Sakai Gradebook Workbook
Used in Sakai: Working with the Gradebook
Basic Terminology
Course grade - a running grade, based on what a student has done so far
Not a “final grade” until the end of the semester
Sakai automatically calculates this
Sakai does NOT send it to the registrar
Category - a group of grades – e.g., homework, essays, lab reports
Grade scale - shows how letter grades correspond to numbers
There are no campus-wide number equivalents for letter grades
Departments or courses may have a standard scale
Professors may assign any grade (e.g., A+) to a quiz, paper, etc.
Notre Dame has a list of allowable FINAL letter grades
Item - a single quiz, homework assignment, etc.
Release - allow students to see a grade
Include - includes the grade in the calculation
Override - replace a grade that was automatically entered by Sakai
IMPORTANT – what we call the Gradebook tool is listed as Gradebook2 in the Sakai help
Additional Gradebook Resources
User guide from rSmart – https://sakai.nd.edu/assets/81383/gradebook2userguide.pdf
Help pages from USCD (developers of gradebook tool)

https://smartsite.ucdavis.edu/ucd-gateway/Gradebook2Help/help.html

https://smartsite.ucdavis.edu/ucd-gateway/Gradebook2Help/importExport/importExport.html
Creating a gradebook involves these basic steps:
1. Enter basic Gradebook settings.
2. Add Gradebook Categories.
3. Add Gradebook Items.
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Step 1: Enter basic Gradebook settings
After logging into Sakai and entering the desired Course Site:
1. Click Gradebook.
2. At the top of the blue Gradebook tool area, click Edit, then Gradebook Settings.
3. Make the following settings selections:
o Organize by: Weighted Categories
o Grade using: Points
o Display To Students > Course grades: Unchecked
4. Click Save.
5. Click Edit, then Grade Scale.
6. Select Letter Grades for Grade Format.
7. FOR TODAY: change the grade scale for an A to 96 and a D to 60.
8. Click Close to return to the Gradebook. Note: When using Weighted Categories you will see “This
Gradebook is not correctly weighted” until both Categories and Items add up to 100%.
Step 2: Add Categories
To add a category to the gradebook:
1. In the Gradebook, click File and select New Category.
2. Enter Exams for the name of the first category.
3. Enter 40 in the % Grade box.
4. Click Add to add the category and remain in the New Category frame.
EXERCISE: Using the steps above, add these additional categories:
Sakai: Working with the Gradebook
Category Name
% of Grade
Quizzes
25
Homework
35
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Step 3: Add Items
To add an item to the gradebook:
1. In the Gradebook, click File and select New Item.
2. Enter Homework 1 for the name of this item.
3. Select Homework from the Categories dropdown menu.
Note: If you do not select a category, Sakai will
automatically create an “Unassigned” category for the item and will display it in gray italics.
4. Enter 10 for the points allowed for this item.
5. If necessary, click the Include in grade: checkbox to include the item in the course grade
calculations.
6. Click Add/Close to add the item and close the New Item frame.
EXERCISE: Using the steps above, add these additional items:
Item Name
Category
Points
Homework 2
Homework
20
Quiz 1
Quizzes
50
Quiz 2
Quizzes
20
Mid-Term
Exams
100
Final
Exams
100
Set Item Weights within a Category
Just as each category accounts for a percentage of the course grade, each item has a weight
within a category. Here are the three ways you can weigh items, along with instructions:
1. Equally

Double-click the Category name, click Weight items equally, and then click Save.
EXERCISE: Set the Homework category to weigh the items equally.
2. By points

Double-click the Category name, click Weight items by points, then click Save.
EXERCISE: Set the Quizzes category to weigh the items by points.
3. By percent

