Weighted Grades bases the final grade on a 100%, where individual assignments and categories make up a part of it. This allows us to, for example, grade an assignment using points (let us say 1000 points), but that assignment still only counts for 10% of the final grade. Likewise, we can have the final project be have a 10 point grade scale but be worth 20% of the grade. Same thing with categories. We can have a category count for only 20% of a grade, but the category itself can have more or less points than other grade items (i.e., individual grades) or other grade categories. However, the “sum” of percentages of each category and assignment must equal to 100% of the final grade. It can not be under nor go over 100%. Likewise, if we are using categories, the total sum of percentages of grade items must equal 100% for that category.

This can be a little difficult for students to understand, especially when considering the scenario outlined above (i.e., why is the final project based on a 10-point scale but worth 20% of the final grade whereas another assignment, which was graded on a 1000 point-scale, is only worth 10%?). But it does allow faculty flexibility as far as grading-scales are concerned, and makes it easy to mirror syllabi.

Points grades bases the final grade on the total sum of points. For example, if we have four assignments worth 10 points, 10 points, 30 points, and 45 points respectively, the final grade would be based on a 95 point scale. We can also add a category where each of the three grades in the category are worth 10 points a piece. The final grade would then be calculated on a 125 point scale ((10x3)+95).

This makes the grading process easier for students to understand (i.e., the larger the grade item is, the more it is worth and divide their score by the total to get their percentage). However, it can be somewhat difficult to translate percentages, particularly with gradebooks are not powers of 10 (ex, 10, 100, 1000).

This allows faculty to construct a custom grading formula to calculate the final grade.

Using this option, D2L will automatically calculate the final grade for us, based on the scores we provide in the gradebook.

This option allows us to pick and choose which grades get added to the final grade calculation and allows us some latitude as to what the student’s score is. While D2L will calculate the grade for us, we need to manually tell it to do so.

This option lets us choose whether or not we are going to release the final grade to students after we grade an assignment (basically, is the student allowed to see what the Final Grade is or not). This is great for providing a running total for students to confer with throughout the semester if we are using Calculated Final Grade.

Using this option will prevent any grade items that have not yet been graded from being added to the Final Grade. This option is great if we plan on creating all of the Grade Categories and Items early in the semester/before the semester start.

For example, we have three grade items, Writing Assignment (worth 10 points), Discussion Assignment (worth 10 points), and Quiz (worth 20 points). If we grade the Writing Assignment and Discussion Assignment, the Final Grade will only use the scores from those two grades and be based on a 20-point scale. This is despite us having the 20 point quiz.

Additionally, this goes on an individual level. For example, if we grade the Writing Assignment and Discussion Assignment of one student, their final grade will be scored out of 20 and based on a 20-point scale. However, if we wait to grade the Discussion assignment of another student, their final grade will be calculated only based on the Writing Assignment (i.e., scored out of 10 and based on a 10-point scale).

This option will record all grade items that have not been graded yet as 0. This is useful if we plan on creating Grade Categories and Grade Items throughout the semester rather than all at once. It may also be useful to switch to this option at the end of the semester to help automatically grade assignments that have not been submitted. This makes it so all grades are automatically added to the calculations for the Final Grade.

This can be somewhat problematic for students, since they may see a zero before we have had time to grade and panic a bit. Or they see a low overall grade, not realizing that the rest of the grades have yet to be entered.

For certain D2L Tools, checking this option will allow D2L to automatically grade an assignment that is missing a submission by the due date. For example, let’s say we have a Dropbox Assignment and we have a due date for today at midnight. If we have this option checked, students who have not uploaded their assignment to the dropbox by midnight will be automatically given a 0. This option is particularly useful if we have selected Drop ungraded items.

D2L will automatically re-calculate the grade when changes are made to grade items and grade calculations (i.e., changing from Drop ungraded items to Treat ungraded items as 0).

This allows students to view their score and the total score for a particular grade item based on the points we give the grade item.

This is only available if we chose the Weighted Grade System. This allows students to see the percentage a particular category/grade item is worth when calculating the full 100% of the Final Grade.

This allows students to the grade based on on our chosen Grade Scheme (i.e., Percentage or Letter).

The background color of a particular grade will change based on the score. Red for anything 50% or less, orange for 51%-79%, green for 80%-90%, and blue for 90%-100%. This makes it really easy to spot assignments where students have done poorly.

This allows students to see what grades have been used to calculate the final grade. Additionally, if we chose Drop ungraded items, D2L will warn students that only grades which have been graded will count toward the final grade calculation.