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Gradebook
The gradebook is a tool for instructors to calculate, store, and distribute grade information to students online.
There are different ways instructors can view information in the gradebook, including a general overview for each course, assignment detail, course grade detail, student roster, adding or editing assignments, and gradebook options.
Step 1: Click [Site Info].
Step 2: Click [Edit Tools].
Step 3: Choose Gradebook tool.
Step 4: Click [Continue] and then click [Finish].
Choose to grade using points or percentages, or letter grades. To make your choice, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Click [Gradebook Setup].
Step 3: Under “Grade Entry”, select your preferred grade option.
Step 4: When you are finished, click [Save Changes].
Instructors can modify the grade type and grade scale. To do so, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Click [Course Grade Options].
Step 3: Under “Grade Conversion”, in the drop-down list next to “Grade Type”, choose a grade type, and then click [Change Grade Type].
You may select one of three grade types in the Gradebook:
Letter Grades
Letter Grades with +/-
Pass/Not Pass
Step 4: In the table below “Grade Type”, you can edit the grade scale by changing the percentage values in the corresponding text boxes.
Step 5: When you are finished, click [Save].
To create/add a new Gradebook item, follow these steps:
Step 1: In the menubar, click [Gradebook], and then click [Add Gradebook Item].
Step 2: On the Add Gradebook Item screen, fill in the following information:
Title: A title is required for all Gradebook items. The title can be up to 255 characters long.
Gradebook Item Point Value: You must assign a point value to all Gradebook items. Enter a value greater than zero. Decimals are permitted, but values are limited to two decimal places.
Due Date: You can optionally designate a due date for a Gradebook item. You can manually enter the due date (e.g., 09/28/07), or click the calendar icon to select a date from a pop-up calendar.
Category: If you have created a category, you can optionally assign an item to a category using the drop-down list.
Step 3: If you wish to allow students to view the grade for this item, check both boxes next to Release this item to Students and Include this item in course grade calculations. If you wish to exclude this item from the course grade calculation, uncheck the box next to Include this item in course grade calculations.
NOTE: For this item to be visible to students, Gradebook Setup must also have Display released Gradebook Items to students selected. For the course grade to be visible to students, Course Grade Options must also have Display course grade to students now selected.
Step 4: To create the item, click [Add Item]. You will see a message saying the item has been added. Alternatively, click [Cancel] to discard the item, and you will be returned to the Gradebook Items page.
NOTE: If an item is excluded from the course grade calculation, the individual grade will appear to students in parentheses. A legend underneath indicates “Grades in parentheses are not included in the course grade calculation”.
To edit an existing Gradebook item, do the following:
Step 1: In the menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: In the list of Gradebook items, next to the title of the item you want to modify, click [Edit].
Step 3: Change the Gradebook item’s settings, and then click [Save Changes]. You will see a message saying that the item has been updated. Alternatively, click [Cancel] to discard the changes.
To delete a Gradebook item, do the following:
Step 1: In the menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: In the list of Gradebook items, click the title of the item you want to delete.
Step 3: On the Gradebook Item Summary page that opens, under “Options”, click [Remove gradebook item from gradebook].
Step 4: On the Remove Gradebook Item confirmation page, check the box next to Remove this gradebook item and all associated scores from the gradebook.
Step 5: To delete the item from the Gradebook, click [Remove]. You will see a message saying the item has been deleted. Alternatively, you can click [Cancel] to exit the page, preserving the item.
To enter grades for items in the Gradebook, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook]. If you are not already on the main page of the Gradebook tool, click [Gradebook Items] near the top of the window.
Step 2: Locate the Gradebook item and click its title. Use the “Show” drop-down list to display more or less students. Use the “View” drop-down list to display specific groups or sections of students.
Step 3: Enter each student’s score into the box following his or her name. You may enter a score by point, letter grade or percentage grading. Point scores must be greater than or equal to zero, and may contain up to two decimal places (e.g., 9.25). You may leave a box blank if you are waiting on a student’s grade.
Step 4: To add comments for students, click [Edit Comments]. Type your comments in the text box.
Step 5: When you are finished, click [Save Changes]. A grade history log indicating the date, the grade, and the submitter is created for each score. Click the Log icon to view the details for an entry.
To edit previously entered grades in the Gradebook, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook]. If you are not already on the main page of the Gradebook tool, click [Gradebook Items] near the top of the window.
