Grade Tool Setup

The VIULearn Grades tool supports three different ways of calculating a user’s total grade:

1. Use Weighted grades if you want grade items calculated as a percentage of the final grade
   
   • Weighted grades allow you to assign both a point value and a weight for each grade item and calculates students' final grade as a score out of 100 based on the weight of all grade items and categories.
     
     
   • The total weight of all grade items and categories must equal 100%
     
     
2. Use Points grades to calculate the total grade based on points alone.
   
   • The user's final grade will be calculated based on the maximum number of points possible on all grade items. Every point is weighted equally so that items out of more points are worth more towards the overall grade.
     
     
3. Use Formula grades if you want to calculate the final grade using a custom formula that lets you set additional conditions on grade items.

Once you have selected the Grading System that will work best for your course, click the blue Continue button.

VIULearn offers two ways to treat items that have not been graded.

1. Choose Drop Ungraded Items if you want to exempt learners from any item that are not given a grade.
   • If you choose this option, you will need to manually enter zeros for incomplete activities you want counted towards the final grade.
     
     
2. Choose Treat Ungraded Items as 0 to have any ungraded activity assigned zero marks towards the final grade.
   • If you want to exempt learners from assignments, quizzes, or other activities there is an option to do that on a case by case basis from the Enter Grades screen.
     
     

On this screen you can also decide if you want VIULearn to automatically calculate a running total grade for each learner throughout the course. In most cases, we would recommend enabling this option.

Click Continue to move to the next step.

Schemes organize student performance on grade items into levels of achievement. The default scheme we have created in VIULearn is Percentage. If you wish to use a custom grade scheme you can create one under the Schemes heading in the Grades tool and apply it to all items, or specific items, in your grade book.

Click Continue to move to the next step.

Decide how many decimal places you want to be able to grade to (ie: the automatic setting of 2 means a grade 2.25 is possible).

Note: it is better to err on the side of more decimals, just in case.

Click Continue to move to the next step.

This screen allows you to determine what information students see about each grade item. These settings will be applied by default to all grade items. However, you can override the default setting for individual grade items if you wish.

1. Decide whether or not to display the points, weight, symbols and colors to students.
   
   
2. Decide how many decimal places and text characters students will see.
   
   
3. Decide whether or not to display the final grade calculation to students.

Note: this can be changed later from Settings if you change your mind.

Click Continue to move to the Summary.

1. Review your Grades calculation and display set up.
   
   
2. Select Go Back if you wish to make changes, or Finish if the settings are correct.
   
   

Any settings you choose when you run the Setup Wizard can be changed later.

1. Choose Assessment and then Grades from the course navigation bar.
   
   
2. Click on Settings from the Manage Grades page.
   
   
3. Edit any settings necessary:
   • The Personal Display Options tab changes how the gradebook appears to you only.
     
     
   • The Org Unit Display Options tab changes how the gradebook appears to the students.
     
     
   • The Calculation Options tab changes how the final grade is calculated.
     
     
4. Once you have finished making changes, click the blue Save button.

In order for students to see their Final Calculated Grade, you must release it to them.

1. Choose Assessment and then Grades from the course navigation bar.
   
   
2. Click the arrow to the right of the Final Calculated Grade item and choose Enter Grades from the drop-down menu (this option is the same from both the Enter Grades and Manage Grades areas).
   
   
3. From the Final Grades screen, you can either release the Final Calculated Grade to:
   • Specific students by checking the box beside their name in the leftmost column and then selecting the Release/Unrelease button.
     
     
   • The whole class by checking the box in the top left hand corner of the table and then selecting the Release/Unrelease button.
     
     
4. You will see a check mark in the box under the Released column. This indicates that learners' Final Calculated grades will be released.
   
   
5. Click the blue Save and Close button to save and release learners' Final Calculated Grade.