
Part 3: Create individual Grade “Items.”
Part 4: Connect Grade Items to Assignments, Discussions, or Quizzes.
Part 5: Release Final Grades to Students.

Part 1: Run the “Setup Wizard.”

Run the Setup Wizard to create an organization structure and to establish rules for the Gradebook.

(If the Gradebook has been copied from a previous semester, run the Setup Wizard at any time to make changes.)

Assessment -> Grades -> Setup Wizard

Then select "Start" at the bottom.

Step 1: Grading System - Weighted or Points

"Weighted" means that the Final Grade is determined according to a percentage of points from several categories, and each grade item can count worth a percentage of points within the category.

"Points" means that the Final Grade is determined by adding together the scores from all of the grade items.

For courses that have several grade categories on the Syllabus (such as Assignments, Exams, and Daily Work), and each category is worth a different percentage of the final grade, the Weighted system is easier to use.

Step 2: Calculated or Adjusted Final

The Calculated Final Grade totals all of the grade items, while the Adjusted Final Grade allows instructors to select which grade items will count towards the Final Grade. The Adjusted Final Grade also allows instructors to modify student grades.

Unless there is a very clear reason to select the Adjusted Final Grade (for example, the Gradebook has grade items that will not be counted towards the Final Grade), select the Calculated Final Grade.

Step 3: Drop or Count Ungraded Items

Step 3 asks what to do with ungraded items:

“Drop ungraded items” means that ungraded items will not count towards the Final Grade. The Final Grade will be based on a “points possible” score of only attempted assignments. Future and not-attempted grade items will not count in the Final Grade calculation.
“Treat ungraded items as 0” means that the Final Grade will be based on the full points of the course, not only on attempted assignments. Selecting “Treat ungraded items as 0” means that the students’ grade will likely be an F grade for much of the semester.

For example, if students have completed two exams out of four, “drop ungraded items” would show a score that is based on the points possible for only these two exams, while “treat ungraded items as 0” would show a score that is based on the points possible for all four exams.

Step 6: Student Grade Display Options

Step 6 allows you to select how the grade will be displayed to students.

Selecting “Points Grade” allows students to see the number of points for each grade item.
Selecting “Weighted Grade” allows students to see the percent value of each grade item. (Available only with Weighted grades, not with Points.)
Selecting “Grade Scheme Symbol” allows student to see the letter grade (if it is set up).

Step 7 shows a summary of the options you have selected in the Setup Wizard. Click “Finish” to complete the setup process in the Setup Wizard.

Part 2: Create Gradebook Categories (optional)

Gradebook categories allow you to group similar grade items into a section. For example, you can group all quizzes and exams in an Exams category, or all assignments in an Assignments category.

When items are grouped into categories, the Gradebook shows a category score, and this information could be useful in assessing how students perform on some course components (such as exams, essays, homework) in comparison to other course components.

Categories are optional, but most courses use them. Categories are most useful with the Weighted grading system, where each category accounts for a percent of the Final Grade.

Assessment -> Grades -> Manage Grades

Then click the “New” button and select “Category.”

Category Properties

In the “Properties” tab for the new category, complete the following options:

Add a “Name” (and an optional “Short Name”) for the category (such as Exams, Assignments, Projects, Discussions, etc.).
Add the “Weight” or percentage the category will have in the Final Grade calculation. (The weight assigned for each grade category should match grade categories as specified on the Syllabus.)
To exclude a grade category from the Final Grade, assign a weight of zero. (This may be useful for clinical, laboratory, or attendance scores that need to be tracked but not counted in the Final Grade.) (The Weight option may not be available with the Points grading system.)
“Can Exceed” means that the number of points in this category can exceed the amount you specify. Check this box if the category is going to include any extra credit items that may put the students’ score above the maximum amount of points for this category.
Check the box to “Exclude Category from Final Grade” if the grade items in this category will not contribute to the Final Grade. (This may be useful for clinical, laboratory, or attendance scores that need to be tracked but not counted in the Final Grade.) (This option may be available only with the Adjusted Final Grade.)