Step 2: Locate the item to edit and click its title.
Step 3: On the Gradebook Item Summary page, grades for individual students will appear in editable fields under “Points”, “Letter Grade” or “Percentage”. To edit a grade for a student, change the score in the appropriate field.
Step 4: To add comments for students, click [Edit Comments]. Type your comments in the text box.
Step 5: When you are finished, click [Save Changes]. The grade history log will record the date of each grade change, as well as the updated grade, and the name of the user who made the change. Click the Log icon to view the details for an entry.
NOTE: Scores submitted through external tools such as the Assessments or Assignments cannot be edited in the Gradebook. These scores must be changed in the source tool. You may edit comments in the same process listed above for editing grades.
In Gradebook, you can create categories, and assign Gradebook items to them. Also, you can assign percentages to the categories, thereby weighting them and the items they contain.
Creating Categories:
To create Gradebook categories, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Near the top, click [Gradebook Setup].
Step 3: Under “Categories & Weighting”, choose Categories only.
Step 4: In the text box that appears, type a name for the category you’re adding.
NOTE: To create more than one category, click Add a Category.
Step 5: When you are finished, click [Save Changes].
Create Categories with Weighted Grades:
NOTE: The total category percentage must equal 100 percent and each assignment within a category must have the same point value. For example, you cannot have an exam in the Exam category that is worth 100 points and add another exam that is worth 200 points. This will result in the grades being calculated incorrectly.
To create categories and weighted grades, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Near the top, click [Gradebook Setup].
Step 3: Under “Categories & Weighting”, choose Categories & Weighting.
Step 4: In the text box that appears, type a name for the category you’re adding.
NOTE: To create more than one category, click [Add a Category].
Step 5: Next to each category name, under “%”, enter a number representing that category’s percentage of the final grade.
NOTE: The total percentage must equal 100. Before you can save your changes, the “Running Total” must equal 100.0%, and the “Needed Total” must equal 0.0%.
Step 6: When you are finished, click [Save Changes].
Add Gradebook Items to a Category:
After you create a category, you can assign Gradebook items to it. You can assign an item when you create it, or by editing an existing item; see Add a Gradebook item.
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To import Gradebook items, you must first create a .csv spreadsheet file containing columns of point-based scores, and then upload it to the Gradebook Loading Dock. The first row of your spreadsheet must contain headings for the columns it contains. The first column must contain individuals’ usernames.
To import Gradebook items, you must first create a .csv spreadsheet file containing columns of point-based scores, and then upload it to the Gradebook Loading Dock. The first row of your spreadsheet must contain headings for the columns it contains. The first column must contain individuals’ usernames.
Once you have your .csv file ready for upload, follow these steps:
Upload a File to the Loading Dock:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Near the top, click [Import gradebook item from spreadsheet].
Step 3: On the Import Gradebook Item screen, click [Upload spreadsheet (csv format) to Loading Dock].
Step 4: To select a file for upload, click [Browse]. Find the file on your computer, click its name, and then click [Open].
Step 5: In the field next to “Title”, type a unique name to be displayed in the Loading Dock.
Step 6: Click [Save].
Step 7: On the Verify Upload screen, review the number of items and students for your upload, and view a display of the file’s contents. If the content is correct, click [OK]. If you need to select another file, click [Back].
Once a file is uploaded to the Loading Dock, its contents become available to import as new Gradebook item. To import an uploaded file’s contents as a new Gradebook item, follow these steps:
Import a File from the Loading Dock:
Step 1: On the Import gradebook Item screen, find your newly uploaded file in the Loading Dock, and next to it, click [Import].
Step 2: On the Import Preview screen, click the radio button to select the column that represents the Gradebook item and corresponding scores you want to import. (You can select only one at a time.) Then click [Import Selected].
Step 3: On the Import Gradebook Item and Scores screen, enter the following information:
Title: The title you provided in the steps above is automatically filled in. If you didn’t provide a title earlier, you must provide one here. The maximum length is 255 characters.
Gradebook Item Point Value: Enter a total point value for the Gradebook item. This must be greater than zero. Decimal values are permitted to two decimal places.
Due Date: In mm/dd/yy format, indicate the item’s due date, or click the calendar icon to select a date using the pop-up calendar tool. This field is not required.
