Adding a Column

2. On the Create Grade Column page, type a brief name and an optional description. The name becomes the column name in the Grade Center and on students’ My Grades pages. If the name is too long to display clearly in the Grade Center, add a shorter name in the Grade Center Name box. Only the first 14-15 characters appear in the column heading in the Grade Center grid.

3. Make a selection in the Primary Display menu. The selection is the grade format shown in the Grade Center and to students in My Grades. If you created custom grading schemas, they appear in the list. Five default options appear:

• Score: A numeric grade is the default setting. If you don’t make a selection, the score appears in the grid.
• Letter: A letter grade appears. The default grading schema is used to assign letter grades. For example, a score of 21/30 equals 70% and appears as a C.

Text: Text appears in the column when you create and associate a text grading schema. Examples of text values include: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Poor -OR- Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory. If no text grading schema exists, and you select the Text option, you can type text in the column’s cells. If you choose to share the column results with students in My Grades, they see the text values for their grades.

You can convert a numeric score to text. But, if you don’t create a custom text grading schema, and return to numeric scoring, values that can’t be converted display a zero after conversion. If you want to include text as grades, we recommend that you create a text grading schema and associate it with the appropriate columns.

• Percentage: A percentage appears. For example, a score of 21/30 appears as 70%.
• Complete/Incomplete: When a student submits an item, a Completed icon appears in the column regardless of the score achieved.

4. Optionally, make a selection in the Secondary Display menu. The default setting is None. In the Grade Center column, the secondary value appears in parentheses. The secondary value doesn’t appear to students.

5. Optionally, you can associate the column with a category. The default setting is No Category. Use categories to filter Grade Center data, create smart views, and create calculated columns.

6. In the Points Possible box, type the total points. Entries must be numeric.

7. If grading periods exist, you can associate the column with a grading period. If no grading periods exist, the menu doesn’t appear. You can use grading periods to filter Grade Center data and create calculated columns

8. Optionally, provide a Due Date. You can use due dates with the Retention Center to generate an alert if a test or assignment isn’t submitted on time. Due dates also appear on the course calendar.

9. Select the Options:

• Include this Column in Grade Center Calculations: Select Yes to make the column available for potential inclusion when creating calculated columns.
• Show this Column to Students: Select Yes to display the column to students in My Grades.
• Show Statistics (average and median) for this Column to Students in My Grades: Select Yes to include statistical information with the grade value when shown to students.

When you edit the Grade Center column for a test, the options to Include this Column in Other Grade Center Calculations and Show Statistics (average and median) for this Column to Students in My Grades may not be available. The options are unavailable if you selected the option to Hide Results for this Test Completely from Instructor and the Grade Center on the Test Options page.

10. Select Submit.