Grade settings in myCourses

Owned by Katrina Casey Kosyk, Miss
Last updated: Mar 22, 2024
6 min read

The Grades Settings and Setup Wizard pages allow you to change various student and instructor display settings and calculation options for the Grades tool. The following article will explains what instructors and students will see when they access the Grades tool.

In this article:

1 Access grade settings | 2 Change your grading system | 3 Change the final grade to release | 4 Change grade calculation settings | 5 Change your default grade scheme | 6 Change instructor display options | 7 Change the default start page for Grades | 8 Change student display options

Access grade settings

There are two places in the Grades tool where you can change your settings:

  • Settings: On the main Grades page, click Settings in the top-right corner of the page. This method allows you to access display and calculation options for the grade book.

  • Setup Wizard: On the main Grades page, click Setup Wizard at the top of the page. This method requires you to go through seven steps to change your settings, but allows you to change the default grade scheme for all grade items in your course.

Running the Grades Setup Wizard

  1. On the Course Home, click Grades on your navigation bar.

  2. Click Setup Wizard at the top of the page if you are not automatically taken to the Grades Setup Wizard page.

  3. Click Start.

  4. Refer to the sections below for an explanation of all available options, and click Continue through each step.

  5. Click Finish.

You can run the Grades Setup Wizard or access the Grades Settings page at any time to change your settings.

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Change your grading system

  1. On the Grades Settings page, click the Calculation Options tab (or go to Step 1 of the Grades Setup Wizard).

  2. Select a Grading System:

    • Weighted: The Weighted system allows you to enter a Max Points value and Weight for each item. This is useful for instructors who wish to mark assignments out of a number that is different from the percentage. For example, you could mark an assignment out of 100, but make it worth 25% of students’ final grades.

    • Points: The Points system only allows you to enter a Max Points value for each grade item. This is useful for instructors who wish to mark assignments out of the percentage they are worth. For example, an essay worth 25% would be marked out of 25.

    • Formula: This system is the same as Points except you can enter a custom formula for your Final Calculated Grade. This is recommended only for advanced users.

  3. Click Save (or click Continue through all remaining steps of the Grades Setup Wizard).

  4. Click Yes for any confirmation prompts.

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Change the final grade to release

You should only change this setting if you released the Final Calculated Grade to students instead of the Final Adjusted Grade.

  1. On the Grades Settings page, click the Calculation Options tab (or go to Step 2 of the Grades Setup Wizard).

  2. Make sure Adjusted Final Grade is selected.

  3. Click Save.

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Change grade calculation settings

  1. On the Grades Settings page, click the Calculation Options tab (or go to Step 3 of the Grades Setup Wizard).
    The Grade Calculations options are displayed.

  2. Under Ungraded Items, select one of the following options to choose how grade items with no scores entered will be calculated into your students’ final grades:

    • Drop ungraded items: If you select this option, any grade item you do not enter a score for will be averaged out of students’ final grades. 

    • Treat ungraded items as 0: If you select this option, any grade item you do not enter a score for will be treated as 0. This is useful if you set up Grade Categories and allowed students to miss one quiz or assignment.

  3. Under Auto Update, select the checkbox beside Automatically keep final grade updated if you want students’ final grades to be updated automatically. If you do not select this option, you will have to press the calculator icon to keep students’ final grades up to date after any grade changes. You will also have to press the Recalculate All button on the Final Grades page before releasing students’ final grades.

  4. Click Save (or click Continue through all remaining steps of the Grades Setup Wizard).

  5. Click Yes for any confirmation prompts.

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Change your default grade scheme

This setting affects what Grade Scheme will be used by default for all grade items.

  1. Go to Step 4 of the Grades Setup Wizard.

  2. (Optional) Click the icon in the Preview column beside a letter grade scheme to preview its percentage thresholds for each letter.

  3. Select the Grade Scheme that will be applied to all new numeric grade items by default:

    • Percentage: Numeric scores will be expressed as a percentage.

    • Numeric: Percentages will be rounded off to remove decimal places.

    • Letter: Numeric scores will be translated into letters according to an official McGill letter grade scheme.

  4. Click Next through all remaining steps of the Grades Setup Wizard.

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Change instructor display options

To change the display options for the Instructor view of the Enter Grades page, you must use the Grades Settings > Personal Display Options page.

