Grading+Systems

from the d2l program:
[] =Understanding grading systems= Selecting a grading system is the first step in setting up your grade book. The grading system determines how the grade items in your grade book contribute to users’ final grades. There are three options: Choose the option that best matches how you plan to evaluate users.
 * Grade items can count as a percentage of a final grade worth 100%.
 * Grade items can be worth a certain amount of points that are totaled for a final grade.
 * You can define a custom formula for how grade items contribute to a final grade.

Weighted system
The weighted system calculates grade items as a percentage of a final grade worth 100%. The Max. Points you assign to individual grade items can be any value, but their contribution towards the category they belong to and the final grade is the percentage value (weight) assigned to them. Grade items in a category count as a percentage of that category, not of the final grade. Therefore, grade items in a category should combine to a weight of 100%. For example, if you have a category worth 10% of the final grade with two equally weighted grade items, the weight of each grade item is 50%, (its contribution to the category), not 5% (its contribution to the final grade). Since it's a category’s weight and not an individual grade item’s weight that counts toward the final grade, the final grade is inaccurate until all the items in the category are graded. Therefore, releasing calculated final grades to users before the end of the course might be misleading. If your grade items do not add up to 100% you receive a warning message. You can ignore this message if you choose; a balanced grade book is not required. If the weights assigned to grade items do not sum to 100%, the tool adjusts the weight of each item. For example if you have three grade items with a weight of 25% each, each item is actually calculated as 33%. This is true for categories and the final grade.

Points system
Use the points system when you want the Max. Points assigned to a grade item to be equal to its contribution to the final grade. Final grades are calculated by adding a user’s score on all grade items together and dividing by the sum of the Max. Points values. The sum of the Max. Points values for all grade items does not need to equal 100. With the points system you do not specify a category’s weight or total points. It is the Max. Points assigned to an individual grade item that counts toward the final grade. Tip Make sure the Max. Points assigned to grade items reflect how much you want them to be worth. For example, don’t grade each of your 20 homework assignments out of 50 points and then your final exam out of 80 points. Another option in the point system is to exclude an item from the final grade calculation. This enables you to evaluate a grade category, numeric grade item, selectbox grade item, or pass/fail grade item without including the grade in users’ calculated or adjusted final grades. The Exclude from Final Grade Calculation check box is available from the Grading section of the New/Edit Item page and the New/Edit Category page. You can achieve similar functionality in the weighted system by setting the grade item or category’s weight to 0%.

Formula system
Use the formula system when you want to calculate final grades using a custom formula that allows for conditions. The formula system is based on the points system, but allows you to set conditions around grade items to determine the final grade. For example, you could require that users receive at least 50% on their midterm and final exam to pass a course. Note The formula system might not be available at your organization. If you do not have this option, you can release the adjusted final grade and calculate your custom formula manually, or you can contact your site administration about getting access to this functionality.

from:
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Pros and Cons of Typical Grading Practices
Courses are typically graded on a point or percentage system (absolute grading method) or a curve (relative grading method), depending on the need for grades to serve as a competitive filter. Because grades are almost always used at some point for some sort of competitive evaluation (scholarships, entrance into degree and graduate programs) even absolute grading systems are normed so that they fall generally within the standard of grading practices of the institution. Most grading practices at the UW incorporate aspects of the absolute and relative grading methods.

Absolute Grading Method Based on Content
**Typical Methods**
 * Content Based Grade Assignments for Exams
 * Learning Contracts
 * Portfolios
 * Benefits**
 * Allows grade to be directly correlated to student's achievement of defined learning objectives.
 * Lowers competitiveness among students.
 * Drawbacks**
 * Can allow all students to receive the same grade and thus not provide information needed to screen students in competitive circumstances.
 * Scale and objectives can miss actual abilities and possible achievements of students by being too high or too low.
 * Because of tendency of learning expectations to be mismatched with real learning outcomes, encourages ad hoc grade adjustments, thus contributing to meaningless grades.
 * Sound Strategies**
 * When learning objectives and actual learning outcomes are mismatched, adjust learning objectives and re-calculate rather than adjusting final grades.
 * Adjust learning objectives over time as knowledge of students abilities becomes more familiar.
 * Weight tasks according to their importance in demonstrating course objectives.