Category: If you have created a category, you can optionally assign the item to a category using the drop-list.
Select a column to import comments: If a column in your file contains comments, use the drop-down list to select the appropriate column, and add the comments to the import. Comments will appear next to the grades in the Gradebook. This field is not required.
Step 4: This item’s scores will be available to students. Unselect the Release this Item to Students option if you don’t want the grade available yet. You can select this later, if necessary.
Step 5: This item will be automatically calculated toward the course grade, unselect the “Include this item in course grade calculations” option if you don’t want the grade included in the final grade calculation. You can select this later, if necessary.
Step 6: When you’re finished, click [Submit]. You’ll return to the Loading Dock, where you’ll see confirmation that your item was added. You can now select another item for import, or click [Reset] to return to the main screen. You should see your imported assignment(s) listed under “Gradebook Items Summary”.
To recalculate course grades, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Near the top, click [Course Grades].
Step 3: Below the Grading Table, click [Recalculate Course Grades].
NOTE: When recalculating a course grade, all blank scores will be converted to zeros. This process is irreversible.
Step 4: On the confirmation page, click [Continue].
NOTE: This action is irreversible.
You will receive a confirmation that course grades have been recalculated.
To export course grades, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Near the top, click [Course Grades].
Step 3: Use the “View” drop-down list to view specific groups or sections, or use the search field to find specific students.
NOTE: The resulting export file will respect the view options you select. It will contain only the information that is visible on the page.
Step 4: To export a CSV file, click [Export Course Grades]. Your browser will prompt you to open the file or save it to your computer.
In Gradebook, you can access a page listing all the details for a particular item by clicking [Gradebook Items] or [All Grades].
To access Gradebook, in the menubar of your site, click [Gradebook]. By default, Gradebook will display the list of items when you enter it. If you do not see the Gradebook items list, click [Gradebook Items] near the top. From the list, you can click the title of an individual item to view its details.
Alternatively, you can view details for an item from the All Grades list. First, click [All Grades] at the top. Then, from the list, beneath the appropriate item, click [Details] to view its details.
On the resulting Gradebook Item Summary page, you will see the maximum points possible (“Points”) and the class average score (“Class average for scores entered”). Other information, and options to edit scores and settings, also are available on this page.
In the Gradebook, there are several tables that you can sort in various ways. In any of these tables, simply click the column heading by which you want to sort the table. Subsequently clicking the same column heading will switch the sorting order between ascending and descending.
Gradebook Items:
On the Gradebook Items page, you can sort the “Gradebook Item Summary” table by the following:
Title
Due Date
Released to Students
Class Avg
Points (points possible)
Grade Editor (if score is entered from Assessments or Assignments)
Weight (if weighting grades)
Grading table:
On the Gradebook Item Summary page for a particular assignment, you can sort the “Grading Table” by the following:
Student Name
Net ID
Points, Letter Grade or Percentage
On the Course Grade summary page, you can sort the “Grading Table” by the following:
Student Name
Net ID
Points (not available if weighting grades)
Course Grade (Gradebook autocalculated course grade)
Grade Override (overridden course grade)
All Grades:
On the Roster page, you can sort the table by the following:
Student Name
Net ID
Course Grade (average grade %)
NOTE: Does not calculate ungraded gradebook items.
Assignment Name (sorted by points earned on the assignment)
The Gradebook automatically calculates a course grade that is the percentage of current points scored out of the total points possible for all assignments. Therefore, the autocalculated course grade can be accurate only when all assignments are graded. If ungraded assignments are present, they will count as 0 points scored, and the resulting course grade will not accurately reflect the student’s cumulative score.
By default, the option for displaying a course grade is disabled, and students see only their scores for each of their assignments. To display a course grade to students, click [Course Grade Options], check the box next to Display course grade to students now, and then click [Save].
To override the auto-calculated course grade, and enter a grade to display that reflects a student’s true running course grade, follow these steps:
Step 1: In the menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: At the top, click [Course Grades].
Step 3: On the resulting page, you will see a list of enrolled students and their calculated course grades. In the “Grade Override” column, enter the new course grade(s) with which you want to replace the auto-calculated grade(s).