Distribution of Points within the Category

This section determines how grade items within each category will be calculated for the category subtotal and for the Final Grade.

Select “Manually Assign” to manually assign the percentage of each grade item within the category. (This option is useful if each grade item will have a different value.)
Select “Distribute Weight by Points” to distribute the percentage of grade items proportionately, according to the number of points in the grade item. (For example, if one grade item is worth 20 pts and another is worth 10 pts, this option will keep the 2 to 1 ratio.)
Select “Distribute Weights Evenly” to assign the same percentage to all grade items within the category, regardless of the number of points for each grade item. (For example, each quiz could be worth 15% of the Quizzes category, even if Quiz 1 has 20 pts and Quiz 2 has 10 pts.)
When selecting “Distribute Weights Evenly,” the highest and/or lowest grade items can be dropped from the category – specify how many of each grade item to drop.

Category Display Options

Scores for this grade category will display as specified in Step 6 of the Setup Wizard.

To assign different display options for this category, select “override display options” in the Display area of the Properties tab, and select the grade components you would like to show.

Click "Save and Close" when finished.

Part 3: Create Individual Grade Items

A grade “item” corresponds to a single assessment item, such as an assignment, quiz, exam, discussion, clinical activity, or other project. (In a traditional paper or Excel spreadsheet, an “item” would be a column in the gradebook.)

Each assignment, quiz, exam, discussion, or other graded activity typically has its own grade item; however, a single grade item could be used as a combined score for several activities. For example, all journal assignments could be grouped into a single grade item; however, a gradebook category is more commonly used to group scores in this way.

Assessment -> Grades -> Manage Grades

Click the “New” button and select “Item.”

Then, select the type of grade item - "Numeric" is most common.

Grade Item Properties

In the “Properties” tab for the new item, complete the following options:

Add a “Name” (and an optional “Short Name”) for the grade item (such as Exam #1, Essay #1, Chap. 1 Quiz, etc.).
If the course uses Gradebook Categories, assign the item to a category from the drop-down list. (For example, assign “Chap. 1 Quiz” to the “Quizzes” category.)

Grade Item Properties: Grading Section

In the “Grading” section:

Specify the “Maximum Points” or points possible for this grade item. (This score should match the points possible score of the assignment, quiz, or discussion. If the assessment activity has a higher points possible score, the gradebook will limit the number of points to this “Maximum Points” amount.)
Specify the “Weight” or percentage this grade item will have within its gradebook category. (This option is available only for grade categories with a manual distribution of weight.)
Add a checkmark to “Can Exceed” if the score for the grade item can exceed the “Maximum Points” possible for this item. (This is useful if the assessment will contain any bonus or extra credit opportunities. For example, an exam may be worth a maximum of 50 pts, but it may have an additional 5 pts of extra credit; selecting this option would allow the score to go up to 55 pts.)
Add a checkmark to “Bonus” if the grade item is an extra credit – checking this box will add the score to the student’s Final Grade, but it will prevent the gradebook from counting this score as part of the “points possible.”

Scores for this grade item will display as specified in Step 6 of the Setup Wizard. Select “override display options” in the Display area of the Properties tab to change display settings for this grade item. Click “Save and Close” and when done.

Part 4: Connect Grade Items to Assessments

Grade items need to be connected to assignments, quizzes, and discussions. If they are not connected, points earned on assignments, quizzes, and discussions will not appear in the gradebook, and they will need to be entered into the gradebook manually.

Not all grade items need to be connected to assessment activities. For example, the gradebook may include grade items for assessment activities that are not on D2L, such as clinical activities, oral presentations, homework and essays that are submitted on paper in class, participation, and many other similar grade items that do not have a corresponding assessment activity on D2L.

To connect assessment activities to grade items, go the Assignment, Quiz, or Discussion area, and connect the activity to the grade item within the Assignment, Quiz, or Discussion.

