Select the issue:
How to create a grade item
Follow these steps to create a grade item for your course:
- Access the Grades tool
- Click New, and select Item
- Choose the type of grade item you wish to create:
- Numeric is the recommended type, unless you have a specific goal in mind.
- Assign a Name to the item, and a Maximum Points
- If you are using a Weighted grade book, then a Weight will also have to be assigned
- Checking Can Exceed will allow the grade item to exceed the designated maximum points
- Checking Bonus will mean that only it's points received will count toward the final score, and not its maximum points or weight
- Choose the Grade Scheme for your Grade Item:
- By default this will be Percentages
- Click Save and Close
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What is a grade category?
Grade Categories allow you to organize your grade book, and offer useful features:
- If a category already exists in your grade book, you can assign grade items to it.
- If you are using a Weighted grade book:
- The grades inside the category will contribute to its own weight
- For example, the Category Exams is worth 16% of the Final Grade:
- Both Midterm Exam and Final Exam have a weight of 50, as shown in the rightmost column
- This makes them each worth 8% of the Final Grade (50% of 16)
- The grade category can be set to have its weight automatically distributed between all items within it so that they add to 100.
- If this is enabled:
- A category with 2 items will automatically assign a weight of 50 to each item
- A category with 6 items will automatically assign a weight of 16.666 to each item
- Additionally, this option allows you to have the category drop a certain number of lowest or highest items.
- The dropped items will be ignored when calculating the student's Final Grade.
- If you are using a Points grade book:
- The category allows you to automatically assign the same max points to all the items within it
- For Example, you can set it so that all items within the category are worth 30 points
- Additionally, this option allows you to have the category drop a certain number of lowest or highest items.
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My grade book shows "Grade Category sums to X%, not 100%"
This can occur when using a weighted grade book, if the grade items in a category do not add to 100:
- Check the weight of all the categories in your gradebook, along with the weight of items not in a category
- Items that are in a category have their names indented.
- In the above image, both Test 1 and Test 2 are indented, but Not Week 1 Quiz!
- This means that Week 1 Quiz is not a part of the Tests category!
- The total weight of all items within a category should add up to 100
- In the above image Tests 1 and test 2 only add up to 50
- This matches the message shownat the top of the page.
- The weight of all categories and grade items not in a category should add up to 100 as well.
- In the example used: Assignment 1 has a weight of 40, Tests has a weight of 60, and Week 1 Quiz has a weight of 10, for a total of 110.
- Bonus items do not count towards the sum for a category.
- If you are unable to confirm which item(s) are causing the issue, Contact Lions SHARE technical support:
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How to set an item as Bonus
Follow these steps to set an item as bonus:
- Creating a New Bonus Item:
- Follow the steps in How do I create a grade item?
- At the bottom of the Properties page for the new Grade item:
- Check the Box for Bonus
- Modifying an existing item:
- Click on the item you wish to edit
- Scroll down and Check the box for Bonus
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