Setting up Grades in D2L

A setup guide known as the Grades wizard is available to setup the Grades area.

Select Grades in the course navigation bar.
Select the Start button at the bottom of the page to begin the Grades wizard.
Choose a grading system:

Points: Grade items are worth a certain amount of points that are totaled for a final grade. In a Points grade book system, the total can be any number (i.e. it does not need to be 100).
Weighted: Grade items are a percentage of a final grade, totaling to 100%. In a Weighted grade book system, the grade book percentage weight must equal 100%. If it does not, the Manage Grades page will display an error to the instructor.
Note: "Weight" is different than the point value of the item. An item within a Weighted grade book can be worth any number of points, depending on preference.
Formula: Grade items are calculated as part of the final grade based on a custom formula that is instructor-defined. This is only used in special cases. Contact ctl@depaul.edu for assistance.

Select Continue.
Choose a final grade release option:

Select Calculated Final Grade to calculate the final grade based strictly on the grading formula that has been set up.
Select Adjusted Final Grade to be able to manually modify a grade before releasing it.
Select Automatically release final grade if the final grade should always be visible to students.
Note: Final Grades are not released to students in D2L unless the instructor selects this option or manually publishes the final grade.

Select Continue.
Choose how the Grades area calculates ungraded items:

Drop Ungraded Items: If a score is not entered for a grade item, they will not be calculated as part of the cumulative scores. If this option is selected, the final grade will show the cumulative score for the work assessed so far. However, instructors must manually enter a score of "0" for uncompleted assignments.
Treat Ungraded Items as 0: If a score is not entered for a grade item, they will be calculated into the cumulative final score as if they were scored as "0."
Select the radio button for Automatic Zero for Missing Submissions if a past due Submission should automatically receive a zero. (See the guide on setting Due dates on Submissions.)
Note: For this setting to function, grade items must be linked to Submission folders with future due dates.
Select the Automatically keep final grade updated checkbox to keep final grades updated automatically (Recommended).

Select Continue.
Choose a default grade scheme. The recommended option is Percentage, which is selected by default. If opting to use a letter grade scheme, check if the default letter grade scheme ranges in D2L differ from what is preferred (See Creating Grade Schemes in D2L's documentation or contact ctl@depaul.edu for more information.)
Note: The University does not have a standard grading scheme. If instructors are uncertain, please reach out to the department chair for more information.
Select Continue.
Choose the number of decimal places to display in the calculated grade.

Select Continue.

Choose the “Student View Display Options.” This determines what students see when they visit the Grades area.
Note: With the default settings for Student View Display Options, students will only see their numerical grade for a grade item. To allow students to view a letter grade or another grade symbol (like Pass/Fail), select the checkbox for "Grade Scheme Symbol."

Select Continue.
Select Finish to save changes.

NEXT STEPS

Once the grade book settings are complete, see Creating Grade Items to create items in the grade book for the assignments in the course. Also see Creating Grade Categories to create categories for the grade items, particularly for Weighted grade books.