If you use the “points system” in your course to determine student grades, then setting up the gradebook in Moodle is fairly straightforward. The basic approach is simply to create assignments and ensure that you have designated the correct point value. If you use weighted categories to determine grades, the setup is not difficult, but there are a few more steps in the process. The following basic steps will guide you through the process:
- Set the main grades folder Aggregation Method to weighted mean of grades. To access the main grades folder, go to Gradebook Setup. To the right of the main folder, named with the course name, choose Edit Settings from the Edit drop-down menu.
- Add your gradebook categories one by one, including weights in setup and setting each category’s aggregation method to Mean of Grades. In the Gradebook Setup page, scroll to the bottom and click on Add Category to create a new category. Set each category’s aggregation method to Mean of Grades and make sure to set the weight for the category at the bottom of the setup page.
- Add assignments from the main course page and make sure to put them in the correct categories during the setup process. For information on adding an assignment from your course main page see a help article here and here.
- When you have finished adding all the assignments, go to the Gradebook Setup page and ensure that all the category weights are correct. If you need to make any adjustments, just click on the Edit drop-down menu to the right of the category folder.
Suggestions and Resources
- When you are using the weighted category gradebook method, it is easiest to keep everything on a one hundred point scale.
- To see how the gradebook will appear to students, go to Grades>View Tab>User Report tab, then select to show one or all of your students.
- For information on how to categorize grade items that have been created but not correctly categorized during the setup process, see the helpful Knowledgebase article here.
- For information about the Moodle grade aggregation options, see the Knowledgebase article here.
- When using any gradebook setup, grade overrides can be a concern. For a helpful gradebook troubleshooting guide, see the Knowledgebase article here.