In this tutorial, you'll learn how to set up a Moodle gradebook according to one of the most common grading schemes: points-based grading.
Suppose your course includes a variety of assessments such as quizzes, essays, projects, and class participation. Imagine that you want to assign a specific point value to each type of assessment to reflect its importance or difficulty:
- Homework assignments: 10 points each
- Quizzes: 20 points each
- Essays: 50 points each
- Final Projects: 200 points
In this guide, we'll walk through the process of setting up a gradebook in Moodle that allocates points to different assessments according to the scheme outlined above. Your course might not follow these exact numbers, but the steps we cover can be adapted to fit the specific point values you decide on for your own course.
1. Set course aggregation method to "Natural"
Moodle has several methods for calculating grades, and these are called aggregation methods. According to the above grading breakdown, items are weighted differently based on their point value. Because of this, when choosing an aggregation method for the course, we must choose one that takes point value account. The most appropriate option is the "natural" aggregation method.
1.1. Enter the gradebook setup screen
- In the Course Menu click on Grades.
- Click on the gradebook dropdown menu (Grader report).
- Select Gradebook setup from the list of options.
1.2. Edit settings for course aggregation method
- Your current course aggregation method will be displayed in the Status column. In this example, the course aggregation method is currently set to Mean of grades, and we want to change it to Natural.
- Find the Actions menu on the same row as the name of your course and click on it to bring up a menu.
- From the menu, choose Edit category.
1.3. Choose course aggregation method
- You have the option supply a name, but it's recommended that you leave this field blank.
- From the Aggregation drop-down menu, choose Natural.
- Click Save.
2. Set all course categories to Natural aggregation
Follow the steps above for any course categories you might have.
3. Understanding the "Weights" column
By default, the natural aggregation method sums scores. When the natural method is used in this way, the Weights column will display each item's contribution to the category total as a percentage. This column is inactive, as shown by the dimmed-out numerical fields and the unchecked checkboxes in the screenshot below. As new items are added, the numbers in this column update automatically to reflect changes to each items contribution to the course total. For points-based grading, weights should be left as-is. Manually changing any weights will override the calculating of grades based on their point value.
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