Setting your Overall Grade

The Overall Grade column displays a calculated running tally of all the items you grade and post that count toward the overall course grade. It appears in the gradebook next to the students' names so you can quickly see how each student is performing.

If you don't have the overall grade configured yet, you'll see a banner prompting you to set it up. 

Note: The Overall Grade setup will not appear until an assessment or manual column is created.

1. From the banner, select Set it up. The Overall Grade page appears.
2. Under Select a Calculation Type, select one of these options:
   Points. A points-based grade calculation may aid transparency as it makes clear to students what’s worth more in a course and what’s worth less. You can select which categories and items you want to include in the calculation. The max total points available in the course will be decided by the items and categories you include in the calculation.
   Weighted. The weighted calculation calculates categories and grade items as a percentage of a final grade worth 100%. You can assign percentage values to any course item and category and choose whether to weight items in the same category proportionally or equally. For more information see Create weighted calculations.
   Advanced. Use a custom formula to calculate the overall grade.

Points

1. 1. Categories containing items are listed first and ordered by the number of items contained. Expand a category to see its items. From here you can:
      Unlink an item from its category. This is useful if you want to include the item in the calculation separately from the rest of the category.
      
      Exclude an item within a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the item points from the total number of points available in the course. The item or category turns gray to indicate that it's not included in the calculation. Select the button again to include the item or category in the calculation again.
   2. For each category, you can select Edit calculation rules to verify or update the current settings:
      Drop Scores removes the specified number of the highest or lowest grades for each category from the calculation.
      Use only removes all grades from the calculation except for the highest or lowest score.
   3. Under Overall Grade Settings, choose how to display the overall grade — as a letter grade, percentage, points or any grading schema created in the course. When you select Points, instructors and students see the overall grade as a fraction of the total points earned, divided by the total points available in the course. For example, 745/800.
   4. When you select Show to Students, students can view the overall grade and calculation details from the information button in their Gradebook.
   5. Select Save.

Weighted

1. From the Overall Grade page, under Select a Calculation Type, select Weighted.
2. Under Weigh gradable items within a category, select Proportionally or Equally.
   Proportionally takes the raw scores of the included columns and categories and then divides the result by the total points possible to obtain a percentage for each item in the weighted column. The resulting percentages retain the proportional weight of each item so that items with a larger point value have more effect on the calculated grade.
   When the columns and categories you select for the weighted column have different point values, Equally converts them to percentages. These percentages are averaged to obtain an equal value for each of the items included in the weighted column.
3. Categories containing items are listed first and ordered by the number of items contained. Expand a category to see its items. From here you can:
   Unlink an item from its category. This is useful if you want to include the item in the calculation separately from the rest of the category.
   Unlock an item or category to edit its weighting. The calculation will automatically balance all unlocked items to ensure the overall calculation equals 100%.
   Exclude an item within a category from the overall grade calculation. This removes the item points from the total number of points available in the course. The item or category turns gray to indicate that it's not included in the calculation. Select the button again to include the item or category in the calculation again.
4. For each category, you can select Edit calculation rules to verify or update the current settings:
   Drop Scores removes the specified number of the highest or lowest grades for each category from the calculation.
   Use only removes all grades from the calculation except for the highest or lowest score.
5. Under Overall Grade Settings, choose how to display the overall grade — as a letter grade, percentage, points, Complete/Incomplete, or any grading schema created in the course. When you select Points, instructors and students see the overall grade as a fraction of the total points earned, divided by the total points available in the course. For example, 745/800.
6. When you select Show to Students, students can view the overall grade and calculation details from the information button in their Gradebook.
7. Select Save.