Jump to a section:

• Before you begin
• Set up course grade aggregation
• Create grade categories and assign category weights
• Move grade items into their corresponding categories
• Add a grade item manually as needed
• Assign grade item weights
• Set a grade item as extra credits

IMPORTANT: This page provides a guide on setting up a Moodle course gradebook that uses the Weighted Mean of Grades grade aggregation method.

If you are new to the concept of Grade aggregation or don't know which grade aggregation to use for your course, please first create your course grade breakdown and select a matching grade aggregation method. If your course grade breakdown matches the Natural aggregation method, please visit the Gradebook Setup - Natural page instead.

A typical course grade breakdown that matches the Weighted Mean of Grades grade aggregation method should look similar to the sample structure below. In the structure below, the relative value or significance of a grade item is determined not by its maximum points but by adjusted percentages or weights in comparison to other grade items. For example, in the table below, the class participation category counts for 20% of the final grade, and within that category, attendance and participation each carries an equal weight (1:1).

The steps below delineate how to set up a Weighted Mean of Grades course gradebook using the grade structure above as an example.

First, set Weighted Mean of Grades as the course-level grade aggregation method. Please visit the Set up Moodle Course Grade Aggregation how-to guide.

In most cases, when the Weighted Mean of Grades aggregation is used, grade categories should be created to facilitate grade calculations. These categories in Moodle gradebook represent the categories or groupings in your course grade breakdown. To create a grade category,

• Navigate to Grades > Gradebook setup, and choose Add Category from the Add drop-down menu.

• In the New category window, add your category name and make sure Weighted Mean of Grades is selected for the Aggregation (A different aggregation method might be used in rare cases. Contact helpdesk@cca.edu if you have any questions). In most cases, you may leave the rest of the settings as the default, and Save. 
• Repeat the step above to create all the categories you need for the course. For example, to match the grade breakdown above, three grade categories are created as shown below in the screenshot, including Assignments, Class Participation, and Quizzes.

• Assign category weights. Once categories are created, you will need to assign weights to them to reflect their corresponding categorical percentages as planned in the course grading breakdown. Enter the weights in the Weights boxes next to the items and hit Enter or Return on your keyboard or click Save changes at the bottom of the page. For example, the three categories occupy 50%, 20%, and 30% of the overall course grade respectively. Therefore, their weights are set to 50, 20, and 30 (or 5, 2, and 3) each.

A graded activity in Moodle, such as an assignment, a quiz, or a forum should be placed in its matching grade category:

• When creating/setting up a new activity, in the activity Settings, under Grade, you may select the desired grade category that the graded activity should be placed under. This way, you do not need to go to the course gradebook to move the graded activity to its matching category.
  
  Or,
  
• If the matching grade category was not specified during the creation of a new activity, you can move the activity to its matching category by going to Grades and then Gradebook setup.
  
  On the Gradebook setup page, you will see that Moodle gadebook uses bolded names and indents to create a visual hierarchy. Specifically, in the screenshot below, you see that,
  • the overarching course category, "Moodle Gradebook Demo", is at the highest level and houses the subordinate grade categories, including Assignments, Class Participation, and Quizzes.
  • These grade categories are signaled by their bolded category names and the arrows for expanding or collapsing to the left of their names.
  • The individual grade items, such as assignment 1 and quiz 1 are currently at the same hierarchical level as the grade categories because they have not been placed in their matching categories yet. They will be indented to the right once they are placed in grade categories.

Move individual grade items one by one.

When you need to move a small number of individual grade items, you may click on the double-ended arrow to the left of a grade item, such as Assignment 1, which opens the following screen where you see the item being moved is marked with "(Move)" and long versus short dotted lines. Clicking on a long dotted line means moving the item between other items and categories. Clicking on a short dotted line means moving the item into the category above the line. For example, clicking the short line under "Assignments" will move "Assignment 1" into the "Assignments" category.

Move grade items in bulk

To move several items at the same time, check the boxes to the left of the items and click Move at the bottom of the screen, which should prompt the following window. Clicking on a category name, such as "Assignments", means moving the selected items into that category. Click the blue Move button to complete the move. As you could tell from the second screenshot below, the selected items have been successfully moved into the "Assignments" category as they are now indented.

Sometimes, instructors may need grade items in the calculation that don't have corresponding Moodle activities, such as a graded project that takes place in person instead of on Moodle. In this case, instructors can manually add a grade item in the course gradebook, so they have a column in the gradebook to enter grades for students and have them calculated as planned. Please check the Adding a Grade Item Manually page for more detailed steps.

By now, you should already have assigned weights to the grade categories so the weights add up to 100 and match the weights/percentages in the planned grade breakdown. Next, you will assign weights to individual grade items.

For example, in the grade table/breakdown at the top of this page, within the Assignments category, as the items' planned percentages or weights suggest, Assignment 1 : Assignment 2: Assignment 3 = 30:30:40 = 3:3:4. Similarly, in the Class Participation category, each of the two grade items occupies 50% of the categorical weight, thus their weights are 1 and 1 (50%:50%). Enter the weights in numbers/values in the Weights boxes and hit Enter or Return on your keyboard or go to the bottom of the page to Save changes.

There is no easy or direct way to designate a grade item in a Weighted Mean of Grades gradebook as an extra-credit grade item. Rather, while keeping a grade item in a gradebook as an extra credit item so you have a space in Moodle to track extra credits, you should set the weight for the grade item to "0". This way, the extra credits item doesn't negatively impact the grades of those who choose not to complete the extra credit assignment.

For those who do choose to complete an extra-credit assignment, you can manually add the extra credits to their course final grades at the end of the semester in the course total column in the course grade report.

It is strongly recommended that you reach out to Help Desk to schedule a gradebook consultation with the Instructional Services and Technology (InST) team if you need to set up an extra-credit grade item.

If your planned course grade breakdown looks very different from the sample table at the top of this page, i.e., the significance of a grade item is not represented by its relative percentage or weight, but by a specific maximum point value, please check the Gradebook setup - Natural page.

If you need help to confirm that your gradebook setup aligns with your planned course grade breakdown, you are welcome to reach out to Help Desk to schedule a gradebook consultation with the Instructional Services and Technology (InST) team.