The Grades Journey
The Business eLearning Team have created this poster called ‘The Grades Journey’. Each stage along the journey is supported with links to resources like documents, demos and training videos.
Click on the link to the right to download the poster, or click through the sections below, to access relevant resources.
01. Create Assignment or Quiz
Create an Assignment submission link to collect assignments in Brightspace. With an assignment, set ‘Score out of’ to add a numeric grade item by default. With quizzes, the score is set by the total of points available by question.Link to our resource on creating Assignments or Quizzes
02. Attach Grade item
While default grade items are set to Numeric, you can choose between a number of grade item types for assigning letter grades including Select-box, Pass/Fail etc. You will need a Grade Item for each gradable component in your assessment strategy.
Link to our resource on grade items
03. Choose Grade Scheme
Every grade item must have a grade scheme selected. The grade scheme allows you to convert assignment scores into letter grades. Module coordinators can choose which grade scheme to use, no particular scheme is preferred. The default grade scheme is the Standard 40% Pass, where A- starts at 70%, but you are free to choose another scheme.
Grading schemas in Brightspace only contain one label or letter grade per value. As there are 2 possible letter grades to represent a mark of zero (i.e. NM for No Mark, and ABS for Absent) 2 grade schemes are provided, one for NM and one for ABS. You can also manually edit Gradebook to reflect the correct label.
Link to this UCD Registry resource on grading for more info on grade schemes.
04. Add Optional Rubric
We recommend using a Rubric for grading. Add Criteria to assess, and set Levels of achievement with possible scores. Rubrics are useful when grading large numbers of student submissions, and help to ensure consistent grades when colleagues share grading in a module.
Link to our resource on creating and using rubrics.
05. Grade Assignments & Quizzes
Use the in-line grader (with optional rubric), direct input or the grades upload options to grade assignments. Quizzes can be graded automatically depending on question types used.All grades are considered interim until after grades approval. Grades can be hidden in Brightspace until you wish to make them visible to students. Final Grades are not visible to students in Brightspace.
Link to our resource on grading in Brightspace.
06. Transfer Grades
Instructors can transfer letter grades for gradable components from Brightspace to Gradebook. Once the grade is transferred the sum (or aggregate) of gradable components is calculated by the 21-point scale, and not by the schemas in Brightspace. Because of this the Final Grades in Brightspace can be slightly different to Gradebook. Ultimately the academic has the right to grade student work as they wish, and can make any corrections to grades which they feel is required to produce a fair result.
Instructors should note that there is no need to calculate the final grade, as they can leave this calculation to grade book, but if they wish to make this calculation, they should use the 21-point grade scheme to do so.
While the 21-point grade scheme is not currently available in Brightspace by, the Business eLearning team have created a Brightspace version of the 21-point grade scheme which you can use to calculate final grades as they are calculated in Gradebook.
Link to our resource on transfer of grades.