Connect an Assignment to a Grade Item:

Click on the Assessment tab, then Assignments.
Click on the down-arrow next to the assignment name and select “Edit Folder.”
In the traditional assignment view, go to the “Evaluation and Feedback” section of the “Properties” tab, and select the Grade Item from the drop-down list.
In the new assignment view, the option to select a grade item will appear after you add an "Out Of Score." When the option appears, click "In Grades," then select the grade item.
Click “Save and Close.”

Connect a Quiz or Exam to a Grade Item:

Click on the Assessment tab, then Quizzes.
Click on the down-arrow next to the quiz name and select “Edit.”
On the “Assessment” tab, select the Grade Item from the drop-down list.
Also consider adding checkmarks to “Allow attempt to be set as graded” (to have D2L automatically grade the quiz) and to “Allow automatic export to grades” (to automatically publish quiz scores to the gradebook).
Click “Save and Close."

Connect a Discussion to a Grade Item:

Click on the Communication tab, then Discussions.
Click on the down-arrow next to the discussion title, and select “Edit Topic.”
On the “Assessment” tab, select the grade item from the drop-down list.
Click “Save and Close.”

The connection between Assignments, Quizzes, and Discussions to grade items can be verified in the "Association" column in the Manage Grades area. (See image on the right.)

The connection can also be verified in the Assignments, Quizzes, or Discussions area. (See the images below.) Assessment activities that are connected to a grade item have a connection symbol or say “includes assessment.”

Assessment -> Grades -> Manage Grades

If there is an Association, the assessment is connected to the grade item.

Click on the question mark to see the specific assessment that is connected.

Part 5: Release Final Grades to Students

In order to release the Final Grade to students, you'll have to select this option in Step 2 of the Setup Wizard (See Part 1 above).

You may also need to verify or adjust the display options in each gradebook category, grade item, assignment, quiz, and discussion so that it is set to publish or display the grade to students.

Student can see the Final Grade if the “eyeball” in the Final Grades column is open. Instructions for "opening the eyeball" are similar for both the Final Calculated Grade and the Final Adjusted Grade, but there are additional steps for the Final Adjusted Grade.

Begin by going to the "Enter Grades" area of the Gradebook: Assessment -> Grades -> Enter Grades

Final Calculated Grade

To open the “eyeball” when using the “Final Calculated Grade,” click on the down-arrow next to “Final Calculated Grade,” and select “Enter Grades.”

On the next page:

Select all students by adding a checkmark next to their name.
Click “Release/Unrelease.” This will add a checkmark under the column for “Released” on the right.
Click “Save and Close.”
Confirm “Yes” in the pop-up window.

The “eyeball” will now appear open, and students can see their Final Grade.

Final Adjusted Grade

The process for releasing the “Final Adjusted Grade” to students is similar to the process for the Final Calculated Grade, but there are a few more steps.

Start in the “Enter Grades” area of the Gradebook, click on the down-arrow next to “Final Adjusted Grade,” and select “Enter Grades.”

On the next page, find the column for the “Final Adjusted Grade,” and click the calculator icon for each student.

Note: Clicking the > arrow symbol will transfer the “Calculated Final Grade” to the “Adjusted Final Grade.” (Avoid doing this if you want to use the Adjusted Final Grade.)

In the pop-up window, select grade items to be included in the Final Grade, then click on “Calculate.”

Note: If you select all grade items, there may not be a reason to use the “Adjusted Final Grade.” Consider selecting the “Calculated Final Grade” in the Setup Wizard instead.

The student’s current grade will appear in the column for the “Adjusted Final Grade.”

Note: If you add a new grade item to the gradebook in the future, and the new grade item needs to be included in the Final Grade, you’ll need to repeat this step to include the new grade item in the Final Adjusted Grade.

Next, release the Final Adjusted Grade (see image below):

Select all students by adding a checkmark next to their name.
Click “Release/Unrelease.” This will add a checkmark under the column for “Released” on the right.
Click “Save and Close.”
Confirm “Yes” in the pop-up window.

The “eyeball” and a score will now appear open in the “Final Adjusted Grade.”

For more information and support, contact Online Learning.

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