On this page:

• View & edit advanced options
• Grade type
• Grade display type
• Overall decimal points
• ID number
• Additional settings

 

From the Gradebook setup page, you can control advanced options for all grade items, including whether grades are displayed as numeric, percentage, or letter grades. This page describes how to view and edit these options for grade items (activities and manually created columns) and category totals.

View & edit advanced options

To edit advanced options for grade items and category totals:

1. From the course page, select Course Management (black gear icon , top right). The Course Management panel opens. 
2. On Course Management panel, under the Grading heading select Gradebook setup. The gradebook opens to the Gradebook setup page.
3. On the Gradebook setup page, in the Actions column (at far right), in the row for a grade item or category title, click Edit, then select Edit Settings. Depending on your selection, the Edit grade item or Edit category page opens.
4. On the Edit grade item or Edit category page, select Expand all to view and adjust all settings. You may also need to select Show more... to see all advanced options.
5. Configure the grade item as you want by changing the options (see details below).
6. Once you have made the changes, scroll to the bottom of the page and select Save changes.

Grade type

The Grade type setting controls the kind of values that can be input for a grade item. Only Value and Scale types can be used in Moodle aggregations. Only Value, Scale, and Letter grade types can be used in custom grade formulas.

Grade types for Moodle activities

The grade type displayed for an activity-based grade item (such as an assignment or quiz) varies according to the settings you chose while configuring the activity on the Activity settings page. There are 4 grade types:

• Value (Points): A numerical value between the Maximum grade and Minimum grade.
• Scale: An item from a predefined list of terms (such as Check Minus, Check, Check Plus).
• None: This option prevents grades from being recorded and prevents calculation in the Grader Report and User Report.

Grade types for manually-created Grade items

For manually-created grade items, a different set of grade types is available:

• Value: A numerical value between the Maximum grade and Minimum grade.
• Scale: An item from a predefined list of terms.
• Text feedback only: Only text can be input into the Feedback field of a student's grade. Feedback displays by default on the User report.
• Letter: Allows you to enter or import a Letter grade which can be used in a custom grade formula. See Add a Manual Letter Grade Item in Moodle.
• None: This option is available for category totals only. It prevents grades from being recorded and removes the category total from the Grader Report, User Report, and Categories and items page. The category total will return after switching to a different grade type.

Grade display type

The Grade display type setting controls how a category total or grade item will display in the Grader report and the User report.

• Letter: The numerical value is converted to a letter value using the scale found on the Letters tab of the gradebook. To configure the letter scale used for this conversion see Letter Grades in Moodle.
• Percentage: The numerical value is divided by the maximum possible points and displayed as a percentage of the maximum points.
• Real: The item's raw numerical value.

Overall decimal points

The Overall decimal points setting determines the number of decimal places to display for each grade item. This setting does not round values for calculations. If the value is used in a custom grade formula, the real numerical value will always be used, which is made with an accuracy of 5 decimal places.

ID number

Setting an ID number provides a way of identifying the activity for grade calculation purposes. If the activity is not included in a custom grade calculation, the ID number field may be left blank.

Additional settings

• Hidden: If checked, grades are hidden from students.
• Hidden Until: If set, grades are released after the set date.
• Locked:  If checked, grades are no longer automatically updated by the related activity and cannot be edited by Non-Editing Teachers.
• Locked After: If set, grades can no longer be edited after the set date.

If you need additional help with advanced grade item options, please contact at the Instructional Media Lab at 413-545-2823 or instruct@umass.edu.