Calculating final grades

The Final Grades page lists the calculated final grade for each user in your grade book. You should ensure these grades are accurate. Final grades might be inaccurate if:

• You did not select the Automatically keep final grades updated option when you set up your grade book.
• There are grade items that you still need to enter grades for.

Table of contents

1. Access the Final Grades page
2. Recalculate the final grade when “Automatically keep final grades updated” is not selected
3. Enter an adjusted final grade
4. Release a final grade
5. Additional options on the Final Grades page
6. Calculate final grades for a single user
7. Excluding grade items from the final grade
8. Scenario: Final calculated grade using Points system
9. Scenario: Final calculated grade using Weighted system

Access the Final Grades page

Click Grades on the navbar, then click Enter Grades.

Recalculate the final grade when “Automatically keep final grades updated” is not selected

Do one of the following:

• Click the user's name whose grade you want to recalculate. In the Final Grade section, click the Recalculate the Final Calculated Grade icon.
• To recalculate all grades, click Grade All from the Final Calculated Grade context menu. On the Final Grades page, select Recalculate All from the Final Grades context menu.

The Enter Grades page also contains an area to enter final adjusted grades for users. You can use adjusted final grades to apply a bell curve or to raise the final grade of a user who was sick. Whether the adjusted final grade is released to users depends on the Final Grade Released option you chose when setting up your grade book.

Enter an adjusted final grade

Do one of the following:

• On the Enter Grades page in Spreadsheet View, if you want a user’s grade to be different from the calculated final grade, enter the adjusted grade in the Final Adjusted Grade field.
• If you want to release the calculated final grade as the adjusted grade, click Grade All from the Final Calculated Grade context menu. Click the Transfer Calculated Final Grade to Adjusted Final Grade icon beside the user.

Once you have ensured that users’ grades are accurate, you can release them.

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Release a final grade

Do one of the following:

• On the Enter Grades page, click Grade All from the Final Calculated Grade or Final Adjusted Grade context menu. Select the user(s) whose grades you want to release, and click Release/Unrelease, then click Save.
• On the Enter Grades page, click Grade All from the Final Calculated Grade or Final Adjusted Grade context menu. Select the Release Adjusted Final Grade check box for the user whose grades you want to release, and click Save.
• On the Enter Grades page, click Grade All from the Final Calculated Grade or Final Adjusted Grade context menu. Select Release All from the Final Grades context menu.

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Additional options on the Final Grades page

To	Do this
View grades by group or section	Select “Groups” or “Sections” from the View By drop-down list.
Clear adjusted final grades	Do one of the following: Select the users whose grades you want to clear and click Clear. Click Clear all from the Final Grades context menu.
Leave general feedback for all users	Click Show details and overall comments to expand the comments section. Enter comments in the text field.
Leave feedback for a specific user	Click the Enter Comments icon for the user. Note  Final grade comments are not released to users until you release the final grade.
Email users about their final grades	Select the users you want to email and click Email.
Enter a common adjusted grade for multiple users	Select the users you want to assign a common grade for and click Grade. Enter the grade. Click Save.
Change the number of users displayed per page	Select a value from the per page drop-down list.
View the Final Grades Event Log	Click Event Log from the Final Grades context menu.
View a user’s Event Log	Click the Event Log icon for the user.
View statistics for a grade item or a user’s final grades	On the Manage Grades page, click View Statistics from the menu beside the item or category you want to see statistics for.

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Calculate final grades for a single user

1. On the Enter Grades page, click a user’s name.
2. Click the Recalculate the Final Calculated Grade icon if necessary.
3. Enter an adjusted final grade or click the Transfer Final Calculated Grade to Final Adjusted Grade icon.
4. Select the Release Calculated Final Grade or Release Adjusted Final Grade check box depending on the Final Grade Released set up option you chose.
5. Click Save.

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Excluding grade items from the final grade

It is possible to evaluate and record grades for grade items that you don't want included in users' final grades. For example, you could evaluate practice assignments or course participation even though they are not included in users' final grades so that users get ongoing feedback and support.

Exclude a grade item or category in the weighted system

1. On the Manage Grades page, click on the name of the grade item or category  you want to edit.
2. Set the Max. Points to whatever value you want to evaluate the item or category out of.
3. Set the Weight to 0%.
4. Click Save.

