Create columns

You can enter only numbers. Use this column to enter numeric grades for an assignment or other student work that is not associated with a defined activity or readiness check.

To add a numeric column:

1. Click the Create Column drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the page.
2. Select Numeric.
3. Enter a Column name of up to 25 alphanumeric characters.
4. In the Insert after column field, enter the number of the column that should appear to the left of your new custom column.
5. Click Save.

You can specify different formulas to calculate the grade. You can aggregate grades for selected activities or assign a weight to the final calculated grade.

Notes:

• For grade-to-date and grade-to total calculations, only activities that are available to students are considered.
• If you change an activity's availability, updates to the calculation may not appear immediately.
• If the calculated column includes activities with numeric or grade schema values rather than percentage values, the numeric or grade schema value is used for the calculation and appears in the gradebook.

To add a calculated column:

1. Click the Create Column drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the page.
2. Select Calculated.
3. Enter a Column name of up to 25 alphanumeric characters.
4. Select the operation to perform. Options are Sum, Avg (average), Min (minimum), and Max (maximum). By default, the Avg operation is selected.
5. Specify the Grade Weight (%), up to 100%.
6. Select Drop Lowest Score to exclude the activity with the lowest score from the calculation. If the student makes another submission and gets a score lower than the current excluded (lowest score), the column updates automatically to drop the latest lowest score and include the previously excluded score.
7. In Insert after column, enter the number of the column that should appear to the left of your new custom column.
8. Select a calculation method:
• Select Use Grade to Date method to compare the total grade achieved by a student from the beginning of the course to the current date.
• Select Use Grade to Total method to compare the grade a student has achieved to the total number of possible points that a student could achieve for all assignments, whether completed, unsubmitted, due, or not yet due.
9. From the list of course materials, select activities to include, and click the Add button. The selected activities appear in the Selected Activities section.
   
10. Click Save.

Note: To delete an activity, select the activity and click Remove from the toolbar.

Tip: To view the calculated mean, median, and standard deviation, select View Statistics from the column options menu.

You can specify text values for a grade column. When you create or edit a column, you can define a fixed list of grading choices for the column, such as good, better, best. When you edit grades for activities in this column, you can choose one of the entries you defined in this field instead of having to type text for each edit you make.

To add a selection list column:

1. Click the Create Column drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the page.
2. Select Selection List.
3. Enter a Column name of up to 25 alphanumeric characters.
4. Enter List Item(s) you want to include and click Add. Each entry you enter appears in the table.
   To delete entries, select one or more entries, and click Delete Selected Items.
5. In the Insert after column field, enter the number of the column that should appear to the left of your new custom column.
6. Click Save.

You can enter text when grading student work. You can enter a maximum of 1000 alphanumeric characters in the text you post for the student grade.

To add a free text column:

1. Click the Create Column drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the page.
2. Select Free Text.
3. Enter a Column name of up to 1000 alphanumeric characters.
4. In Insert after column, enter the number of the column that should appear to the left of your new custom column.
5. Click Save.

You can import grades to the gradebook. The grade file must be in comma separated value (.csv) format. For details, see Import grades.

You can calculate totals for specified activities and/or grade columns. You must assign a weight to each activity or grade column included in the total grade column.

Notes 

• If a calculated column includes activities with numeric or grade schema values rather than percentage values, the numeric or grade schema values are used for column calculations and appear in the gradebook.

To add a total column:

1. Click the Create Column drop-down menu at the top-right corner of the page.
2. Select Total Column.
3. Enter a Column name of up to 25 alphanumeric characters.
4. In Insert after column, enter the number of the column that should appear to the left of your new custom column.
5. From the listed materials, select the activities or calculated columns you want to include and click the Add button. The selected materials appear in the Selected Columns section.
   
   To delete, select the activities or columns you want to delete and click Remove in the toolbar.
6. Assign a weight for each column or activity in the Weight text box. The total weight for the selected columns is added together and displayed in the Total Weight box. The total weight of the columns should ideally be 100.
7. Click Save.