Absolute Grading Method Based on Fixed Scales
**Typical Methods**
 * Fixed Percent Scale
 * Total Point Method
 * Benefits**
 * Easy to calculate grades.
 * Easy for students to understand.
 * Consistency gives illusion of fairness.
 * Reduces competition between students.
 * Drawbacks**
 * Can allow all students to receive the same grade and thus not provide information needed to screen students in competitive circumstances.
 * Fixed scales are arbitrary and thus meaningless.
 * Unduly constrains curriculum development by discouraging the use of very short assignments and/or by encouraging teacher to force exam or assignment to fit into point system easily calculated into scale.
 * Sound Strategies**
 * Tie point systems explicitly with a domain of tasks, behaviors, or knowledge upon which the assessment will be based.
 * Adjust scales to fit each assignment rather than adjusting assignments to fit scales.

Relative Grading Methods (Grading on the Curve)
**Typical Methods**
 * Normal, Bell-Shaped Curve level
 * Distribution Gap Method
 * Standard Deviation
 * Benefits**
 * Allows for screening students according to their performance relative to their peers.
 * Useful for competitive circumstances where students need feedback as to how they compare to their peers.
 * Drawbacks**
 * Does not provide feedback as to actual content mastered by student.
 * Curve arbitrary (and thus meaningless) unless tied to program needs and goals, i.e. the number of students that can eventually be accepted into higher levels of the program or a norm established over multiple years.
 * Curve grade based on single class meaningless unless provided in relation to group student is being scored against.
 * Discourages collaboration, as competition becomes central.
 * Sound Strategies**
 * Establish minimum achievement standards linked to content mastery and then calculate number of As, Bs, Cs, etc. based on curve tied to student's performance relative to his/her peers.
 * Base curve on multi-year or multi-course distribution curve rather than on single class.
 * Establish department standard curve.
 * Weight tasks according to their importance in demonstrating course objectives.

What kind of grading system is most appropriate for your course and program goals?
The following questions might help you think about which method should be most dominant in your own grading practices.
 * 1) **Must a student's grade in this course show how they compare to their peers?**
 * YES** Most of the time grades must show how students compare to each other in order for screening systems for awards, scholarships and entry into competitive programs to work. When this screening function is a priority for a course, such as in large entry level courses meant to narrow the field of students entering a discipline, it is important to use a relative grading system. When this screening process is not as high a priority, the comparative function can be woven into absolute grading scales.
 * NO** Sometimes students do NOT need to know how they compare to their peers, but only that they have attained a minimum level of knowledge and skills that will allow them to continue on with their studies. Thus, pre-college level courses meant to help students attain skill levels they need to succeed in college are usually never graded on a relative scale. Graduate courses that lead to paths where competition on the basis of grades is no longer necessary (in other words, courses of study that end in a professional position rather than a system of post-doc and fellowships) might also not require any relative or norm based grading.
 * 1) **Must a student's grade in this course show the content the student mastered?**
 * YES** Sometimes students are required to pass a course with a minimum grade in order to be able to take the next course in the series. This policy implies that each grade is associated with a concrete set of skills and that the skills represented by the minimum grade will enable them to succeed in the next course. You should look at absolute grading scales based on content if this is your priority. Almost all courses want to guarantee some mastery of content with the grades they give though, so even if you choose to use a relative scale, you should investigate how to incorporate content based grading into your grading system.
 * NO** Sometimes a course or program is meant to be adjusted to the level of the students. These courses and programs require that students be either grouped or selected according to their strengths relative to their peers, but do not require specific content mastery. Examples of this can include some elective language courses, elective physical skill development courses (music, art, sports), and elective tutorial or preparatory programs.
 * 1) Is feedback as to a student's behavior and potential more important in this class than the student's actual achievement?
 * NEVER** At the level of higher education, no student should be graded on behavior rather than their actual achievement of course objectives. If the course objectives are to improve certain aspects of behavior then those aspects to be graded should be explicitly stated and graded according to the student's ability to achieve those objectives