You choose how grade items contribute to the final grade by selecting a grading system in Grades. Brightspace supports three grading system types: Weighted, Points, and Formula. Choose the option that matches your course design, then set up your grade book.
Choose your grading system
Your grading system controls how each grade item contributes to the final grade.
Use one of the following:
- Weighted: Grade items or categories represent percentages of a final 100%.
- Points: The final grade is the total number of points earned across all items.
- Formula: Use for custom calculations that Weighted or Points systems can't express.
To choose your grading system:
- Go to Grades > Settings.
-
Select Calculation Options.
- Select Weighted, Points, or Formula
Refer to Grading systems types for help choosing the right option.
Refer to Set up your Grade book for detailed wizard steps.
Plan your grade book
Your grade book includes the grading system, grade calculations, grade scheme, grade items, and display settings. You must set up your grade book before using the Grades tool.
As you plan your grade book, consider:
- Which grade items you plan to evaluate.
- How you will allocate points or weights across grade items.
- Which grade items you want to associate with course objects. Note that only numeric grade items can be associated with course objects.
- Whether you will include a milestone grade (for example, midterm).
- Which grade scheme you will apply to calculate final grades. For more information, refer to Create Grading Schemes using the Grades tool.
|
Important: Changing grade book settings or calculation options after you begin tracking grades can affect existing data. Plan your setup before you publish grades.
|
Create Grade categories and items
After selecting your grading system, add the categories and items that make up your final grade.
Grade items represent assessments in your course. You can keep them stand-alone or associate numeric items with tools like Assignments, Discussions, or Quizzes.
To create categories and items
- Go to Grades > Manage Grades.
- Select New, then choose Category or an item type.
- Configure settings (points/weights, bonus/exclude, visibility), then select Save and Close.
To associate items with course tools
- Create the activity in its tool (for example, an Assignment).
- In the activity settings, select or create a Grade Item and set the maximum points.
- Publish evaluations in the tool to sync results to Grades.
Refer to Create and delete grade categories and items for detailed procedures.
Synchronize your grade book with other tools
Your grade book synchronizes automatically with the published scores and feedback that you enter for grade items in Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes. All scores and feedback on grade items that you directly enter in Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes in your grade book synchronize directly with the associated tools and appear automatically as published grade items that are visible to learners.
Entering grades into your grade book using import via CSV, import via Excel, or using the Brightspace API methods for grade items in Assignments and Discussions also appears automatically as published feedback in the tools.
Synchronize with Assignments
- Scores and feedback that you enter and publish for grade items directly in Assignments automatically synchronize with Grades and appear in your grade book.
- Any scores and feedback that you retract from publication are removed from the grade book automatically.
- Scores and feedback that you enter and keep as drafts do not synchronize back to Grades until they are published.
Synchronize with Discussions
- Scores and feedback that you enter and publish for grade items directly in Discussions automatically synchronize with Grades and appear in your grade book.
- Any scores and feedback that you retract from publication are removed from the grade book automatically.
- Scores and feedback that you enter and keep as drafts do not synchronize back to Grades until they are published.
Synchronize with Quizzes
- The grades you enter directly in Quizzes automatically synchronize with Grades and appear in your grade book.
- The scores and feedback for quizzes grade items that you enter directly in your grade book synchronize automatically with Quizzes and overwrite any calculated score for the quiz.
- Overall scores and feedback that you enter and publish for grade items directly in Quizzes automatically synchronize with Grades and appear in your grade book.
- Any scores and feedback that you retract from publication are removed from the grade book automatically.
- Overall scores and feedback that you enter and keep as drafts do not synchronize back to Grades until they are published.
- Scores and feedback that you enter for quiz attempts in Quizzes only synchronize with Grades if you have selected Automatically update evaluations in grade book when published for the quiz. If you have not enabled Automatically update evaluations in grade book when published, the quiz attempt score and feedback will not synchronize to your grade book until you select Export to Grades and you publish the attempt score and feedback.
 | Tip: Use a consistent publish workflow (either from the tool or from Grades) to avoid confusion and unintended overwrites. |
Key terms (quick reference)
Grade categories
Grade categories organize and group related grade items into sections in your grade book, for example, a Writing Assignments grade category to group assignment items and a Class Participation grade category to group discussion items. Grade categories display in Manage Grades.
Note: For more information about grade categories, refer to Create and delete grade categories and items.
Calculated final grade
The final grade calculated by the grade book. You cannot adjust the final grade without adjusting grade item scores.
Adjusted final grade
You can manually change the final grade calculation without affecting grade item scores.