Moodle Gradebook: Basic Setup, Display and Functionality

The Moodle gradebook is a powerful and flexible tool that instructors can use to keep track of their student’s grades and progress in a course. It allows instructors to enter grades for assignments, quizzes, and exams and to view a summary of their students’ grades in one place. The gradebook also allows students to view their own grades, so they can track their progress in the course. Some of the benefits of using the Moodle gradebook include:

• It provides an easy way for teachers to keep track of their student’s grades and progress.
• It provides an easy way for students to view their own grades.
• It allows teachers to see at a glance how their students are doing in the course.
• It can help teachers to identify students who may be struggling, so they can provide additional support.

Setting up your Moodle gradebook before the start of the semester can help reduce confusion about grades and make it easier for students to track their own progress. At the end of the semester, instructors can easily submit their Moodle grades via the Wolfware Grade Submit Tool.

• In this article:
  • Weighted Categories Grading
  • Moodle Gradebook Setup
  • Resources
  • Workshop Links:
    • Registration
    • Recording
    • Moodle Gradebook Basics handout

    Weighted Categories: A Common Grading System

    One of the most common ways to calculate a course overall grade is through weighted categories. In a weighted categories grading system, the grades for different assignments, quizzes, and exams can be assigned different “weights,” or values, that reflect the relative importance of each component in determining the overall course grade.

    An individual’s course grade using a weighted categories system is calculated based on the relative contributions of the categories. For example, a course syllabus might list several categories with each category contributing a percentage “weight” towards the course grade total:

    Moodle calls this grade calculation (or aggregation) method “Weighted Mean of Grades,”and it is the default aggregation method for all new courses created in Moodle.

    Category Contribution Calculation

    The relative weight of the Assignments category is 30%, or 30, compared to the other categories. In the example below, each assignment has a maximum grade of 100 points. However, it is also possible to have different maximum point values or different individual weights for each assignment. Regardless of how many points each assignment is worth, all assignments together contribute to 30% of the overall grade. This means that even if an item is deleted from or added to the category, the relative impact on the overall grade remains the same.

    Assignment Category Items	Points Earned	Maximum Possible Points
    Assignment 1	80	100
    Assignment 2	92	100
    Assignment 3	85	100
    Assignment 4	83	100

    The calculation for the Assignments category by itself would be the sum of the points earned divided by the sum of possible points. In this example, the Assignments category calculation is (340 ÷ 400) = 0.85, or 85%.

    To determine the contribution of the Assignments category to the overall course grade, Moodle multiplies this category calculation by the category weight:

    (Points earned ÷ Possible points) x Category weight = Category contribution to course grade

    (340 ÷ 400) x 30 = 25.5

    Overall Course Grade Calculation

    Add the contributions of each category to determine the overall course grade.

    Category	Category Points Earned	Maximum Category Points	Weight	Category Contribution
    Assignments	340	400	30	25.5
    Participation	90	100	10	9
    Quizzes	250	300	15	12.5
    Project	92	100	25	23
    Exams	168	200	20	16.8
    Overall grade = 86.8

    Category Tips

    • If you want some activities to not be calculated into the course overall grade (for example, low-stakes practice activities): Create a “Non-graded Items” category with a weight of 0.
    • If you want all categories to be weighted equally, enter 1 as the weight for each.

    Other Grading Systems

    While weighted categories is a common grading system, many instructors like to add up the total points for all items to calculate the overall grade. If you use a total points grading system, you can change the Moodle gradebook aggregation method to “Natural”. Many additional grading systems, including “ungrading” and mastery or competency-based grading, can also be used with the Moodle gradebook but are a bit more complex to set up. Request a consultation at learntech@ncsu.edu for guidance and ideas for using Moodle with these less conventional, innovative grading systems.

    Moodle Gradebook Setup

    Graded activity types in Moodle will automatically be added to your course gradebook regardless of any aggregation method or setup. Graded activities include Assignment, Quiz, Lesson, Workshop, Forum, H5P, and many of our external tools integrated into Moodle, i.e., PlayPosit, Perusall, Yellowdig, Turnitin, Gradescope, and more.

    When you have determined a grading system, you are ready to set up your gradebook in Moodle. These two videos provide an overview of the gradebook navigation (3 minutes 13 seconds) and basic setup (5 minutes 35 seconds).

    Step-by-Step Basic Gradebook Setup

    The Moodle Gradebook Basics document includes step-by-step instructions for the following topics:

    1. Setting the grade aggregation method
    2. Adding and editing categories
    3. Adding Moodle activities to the gradebook
    4. Adding a manual grade item
    5. Moving and organizing items in the gradebook
    6. Viewing grades in the Grader Report view
    7. Entering grades for manually graded items
    8. Grading Moodle assignments
    9. Understanding what students see in the User Report

    Gradebook views

    • The default view when you select “Grades” is the Grader reportin which you can view grades for all students. You can adjust your preferences for how things appear in the Grader report.
    • Choose the Single view option from the drop-down menu to enter grades on manually created assignments. You must have Edit mode turned on to enter and edit grades.
    • Choose User report from the drop-down menu to view the grades of an individual student. Students are able to view their grades only from the User report. You can adjust the settings to change how students view the User report.

    Resources

    • Gradebook Navigation (3:12)
    • Basic Setup for Weighted Grades (5:35)
    • Manual Entries into the Gradebook (3:59)
    • Moodle 4 Gradebook: Extra Credit (10:09)