NOTE: When manually entering a course grade, you must use the appropriate grade type for the Gradebook in which you are working. For example, if the course is graded on a simple letter grade scale, you will only be able to enter the letters A, B, C, D, F, W, E, I, or P. If the course is graded on a standard letter grade scale, you will also be able to add + (plus sign) or - (minus sign) to the letter grade. If the course is graded on a pass/not pass scale, you will only be able to enter the letters W, E, I, or P.
Step 4: When you have finished updating any course grades you want to change, click [Save Changes].
If you have overridden a course grade and you want to revert back to the auto-calculated grade, do the following:
Step 1: In the menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: At the top of the screen, click [Course Grades].
Step 3: On the resulting page, you will see a list of enrolled students. If you have overridden a course grade for a student, you will see the grade you manually entered in an editable field in the “Grade Override” column. To revert back to the auto-calculated course grade, delete the manually entered grade and click [Save Changes].
NOTE: You can override multiple grades at a time by clicking [Save Changes] once you have entered all of the new grades.
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When you enter Gradebook, you will see an Average Course Grade for the class and the averages for each individual Gradebook item. You can view cumulative scores using one of the following options:
When you enter Gradebook, you will see an Average Course Grade for the class and the averages for each individual Gradebook item. You can view cumulative scores using one of the following options:
Near the top, click [Course Grades]. You will see a list of your students. For each student, the points earned (not available if weighting is used), the letter grade, and a percentage is displayed. The letter grade and percentage are based on the total points earned for the entire course.
NOTE: To add zeros to ungraded assignments, see Recalculating Course Grades section.
To view the course grade by section or group, use the “View” drop-down list to select the section or group. Additionally, you can use the text box to search for individual students.
Use the “Show” drop-down list to display more students in the list.
Near the top, click [All Grades]. You will see a list of your students, and a course grade and a point value, percentage, or letter grade for each assignment in the Gradebook. The course grade is only shown as a percentage in this view.
To view the roster by section, group, or category, use the “View” drop-down list. Additionally, you can use the text box to search for individual students. Use the “Show” drop-down list to display more students.
Student View of Grades:
Instructors can view how a student will see the gradebook. To do so, follow these steps:
Step 1: In your site’s menubar, click [Gradebook].
Step 2: Click [All Grades].
Step 3: Click the name of the student you want to view the grades for.
Step 4: In the upper right side of the screen, click [“Student Name’s” View of Grades].
Step 5: To return to the instructor’s view of grades, click [Instructor’s View of Grades].
Step 1: In the menubar, click [Gradebook], and then click [Add Gradebook Item].
Step 2: On the Add Gradebook Item screen, fill in the following information:
Title: A title is required for all Gradebook items. The title can be up to 255 characters long.
Gradebook Item Point Value: You must assign a point value to all Gradebook items. Enter a value greater than zero. Decimals are permitted, but values are limited to two decimal places.
Step 3: If you wish to allow students to view the grade for this item, check Release this item to Students.
Step 4: Make sure to uncheck the “Include this item in course grade calculation” box. TRACS averages all grades entered in the gradebook, and since extra credit assignments are extra points on top of student grades, we do not want them to count in the average. This act simply displays the student’s extra credit points to them and lets them know that you are recording the grade. To add the points into their final grade you will have to override their final grade.
Step 5: To create the item, click [Add Item]. You will see a message saying the item has been added. Alternatively, click [Cancel] to discard the item, and you will be returned to the Gradebook Items page.
Step 6: You will be returned to the Gradebook Items screen. At the top of the screen, click [Course Grades].
Step 7: On the resulting page, you will see a list of enrolled students and their calculated course grades. In the “Grade Override” column, enter the new course grade(s) with which you want to replace the autocalculated grade(s). You will have to remember how many points of extra credit the student received and adjust their grade accordingly.
Step 8: Click [Save Changes].
Step 1: In the menubar, click [Assessments].
Step 2: Click [Scores] underneath the published assessment for which you wish to view the scores.
Step 3: Click [Cancel].
Step 4: The grades for the assessment will be changed from null values (dashes) to zeros in the gradebook. The act ov viewing the assessment scores in the assessment tool triggers the conversion into zeros in the gradebook tool.
For questions, contact ETC Support at 245.5566. You can also email us at tracs@txstate.edu
For the TRACS website home page, go to: http://tracs.txstate.edu/portal/login
If your login fails and you need help with your Net ID or password, contact ITAC at 245.4822.