Exclude a grade item or category in the points system

1. On the Manage Grades page, click on the name of the grade item or category you want to edit.
2. Select the Exclude from Final Grade Calculation option.
3. Click Save.

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Scenario: Final calculated grade using Points system

You offer a number of online training courses that use similar content, but adjust the course content depending on your users’ interests and skill levels. You set up specific courses by importing course content from a master course. You do not want to change the weight of each grade item to make every course grade book balance, so you use the points system and keep each grade item’s Max. Points the same. You grade basic tasks out of 5, intermediate tasks out of 10, and advanced tasks out of 15. You give users who receive at least 70% on all grade items 10 bonus points. You allow users to exceed the maximum points for a grade item, but not the final grade. Because you often allow some users to skip advanced tasks, you drop ungraded items from the final grade calculation.

You set up grade items with the following properties:

	Project 1	Project 2	Project 3	Project 4	Project 5	Project 6	Bonus
Max. points	5	5	10	10	15	15	10
Can Exceed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Bonus	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes

 

You assign the following grades for the user Frank Catcher:

	Project 1	Project 2	Project 3	Project 4	Project 5	Project 6	Bonus
Max. points	6	8	9	8	15	--	10

 

You release the calculated final grade to Frank. It is calculated as follows:

Grade item	Calculation
Project 1	= 6/5*100 = 120%
Project 2	= 8/5*100 = 160%
Project 3	= 9/10*100 = 90%
Project 4	= 8/10*100 = 80%
Project 5	= 15/15*100 = 100%
Project 6	= Dropped Note  Dropped grade items are not included in calculations; grades are calculated as if the item does not exist.
Bonus	= 10/10*100 = 100% Note  Bonus points are added on top of the final grade; they are not included in the Points Received/Max. Points calculation.
Calculated Final Grade	= (6+8+9+8+15)/(5+5+10+10+15)*100+10 = 46/45*100+10 = 112.22% = 100%

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Scenario: Final calculated grade using Weighted system

You are teaching an introductory science course in which users are graded on four labs, their participation in discussion topics, and a final examination. You allow users to drop their lowest grade on a lab. You also provide bonus grades to users who act as moderators for discussion topics. If a user does not submit a lab, you leave it ungraded and treat ungraded items as a grade of 0.

You set up grade items and a Labs category with the following properties:

	Labs	Lab 1	Lab 2	Lab 3	Lab 4	Discussions	Moderator	Exam
Category	Labs	Labs	Labs	Labs	Labs	None	None	None
Max. points	n/a	10	10	10	10	10	5	100
Weight	50%	50% for the category
		25%	25%	25%	25%
Bonus	n/a	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Drop lowest	1	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

You assign the following grades for the user Frank Catcher:

	Labs	Lab 1	Lab 2	Lab 3	Lab 4	Discussions	Moderator	Exam
Frank Catcher	n/a	0	8	0	7	8	3	71

You release the calculated final grade to Frank. It is calculated as follows:

Grade item	Calculation
Lab 1	= Dropped Note  Dropped grade items are not included in calculations; grades are calculated as if the item does not exist.
Lab 2	= 8/10*25/(25+25+25)*100 = 26.67% towards the category = 26.67*.5 = 13.33% towards the final grade Note  Lab 1 is worth 33.33% of the Labs category even though it is assigned a weight of 25%. This is because the lowest lab grade is dropped and there are only three labs contributing to the category.
Lab 3	= 0/10*25/(25+25+25)*100 = 0% towards the category = 0*.5 = 0% towards the final grade See the note for Lab 1.
Lab 4	= 7/10*25/(25+25+25)*100 = 23.33% towards the category = 23.33*.5 = 11.67% towards the final grade See the note for Lab 1.
Discussions	= 8/10*10 = 8% towards the final grade
Moderator	= 3/5*5 = 3% on top of the final grade Note  Bonus items are added to the final grade after other calculations. Do not include a bonus item’s weight in your total when balancing your grade book.
Exam	= 70/100*40 = 28% towards the final grade
Calculated Final Grade	= 18.33+16.67+15+9+37.2+3 = 64%

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