  1. On the Grades Settings page, click the Personal Display Options tab.

  2. Deselect all checkboxes under User Details unless you want to show students’ Username, McGill ID, and Email (usually the same as the Username) beside all students’ names on the Enter Grades page.

  3. Under Grade Details, select the values and/or colors you want to show on the Standard View of the Enter Grades page:

    • Points grade: Select this checkbox to show numeric scores (e.g. 10/10).

    • Weighted grade: (Weighted Grading System only) Select this checkbox to show weighted scores (e.g. 10/10 if the item’s Weight is 10%). This is usually a duplicate of the Points grade value and should be deselected.

    • Grade scheme symbol: Select this checkbox to show percentages or rounded-off percentages for numeric items, depending on the selected Grade Scheme.

    • Grade scheme colour: Select this checkbox to show colours that indicate students’ performance. This setting only applies if you are using the default Percentage scheme. The colours for this scheme represent the following percentages:

      • Red: 0-49%

      • Pink: 50-69%

      • Peach: 70-79%

      • Green: 80-89%

      • Blue: 90-99% 4.

  4. Under Number of characters to display for text items, enter a number from 1 to 50. This only applies to the Standard View of the Enter Grades page.

  5. Under Number of columns before user details repeat and Number of users before column header repeats, enter 0 to prevent the header row and student name column repeating on the Enter Grades page.

  6. Deselect the checkboxes under Repeat Final Grades. This will hide extra columns with students’ final grades in the first column of your grade book.

  7. Click Save.

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Change the default start page for Grades

  1. On the Grades Settings page, under Start Page, select the page that you would like to be taken to when you click Grades on your navigation bar. Enter Grades is recommended.

  2. Click Save.

Hide decimal places in the instructor view of the Enter Grades page (Standard View only)

  • This setting does not affect the default Spreadsheet View of the Enter Grades page. The Spreadsheet View will always show all decimals in numeric grades to a maximum of 9 decimal places.

  • Showing zero decimal places will not remove decimal places from grades on an exported spreadsheet or the Spreadsheet View of Enter Grades. It also will not round your students’ grades up or down. It only changes how many decimal places are displayed to instructors on the Standard View of the Enter Grades page. To round off the decimal places, change your Grade Scheme to Numeric.

Using Grade Settings page:

  1. On the Grades Settings page, click the Org Unit Display Options tab (OR go to Step 5 of the Grades Setup Wizard).

  2. Under Managing View Display Options, enter the Number of decimal places to display on the strong>Standard View of the Enter Grades page.

  3. Click Save (or click Continue through all remaining steps of the Grades Setup Wizard).

Using Enter Grades page:

  1. On the Enter Grades page, click More Actions > Manage Columns.

  2. In the pop-up window that appears, deselect the columns you want to hide. For example, you may want to hide the Subtotal columns for Grade Categories.

  3. Click Save.

These settings do not affect the student view of Grades.

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Change student display options

  1. On the Grades Settings page, click the Org Unit Display Options tab (OR go to Step 6 of the Grades Setup Wizard).

  2. Under Grade Details, select the values and/or colors you want to show on the student view of the Grades page:

    • Points grade: Select this checkbox to show numeric scores (e.g. 10/10), or deselect this checkbox if you only want students to see the percentage grade (Grade Scheme symbol) for all items.

    • Weighted grade: (Weighted Grading System only) Select this checkbox to show weighted scores (e.g. 10/10 if the item’s Weight is 10%). This is usually a duplicate of the Points grade value and should be deselected.

    • Grade scheme symbol: Select this checkbox to show percentages or rounded-off percentages for numeric items, depending on the selected Grade Scheme.

    • Grade scheme colour: Select this checkbox to show colors that indicate students’ performance. This setting only applies if you are using the default Percentage scheme. The colours for this scheme represent the following percentages:

      • Red: 0-49%

      • Pink: 50-69%

      • Peach: 70-79%

      • Green: 80-89%

      • Blue: 90-99%

  3. Under Decimals Displayed, enter 0 for the Number of decimal places to display on the student view of Grades.

  4. Under Characters Displayed, enter 50 for the Number of characters to display for Text items. This is especially important if you are using a Text Grade Item to assign topics for presentations or essays.

  5. Under Final Grade Calculation, select the checkbox beside Display how final grade was calculated to users to show students how their final grades were calculated after you release them. Deselect this checkbox if you are using the Final Adjusted Grade to lower any students’ final grades.

  6. Click Save (or click Continue through all remaining steps of the Grades Setup Wizard).

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