Setting up Gradebook for New Course Sites

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If you’re new to Brightspace or want to ensure your course site is set up correctly before the semester starts, this guide will walk you through what you need to do in the Grades area. Setting up your Gradebook properly now will save you time and prevent confusion for you and your students later.

1. Check Your Grading System: Points or Weighted

Your Gradebook can calculate final grades in two different ways:

  • Points: Each gradebook item has a point value, and final grades are based on the total points earned.
  • Weighted: Each gradebook item or category is worth a percentage of the final grade, and all weights must add up to 100%.

At CUNY SPS, the most commonly used grading systems are Points and Weighted. If your syllabus lists final grades in percentages (e.g., “Quizzes = 20% of final grade”), it’s best to use the Weighted system. Using the wrong system may result in inaccurate grade calculations, so be sure your Gradebook matches the grading method described in your syllabus.

To check and change the grading system:

  1. Go to Grades from the course navigation bar.
  1. On the next page, select Setup Wizard tab. There you will see your current grading system.
  1. If you would like to change your grading system, click the Start button at the bottom of the opening summary page of the Setup Wizard settings.
  1. Select your preferred grading system in Step 1. 
  1. Click the Continue button to move through to page 7, and click the Finish button to save and close the Setup Wizard.

Please make sure your Gradebook matches the grading method described in your syllabus.

2. Decide Whether to Use Automatically Assign Zeros for Missing Work

By default, Brightspace leaves grades blank if students don’t submit an assignment or quiz. Unless you manually enter zeros regularly in the gradebook for unsubmitted work, this can lead to confusion, both for you and your students, about their actual standing in the course.

If you prefer, Brightspace can automatically assign a zero to any Assignment or Quiz that wasn’t submitted by the due date. This can help to keep students on track, although some instructors don’t like that this feature will result in a zero applied to an Assignment or Quiz even if something is posted just one or two minutes late. Consider your grading habits and what makes sense for your course.

To turn this feature on:

  1. Go to Grades > Setup Wizard.
  2. Click the Start button at the bottom of the opening summary page of the Setup Wizard settings area.
  3. Click the Continue button to progress to page 3 of 7, and then check the box to select “Automatically apply a grade of zero (0) to missing submissions once an assessment becomes overdue.”
  1. Click the Continue button to move through to page 7, and click the Finish button to save and close the Setup Wizard.

This setting applies to Assignments and Quizzes with due dates. If you prefer to enter zeros manually, that works too, just be sure to monitor missing submissions throughout the term.

3. Make Sure Grade Items Are Linked to Activities

To ensure that grade book items are properly linked to their corresponding activities, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Grades > Manage Grades.
  2. On the Manage Grades page, look for the Association column. This column displays the name of the associated activity (Assignment, Quiz, Discussion, or External Learning Tool) for each gradebook item.
  1. If you see a dash (-) in the Association column, this means that the gradebook item is not linked to any activity in the course. In this case:
  • The lack of association/linking means the column will not update even if students submit work to an Assignment or Quiz in the course that might have the same name in the course Content area.
  • For items without a link/association, points will need to be entered manually for students to view grades.

Be sure to check the Association to ensure all gradebook items are linked to the related activities. This helps ensure that grades are automatically updated and visible to students. You can check or reestablish the gradebook link for an assignment, quiz, or discussion by going to the edit window for the items and checking the grading settings.

4. Name Grade Items Clearly 

To avoid student confusion, ensure that the names of your gradebook items align with the names used in your syllabus or assignment titles. Additionally, using short names for grade items helps streamline when viewing the gradebook in the Enter Grades tab.

If you need to rename a grade book item, you can do so in the Manage Grades area by entering the Edit page. However, please keep in mind that in Brightspace:

  • Renaming gradebook items in the Gradebook will not update the name of the associated activity (Assignment, Quiz, Discussion, etc.) in the course.
  • Similarly, if you change the name of the activity itself (e.g., an Assignment or Quiz) in the course, this will not automatically update the name of the associated item n the Gradebook.

To ensure consistency, it’s important to manually update the names of both the gradebook item and the associated activity if you want them to match. For detailed instructions, see Updating Gradebook Item Name.

5. Use Categories to Organize Grade Items

You can also organize grade items into categories, such as Homework, Quizzes, or Participation, to keep things tidy and apply rules.

To edit or add a category:

  1. Go to Grades > Manage Grades.
  2. Click New > Category.
  1. Give the category a name and apply any optional settings, such as:
  • If the Grade system is ‘Weighted,’ assign the correct percentage value to the category.
  • Dropping the lowest score: Apply this rule if desired. Please note that this option can only be selected when points are evenly distributed across the items being graded.

To add items to a category:

  1. After creating a category, you can assign items to it by:
  • Going back to Manage Grades.
  • Clicking the chevron icon next to the grade item’s title and selecting Edit from the dropdown.
  • On the next page, select the appropriate category for that grade item.

Note: You can create multiple categories that correspond to the categories on your syllabus. This helps keep the gradebook more organized and makes applying grading rules more straightforward.

6. Special Grading Situations: Bonus or Allow Extra Points

Sometimes you may want to give points for an activity but not have it count toward the final grade, or make it extra credit.

To create a bonus item:

  • When editing a grade item, check the Bonus box.

This will allow students to earn extra points, but the points will not impact their overall grade.

In cases where you want to reward students with extra points on standard assignments or exams, Brightspace allows you to enable additional points within a grade item:

  • When editing a grade item, check the Can Exceed box.

For detailed instructions on handling extra points, creating bonus items, and exceeding 100% in your grading system, please refer to the teaching guide: Extra Points, Creating Bonus Items, and Exceeding 100%.

7. Hold off on “Drop Lowest” Until the End of the Semester

Brightspace can automatically drop the lowest grade in a category, like Quizzes or Homework, a useful feature for flexible grading. However, it’s best to wait until most or all items in that category are graded before activating this setting.

If grades are missing or submissions are incomplete, Brightspace may drop an ungraded or placeholder item instead of the one with the lowest actual score. Waiting to apply the setting until near the end of the semester ensures the correct item is excluded based on complete student performance data.

To set up: 

  1. Group the items into a category in Grades.
  2. Go to Grades > Manage Grades and edit the category.
  • Under Distribution, choose: “x number of the lowest non-bonus items to drop for each user”, and enter the number you want to drop (e.g., 1).

You can activate this setting at any point during the term,  so we recommend setting it up later in the semester, once you are ready to calculate final grades 

Final Tip: Use Learner Preview Mode

After setting everything up, use View as Learner to make sure your Gradebook looks the way you want it to: 

  1. Click your name in the top right corner.
  2. Select “View as Learner”.
  1. Navigate to Grades to double-check what students see.

More Resources

If you need further assistance with setting up or managing your Gradebook in Brightspace, here are some helpful resources:

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