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D2L Faculty: Grades

UW-Eau Claire > LTS Online Help > Campus-Specific > D2L Faculty > D2L Faculty: Grades

The Grades tool lets you set up a gradebook and record students' scores in D2L.

This page contains information on:

Setup Wizard

The Setup Wizard in the D2L gradebook allows you to choose grade display preferences for yourself and your students, as well as choose options for calculating final grades. Use the seven-step Setup Wizard to determine your options before creating grade items and categories.

You can also access these options through the Settings link in the upper right of most Grades pages: Settings

Categories

You can group grade items by category. Categories are optional for points gradebooks, but necessary in weighted gradebooks. For detailed information about creating categories, consult Gradebook: Categories.

Creating and Editing Grade Items

Grade items are what actually get scored. They might include papers, quizzes, projects, and other assignments. You can create grade items in the Grades tool, or when creating a linked quiz, dropbox, or other item.

Creating Grade Items

  1. On the Navigation bar, click Grades.

  2. Click the Manage Grades tab.

  3. Click the New dropdown arrow and select New Item.

  4. Choose a grade item type (if unsure, choose Numeric).

  5. Name the item; also give the item an abbreviated name in the Short Name field to keep the columns narrow and reduce left-right scrolling.
    Students will see the grade item name; instructors will see the Short Name.

  6. Optional: Assign a category, either existing (from the dropdown menu) or create a new category for this grade item.

  7. For a Numeric grade item, enter the Max. Points.

  8. Fill out any other applicable fields.

  9. Click Save.

Editing Grade Items

  1. On the Navigation bar, click Grades.

  2. Click the Manage Grades tab.

  3. To edit a specific grade item, click the item's name in the list.

  4. A page will open that allows you to edit the name, category, max points, etc.

  5. When you are finished editing, click one of the Save options at the bottom of the page.

Deleting Grade Items

  1. On the Navigation bar, click Grades.

  2. Click the Manage Grades tab.

  3. Click More Actions, and select Delete from the pulldown menu.

    More Actions

  4. A list of all the grade items and categories will appear. Click the checkboxes next to each category/grade item to select those you wish to delete.

  5. At the bottom of the list, click Delete.

    Note:     If you have grade items that are associated with dropboxes, you will see an icon next to them: Association Icon Before deleting these grade items, you will need to first break the association.

Extra Credit

There are two ways to allow extra credit in the gradebook. Bonus items are entirely extra credit, and items that 'Can Exceed' might include extra credit questions along with required ones.  

Can Exceed: To create a grade item that includes extra credit, select Can Exceed when creating the item. For a detailed explanation of how these items work in different gradebooks, consult Grades: Working with Extra Credit Points.

Bonus: To create a grade item that is entirely extra credit, select Bonus when creating the item. For a detailed explanation of how bonus items work in different gradebooks, consult Grades: Working with Bonus Items. 

Entering Grades

  1. On the navigation bar, click Grades and make sure the Enter Grades tab is selected.

  2. Click the dropdown arrow next to the grade item to enter grades for that item. Click Grade All.

    Grade All Dropdown

  3. In the Grades column, enter the grade for each student.

  4. To leave a comment for a particular student, click Comments in the Comments column of that student's row.

  5. To leave a comment for a particular student,

  6. When you're finished entering grades for an item, click Save.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have linked the dropbox to the gradebook, you MUST do all your grading in the dropbox, not the gradebook. If you try to grade in the gradebook, any time you then "Publish Feedback" in the dropbox area, the grades entered directly in the gradebook will be overwritten and you will lose them. View the Dropbox page for more information about linking a dropbox to the gradebook.

Exporting and Importing Grades

You can export your gradebook, modify it outside D2L, and import your changes. If you plan on doing this, please keep these requirements in mind:

  • Set up your grade items in D2L rather than on your spreadsheet
  • Use unique names when naming grade categories and grade items to avoid importing errors
  • Be aware only some types of grade items can be imported: Numeric, Text, Pass/Fail and Selectbox (as well as the Adjusted Final Grade)
  • Use a browser other than Google Chrome; grade exports cannot be done using Chrome
  • Export your gradebook from D2L first, choosing the preferred user information, selecting Points grade rather than Grade scheme, and choosing only those grade items that you are currently grading
  • Press Export to CSV, not Export to Excel (csv files can be edited in Excel) 
  • Use the exported spreadsheet to enter your grades in Excel and to import those grades into your D2L gradebook
  • Re-sort the data in the exported file in Excel; after exporting from the D2L gradebook, students will be listed in random order in the exported csv file

* Grade Scheme cannot be use in the export if the file is to be imported again. If used it will result in an import error.

Don't use Grade Scheme

 


Previewing Student Grades

This feature allows instructors to see exactly what students see when they click on Grades in the D2L course. You may also watch the Student View of the Gradebook video.

  1. Click Grades in the navbar

  2. Click on any student's name in the grade list. Now you will see grades for only that student.

    Grade List

  3. Click on the arrow to the right of the student's name at the top of the page and choose Preview from the dropdown menu.

    Grades Name Menu

  4. You will now see what the student sees when viewing his or her grades in the course. If you've released final grades to students, the final grade information will appear at the top above the individual grades in the student view.

    Grades Preview

Final Grades

The final grade provides you and your students with the overall grade in a course is at a given point.

This section describes settings for the final grade in your Desire2Learn gradebook. In order for these recommended settings to work, you should have your Grade Calculations set as described in Gradebook: SetupWizard.

To learn how to set the final grades of your students to be recalculated every time you make a change to your gradebook and therefore keep them updated, as well as release final grades to your students, view the Keeping Final Grades Updated and Release Grades to Students documentation

Setting Final Grade Properties

Final grade properties determine how the Final Grade item is displayed in the Grades List. The properties need to be set only once each semester. For more information, watch the tutorial on Calculating Adjusted Final Grades.

  1. From the Course Home page, click Grades.
    The User List pane appears.

  2. Click the Manage Grades tab.
    The Grades List appears.

  3. In the Grade Item column, click either the Calculated Final Grade item or the  Adjusted Final Grade, depending on which you have chosen to use in your course.
    The Edit Adjusted Final Grade pane appears with the Properties tab selected.

  4. If you are using extra credit or bonus items, to allow the final grade to exceed total points (or 100%), in the Grading section, select Can Exceed.

    Adjusting final grades/ grading can exceed

  5. To change the default grade scheme, select a grade scheme from the Grade Scheme pull-down menu.

  6. To make statistics visible to students, in the Display Options section, for Submission View, select the desired options.

    DisplayOptions

  7. Click Save.
    The changes are saved.

Recalculating the Final Grade

These steps need to be performed each time grade items are updated in order for the Final Grade to reflect those changes. For more information, watch the Final Calculated Grade video.

  1. From the Course Home page, click Grades.
    The User List pane appears.

  2. In the Final Grades column, click the Calculate Final Grade dropdown arrow (under the Final Grades header) and select GradeAllGrade All.
    The Final Grades pane appears.

  3. Click the Final Grades dropdown arrow and select Recalculate All. 

    Recalculate

    The Grade Items Included in Adjusted Final Grade dialog box appears.

    Recalculate grades dialog box

  4. Select the boxes of the items you wish to recalculate then click Calculate.
    A confirmation box appears.

  5. Click Yes.
    The grades are recalculated.
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