Grades: Set Up Grade Calculation Method

1. Access the Gradebook and click Grades Settings in the menu box.

2. Click Calculation Options in the toolbar.

3. Decide what type of Course Grading System you want to set up. This decision should reflect the grade policies set forth in your syllabus. Options are:

Points - Grade items are assigned a specified number of points. Grade categories are simply the sum of grade items within the category. The final grade is the total number of points earned divided by the total number of points possible.

Example:
Assignments Category (40 points)
- Assignment 1 Item (20 points)
- Assignment 2 Item (20 points)
Final Exam Item (200 points)
---------------------------------------
Final Grade: X/240 points

Weighted - Grade categories are assigned a weight as a percentage of the final grade, and grade items are assigned a weight as a percentage of their parent category (or, if they have no parent category, of the final grade).

Example:
Assignments Category (20% of final grade)
- Assignment 1 Item (50% of Assignments)
- Assignment 2 Item (50% of Assignments)
Final Exam Item (80% of final grade)
------------------------------------
Final Grade: X%

Formula - The final grade is calculated based on a custom formula. (See Using the Formula Editor for details.)

Examples:
- A formula can be used to compare two grade items (such as quizzes) and drop the lower of the two.
- A formula can be used to count a graded item twice.

The Formula option is more difficult to set up than either the Points or Weighted systems. It is strongly suggested that you do not use a formula grading system if either the points or weighted system can work for your course.

You will set criteria for Grade Items, including any formulas to be used with a Formula grading system, in a later step. See Create Grade Categories and Items for details.

4. Determine Final Grade Release conditions -- whether the Adjusted or Calculated final grade will be sent to the Registrar and released to students.*

If the final grade will simply be the total points (or percentage) students earned, select Calculated Final Grade.
If you will be adjusting the final grade at the end of the quarter (e.g., to reflect individual bonus points or to drop an assignment) choose Adjusted Final Grade.

*As of June 2008, the behavior for this setting has changed. In previous versions, the Adjusted Final Grade was sent to the Registrar regardless of whether the Calculated or Adjusted Final Grade was released to the students.

Note that Carmen calculates the final grade based on your gradebook settings. You determine when (or if) you will send final grades to the Registrar or reveal them to students. See Submitting Final Grades to the Registrar and Releasing Final Grades to Student for details.

5. Choose Grade Calculation options -- whether you'd like non-graded items included in the final grade and whether you'd like to automatically keep the final calculated grade updated.

Decide how you want Carmen to treat ungraded items: drop blank cells or treat them as zero.

Selecting Drop ungraded items means that Carmen ignores ungraded items. This prevents Carmen from treating ungraded items as uncompleted assignments and avoids misleading calculations early in the quarter when many items aren't yet graded.
Selecting Treat ungraded items as 0 means that Carmen calculates ungraded items as if they had a score of 0. Accepting this default setting can save time in large classes since you don’t need to enter data for skipped assignments.
Automatically Keep Final Grade Updated:

If selected, Carmen automatically updates final grades when you make changes to any grade items. This feature ensures that final grades are kept up-to-date.
If not selected, you must manually recalculate final grades after updating any grade items.

Enabling this feature will slow down the Grades tool and may cause timeout errors for large courses (over 100 students). However, if you will be dropping the lowest graded item in a given category, enabling this option will help process that adjustment.

If you are using a Weighted system AND automatically update final grades AND Drop ungraded items, weights of non-graded items are redistributed to force the weights to sum to 100%. This means relative weights can be skewed before all items are graded.

6. Click Save when done.