Grades

The Grades tool is useful for providing student with up-to-date information about their progress in the course.  For instructors it is useful for assigning and keeping track of student grades.  The students can view grade entries and monitor their progress throughout the course. You can access the Grades tool by clicking the Grades link on the main navigation bar. This takes you to the Grades page. You are presented with a list of students, assessment items, and scores on assessment items.  Some of the main features of grades are as follows:

  • Two options of grading methods: weighted system and points system
  • Adding Assessment system to the grades book
  • Show or hide class average to all the participants
Grades Setup
Select how you would like to view the grades.
Select which grade items you would like to see in the Grades List.
Select the scheme you would like to use to grade assignments. You can also create your own scheme if you don't prefer one already there.
Select what Course Grading System you would like to use and how you would like the Final Grade Calculation displayed.
Adding a Grade item
  1. Click the Grade link located on the course navigation bar.
  2. Click the New Item icon.  You are brought to the screen pictured in Figure 1
  3. Type in the Name for your grade item.
  4. Type in a Short Name.
    Note: Short names can be used to minimize the size of your grade report and are not visible to students.
  5. Select the Grade Item Type
    • Numeric - Student receives a number value. (Ex. 8 out of 10 points)
    • Checkbox - Student receives all or no points. (Ex. Pass or fail assignments)
    • Selectbox - Student receives grade symol with an associated grade. (Ex. If the point value of this grade item is 10 and your grade scheme includes the grade ranges F=60, D=70, C=80, etc., if you assign a grade of D, the student receives 7/10.)
    • Text - Students receives text comments with no points awarded. (Ex. Could be used to comment on work in progress)
    • Calculated - Students able to view grade that totals other various grades together. (Ex. Use for midterm release or overall project grades.)
  6. Once Grade Item Type is selected the page will refresh and you will see a box similar to Figure 2.
    • - All Grade Item Types (except Calculated) will have the same Restrictions, Display Options, and Descriptions choices.
    • - Numeric, Checkbox, Selectbox and Text Grade Item Types will have the same General Information choices (Name, Short Name)
    • - Numeric, Checkbox and Selectbox Grade Item Types will have the choices of adding a Parent Category and Statistic Display options. They also have Grading and Grade Scheme Options.
    • - Calculated - Only requires Name, Short Name and the Grade Items you wish to be included selected.
  7. Once you have all your options selected click Save or Save and New if you are creating more Grade Items.


Figure 1


Figure 2

Add Assessment Category to the Grade Book
  1. Click the Grade link located on the course navigation bar.
  2. Click the New Category icon. You should be able to see the screen pictured in Figure 2.
  3. Type in a Name for your grade Category.
  4. Type in a Short Name.
    Note: Short names can be used to minimize the size of your grade report and are not visible to students.
  5. If you would like students to see the class average and grade distribution on a particular grade category, check the boxes next to these items under Statistics.
  6.  The Grading options allow you to control options of Grade Items within a Category. Note: It may say Points rather than Weight depending on what Grading System is in use.
  7. Type a description for the Grade Category in the Description box.
  8. Click the Save button.


Figure 3

Editing a Grade Item
  1. Click the Grade Item Name.
  2. Change any of the options you selected when you first created the Grade Item.
Enter Grades for Assessment Item
  1. Click the Grade link located on the course navigation bar.
  2. Click the assignment title for which you want to enter grades.
  3. Click the Grades Tab
  4. Enter an Out of Grade value beside the student's name.
  5. Click the Comments icon, if you would like to add an individual comment for the student.
  6. Click the Save button.
  7. Click the Grades List icon to confirm that your grades have been recorded correctly.
Printing Grades/Exporting Grades to an Excel Spreadsheet

To print a D2L grade report you will first want to export the grade report to a MS Excel spreadsheet. To do so follow the directions below:

  1. First, from your course home page click the Grades link in the Navbar.
  2. Click the Import/Export button
  3. Under the "What would you like to do?" option select "Export to CSV from grades".
  4. Under "Options" select StudentID (this is the students TechID)
  5. Select an option under "Which grade values would you like to export for each user?" (selecting more than one of these options will probably make your grade report longer than you want). If you want the students first and last names in the report, make sure these options are checked.
  6. Then select all the grade items you would like to see in your grade report by placing a check in the box next to their name.
  7. Click the export button. You are prompted to either save or open the file. Choose the save option and save the file somewhere on you computer where you can find it later
  8. Now locate the downladed file on your computer and double click to open the file in Excel. You can now print the file using the File > Print option in Excel.
  9. If you want to save the file as an Excel spreadsheet (not CSV), click the save button in Excel. A popup box will appear; click No. The Save As dialog box will appear. In the "Save as type" dropdown menu at the bottom of this dialog box make sure the "Microsoft Excel Workbook (*.xls)" option is selected. Provide a name for the file and click Save.
  10. You can now work with this file as a normal spreadsheet.
 
Copyright 2005  © Office of Instructional Technologies,
Minnesota State University,
Mankato, MN 56001
All rights reserved.