Grades

Grades (something labeled as Gradebook) is where grades are collected and managed for class members. There is a huge amount of flexibility in Brightspace Grades but typical course use requires only the basics.

Changes to grading options can be made at any time, although it is recommended that course syllabus structure is built out through Manage Grades at the start of a course.

Grades can be entered manually through the Enter Grades screen (e.g. for an overall participation score) or fed through from Brightspace assessment tools (Quizzes, Assignments, Discussions, etc.) and third party integrations.

Actual assessment activity (e.g. file submissions, quiz question answers) and feedback is always stored within those respective tools: changes and adjustments can be made to the Grades page without altering that activity and an assessment-to-Grade Item association can be safely unlinked or rerouted.

Grades in Brightspace are associated with student accounts:

• if a student is removed from a course site, so too are their grades.

• if the student is added back, their grade activity will be restored.

• copying site content will never transfer student grades (or any other student activity).

Grade Items and Categories

What is a Grade Item?

A Grade Item is an evaluated component in Grades. A single Item appears as a column on an instructor’s Enter Grades screen and as a row in a student’s Grades list.

A Grade Item can be associated with a Brightspace Assignment, Quiz, or Discussion, but can standalone for manual grade entry (i.e. it does not need to be within a Category). An associated Item can automatically pass evaluated scores from an assessed student submission to the Grades page.

What is a Grade Category?

A Category contains multiple Grade Items for the purpose of applying additional calculation, although it can serve simply as a structural aid for grouping multiple similar items.

Open

A Grade Category containing several Grades Items as they appear on the Manage Grades page.

Enter Grades views

Below is a screenshot of the grades homepage with a gradebook that has been setup with grade items created and assessed for three users. Click the text to see a screenshot of each view type.

Spreadsheet View

Open

Click image to enlarge.

Standard View

Open

Click image to enlarge.

 

Settings

The settings button is located next to the gear icon in the top right-hand corner of the Grades tool. Personal (instructor) and student view settings can be edited here along with calculation settings. The default homepage can be set by the instructor.

Open

Click image to enlarge.

Recommended Practice

Use/build assessment tools (Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, Rubrics) before building the gradebook. This does not require everything to be ready to go but the more that is built prior to the gradebook the better. Items can also be created in gradebook afterwards.

Use the Setup Wizard (required on first opening of the Grades Tool in a newly created course) prior to creating or adding any grade items or assessments to the gradebook.