Create grade items (columns) in myCourses
- Katrina Casey Kosyk, Miss
To create a column in your grade book, you must create a Grade Item. Grade Items can be associated with assignments, quizzes, and discussion topics to allow the scores and feedback entered from those tools to be automatically sent to your grade book.
If you created Grade Items in your gradebook but cannot enter any grades and see error messages at the top of the page, it is likely that you created Grade Categories instead of Grade Items. Grade categories are entirely optional. See Creating grade categories for more information.
Once a Grade Item has been created, you cannot change its type. You have to delete it and recreate it with the proper type.
In this article:
Create a Numeric Grade item
Numeric Grade Items are the most commonly used type of grade item in myCourses because they can be associated with assignments, quizzes, and discussion topics.
Some options will be different depending on whether you are using the (default) Points or the Weighted Grading System. If you wish to change Grading Systems, refer to Grade settings in myCourses article.
On the Manage Grades page, click New Item > Item (Column).
Click Numeric.
Enter a Name (e.g. Midterm, Final Essay).
Enter the Max. Points value you want the item graded out of. If you are using the Points grading system, you should make this number the same as the percentage of the students' final grades you want the item to be worth.
(Weighted grading system only) Enter the Weight (percentage) of students' final grades you want the item to be worth. For example, you may want to mark an assignment out of 100 Max. Points, but have its Weight as 25% of the final grade.
Click Save.
Create a text Grade Item
Text Grade Items are useful for entering letter grades or short comments for students. They could also be used for assigning topics for essays or presentations. These grade items have no numeric value associated with them, and therefore cannot be associated with course objects or counted towards students' final grades.
On the Manage Grades page, click New > Item (Column).
Click Text.
Enter a Name (e.g. Participation).
Click Save.
Create a pass/fail Grade Item
Pass/Fail Grade Items are useful for evaluating students only on whether they completed an activity or not. The only scores that can be entered for these items are Pass (full marks) or Fail (0). However, the scores will appear to students as either 0 or the Max Points value of the item. For example, if a student receives a Pass on an item with Max. Points value of 10, they will see 10 in their view of Grades.
To create a Pass/Fail grade item, follow the instructions to create a numeric Grade Item in this article.
Create a formula Grade Item
Formula Grade Items are not recommended or necessary in myCourses. If you wish to simply drop a student's lowest quiz score or allow them to miss a quiz, this can be more easily accomplished with Grade categories. However, if you wish to create a more advanced formula, go to Use the formula editor tool in myCourses for more information.
Create a calculated Grade Item
Calculated Grade Items are only a sum of Numeric or Pass/Fail grade items that you select. You cannot enter grades for a Calculated grade item. It is strongly suggested to limit the number of these items as they take up an extra column in your grade book.
On the Manage Grades page, click New > Item (Column).
Click Calculated.
Enter a Name (e.g. Sum of Quizzes).
Beside Calculation, select the checkbox beside each item you want to include in the calculation. Selecting a Grade Category selects all grade items in the category.
Click Save.
Creating a Selectbox grade item
Selectbox Grade Items are not enabled for most instructors because they require unofficial grade schemes. These items and schemes are not recommended or supported
Advanced options
General Options
Short Name: Enter an alternate name for a grade item on the Enter Grades page. This is useful for to reduce the width of your grade book columns.
Grade Category: Select an existing category from the drop-down list or click [New Category] to create a new one. Categories allow you to group your items and drop students’ lowest scores from the total. See Create Grade Categories for details.
Description: Enter a description for the grade item.
Allow users to view Grade Item description: Select this checkbox to allow students to view the description in their view of Grades.
Grading Options
Can Exceed: Select this checkbox to allow students' grades to exceed the Max. Points value of a grade item (e.g. 11/10).
Bonus: Select this checkbox to add the scores for this item on top of students’ final grades.
Exclude from Final Grade Calculation (Points grading system only): Select this checkbox to exclude scores for this item from students’ final grades.
If you are using the Weighted grading system, you can accomplish the same result by entering 0 for the Weight.
Grade Scheme: Select a letter grade scheme to convert numeric grades into letter grades according to an official McGill scheme. Select a numeric scheme to round off decimal places for exporting to Minerva.
Rubrics: Click the Add Rubric button to associate an existing rubric or click [Create Rubric in New Window] to create a new rubric. See Creating rubrics for details.
In the Grade Scheme drop-down list, select Percentage. Using an alternate Grade Scheme is not recommended or supported.
See Create Rubrics and Grade with Rubrics for more information.
Display Options
Click Show Display Options to reveal the following options:
Display class average to users: Select this checkbox to allow students to see the class average for the item.
Display grade distribution to users: Select this checkbox to allow students to see a graph showing how grades were distributed between different percentiles.
Override display options for this item: Select this checkbox under Student View to override your Personal Display Options for the student view of Grades. Select this checkbox under Managing View to override your display options for the Enter Grades page. The following options will become available:
Points grade: Select this checkbox to show the numeric score achieved for the item (e.g. 9/10).
Weighted grade: Select this checkbox to show the weighted score achieved for the item (e.g. 22.5/25%). If the Max. Points and Weight values for the item are the same, this will display the same information as Points grade.
Grade scheme symbol: Select this checkbox to show the percentage or letter grade for the item, depending on the Grade Scheme you are using.
Grade scheme colour: Select this checkbox to show the colours for the selected Grade Scheme.
Number of characters to show for this Grade Item: (Text grade items only) Enter the number of characters that will be displayed for this item to the instructor on the Enter Grades page.