If the final exam counts for a significant amount of the grade, students will postpone working on the course material until the end of the semester. Weight and space various components proportionally to educational goals. Integration means teach what you are grading, and grade what you are teaching.” They also suggest that grades have multiple functions, including evaluation, motivation, communication with the student, and aiding student reflection.īarbara Gross Davis gives some helpful suggestions, including:įamiliarize yourself with departmental standards. The grade is not an isolated artifact slapped on at the end it is part of a coherent system that includes shaping goals and assignments, communicating with students, helping them learn what they need, responding to them, and evaluating the quality of their work. In a new edition of their book on the subject, Walvoord and Johnson say that the most important principle is: “Grading should be integrated with everything else that happens in the classroom. At the same time, and partially in response to this trend, faculty are thinking about grades in a much more integrated way. Some students (and even some parents) have shifted from a mentality that you earn a grade to the idea that good grades are an entitlement. Today the equation has changed on both sides. In the old days, it seemed fairly simple students did the work, the teacher wrote a few comments and gave the student a letter grade. If a 100 pt exam has a weight of 25%, then a 4 pt bonus item is given a weight of 1% ( 25/100 = x/4 or x = 4 * 25/100 = 1).In recent years, there have been a lot of changes in the whole notion of grades. For example, if a Bonus item is worth 10 points and there are 500 points in the category (not including bonus pts), then weight the item at 10/500 = 0.02 or 2%.Īlternate method: Solve the weight value by making it proportional with an existing item. To make a Bonus item in weighted grades act like extra credit points, weight the item relative to the total points.
Calculate the weight of a bonus item in a weighted gradebook: The points can be any amount as it is the weight that makes the difference in the overall percent. For example, if you do not want to add more than 4% to any given final grade, limit the Bonus item’s weight to 4. If you use a “Bonus” item with no category, limit its weight to the most you wish to add to the final course percentage.
If you allow an item to exceed 100% or include Bonus items, but do not check the box "Can Exceed" in the category and/or “Final Calculated Grade” settings, then extra credit will count but it will be limited to no more than 100% for the category or “Final Calculated Grade.”įor a Weighted Grading System, extra credit points and Bonus items within a category are weighted using both the item and category weight (i.e., a bonus item with a weight of 10, within a category having a weight of 50, yields up to a 5% increase in the overall grade, 10% of 50%). Follow the same instructions for the “Final Adjusted Grade” if you use an adjusted grade. Click on the category title in “Manage Grades” to edit the settings.Īllow the Final Grade to exceed 100%: Select the box "Can Exceed" in the “Final Calculated Grade” settings. Click on the title "Final Calculated Grade" in “Manage Grades” to edit the settings. Note: If you place only “Bonus” items in a category, be certain to check the box “Can Exceed” for the category or no points will be added to the overall score.Īllow a category to exceed 100%: Select the box "Can Exceed" in the category settings. Select the box "Bonus" in the item settings. Options for extra credit:Įxtra credit above the value possible for an assignment: (i.e., Give 105 points to an exam worth 100 points.) Select the box "Can Exceed" in the item settings.Įxtra credit assignment (Bonus item): All points given for the assignment are treated as extra credit. Checking "can exceed" for all items doesn't change anything other than allowing for items, categories, and the overall grade to go over 100%.
Note: You can click on the Final Calculated Grade item to edit the settings, or use Bulk Edit in Manage Grades, to allow the final grade to exceed 100%. You can make the entire assignment extra credit by making it a “Bonus Item” but you need to also select can exceed in the category settings, and the Final Calculated Grade item, if you want to allow the overall score to go beyond 100%.
For example, you can enter a score above the max value of an item only if “Can Exceed” is selected in the settings of the item. However, you need to select whether the item, category, and/or final grade can exceed 100% in most cases. There are several ways to add extra credit in D2L.