Double-click the Item name, enter a percentage for the item in % Category, and then click Save.
EXERCISE: Change Mid-Term to be worth 40% and Final to be worth 60%.
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Rearrange Categories/Items
To rearrange categories or items within the gradebook, drag the category or item to the desired
location. Notice the line that appears as you drag; it indicates where the category will be placed.
EXERCISE: Click and drag to rearrange the categories so that Homework is first,
then Quizzes, and then Exams.
The Gradebook Interface
Gradebook tab
Attributes and Grades tab
Categories
Learner Attributes
A folder icon appears when a category
contains items
Any “Unassigned” items were not added
to a category
Display various student ID, name, email, or
section in the spreadsheet view (right pane)
Items
Grades
Check the box on the left to show an item
on the right (spreadsheet view)
Display the course grade as a letter or
percentage in the spreadsheet view (right pane)
Color coding
Red ...............weights do not total 100
Blue ..............released
Black .............included but not released
Italics ............not included
Blue italics ....released but not included
Gray italics ....not included & not released
Green ...........extra credit
Spreadsheet view
-
Sort/edit a column – hover over the header, click the down arrow
Paging controls – at the bottom of the blue gradebook box
Adjust the relative size of the panes - click-and-drag the border
Hide/show the left side - click the small double chevron icon
Indicators:
-
*** Three stars next to a course grade – items yet to be graded
Red line through a score – excused or dropped
Yellow triangle in upper right of cell – a comment is present
Dark triangle in upper right of cell – tried to enter too high of a score
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Display Student Info and Course Grades in the Spreadsheet View
To remove/display the columns for Course Grade and Letter Grade, click on the Attributes &
Grades tab, then check or uncheck Course Grade and/or Letter Grade.
EXERCISE: Using the step above, remove the display of Course Grade and Letter
Grade.
Note: These settings have NO affect on what students see. This is soley for instructors.
Choose Items to Display in the Spreadsheet View
To display certain items in the spreadsheet view, click the checkbox next to the item(s) you
want displayed as shown below.
EXERCISE: Using the step above, display all gradebook items.
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Release Scores to Students
By default, the scores for every item are calculated towards the student’s grade (unless you chose not to
include them when creating the Item). However, if you want the student to actually see their grades,
you will need to release the score.
To release the scores to students by Category or by Item:
1. Double-click on the name of the Category or Item.
2. Click the box for Release scores:.
3. Click Save/Close.
EXERCISE: Using the step above, release the following scores for Exams (category)
and Quiz2 (item).
REMINDER: Items listed in blue in the gradebook tab on the left have been released.
Items that appear in italics are NOT being included in grade calculations!
Enter Grades in the Gradebook
There are two ways in which grades can register in the gradebook
1. Automatically – using Assignments, Tests and Quizzes, Forums. Note that this type of grade can
not be edited in the gradebook
2. Manually – entering scores directly in the gradebook.
For this workshop, we will focus on entering grades manually, but will demonstrate how grades will
display when using the Assignment tool.
To enter grades manually in the gradebook:
1. In the spreadsheet view, click in the cell of a particular item.
2. Enter the points earned for the item.
3. Press ENTER to enter the score and move on to the next student.
EXERCISE: Using the steps above, enter the following scores for the individual
students.
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Change Grades
To change a grade in the gradebook, click in the cell and enter another score.
EXERCISE: Using the steps above, add a score of 9 to Oprah’s Homework 1.
Give Ungraded Scores No Credit
A blank cell is NOT equivalent to a zero!
A blank cell means that you don't want a missing grade to count against a student.
If you want a zero score, manually enter a zero or set the Item to fill blank cells with a zero.
To set an Item to give ungraded scores zeros:
1. Double-click on the name of the Item.
2. Click the box for Give ungraded no credit:.
3. Click Save/Close.
Note: Check this option only after an item's date has passed. If you check it when you first create an
Item, the scores START as zeros and course grades are prematurely low.
EXERCISE: Using the steps above, set Quiz 1 to give ungraded cells no credit.
Enter Comments
To enter comments for a student:
1. In the spreadsheet view, click on the student’s name.
2. Click the Comments tab in the Student Summary view.
3. Enter your comment(s) in the appropriate field.
4. Once all comments are entered for that student, click Close to close the Student Summary view.
Notes: Comments are saved
automatically. If you need to add
comments to other students, click Next
instead of Close.
EXERCISE: Using the steps above, enter a comment for Rosa Parks regarding
Homework 2.
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Student Summary View
To view a summary of a student’s scores and comments, just click on the name of a student.
View as Student
To view what students will see when they click on the Gradebook tool:
1. Click on the name of a student.
2. Click View As Student.
3. Click Close when done.
Export Gradebook as a Backup
To export the gradebook:
1. Click Tools on the Gradebook menu bar.
2. Click Export.
3. Select Full Gradebook (Grades & Structure).
Note: Choose No-Structure Gradebook if you only want to export grades.
4. Click Export.
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Giving Extra Credit Points
There are two Sakai rules that affect extra credit:
1. You may not enter a higher score than the maximum for an item.
If you say that the maximum score on a test is 100, you can't give a student a score of
102 points for that item and expect the extra 2 points to count as extra credit.*
2. A student may not receive more points than a category allows.
Example: your Exams category is worth 30 percent of the course grade and it has two
items, the final exam (up to 100 points) and an extra credit item (max 10). One student
receives a 90 on the exam and another gets 100; both earn 10 extra points. Sakai gives
both of them the maximum 30 percentage points the category allows.
In light of these two rules, the best way to give extra credit is as follows:

Create a category called "Extra Credit", worth 1% of the total grade. Designate the
category as extra credit (click checkbox) and click "Save". The category name appears in
green.

Create an item in that category called "Exam Extra Credit" or something similar.
Designate the item's maximum value as 5 points. (As an example, your maximum points may vary.)
Students who receive a score for this item will have anything from 0.2% (for a score of 1)
to 1.0% (for 5) added to their total course grade. (Again as an example, your maximum points may vary.)
In general, start by asking yourself this question:
What percentage of the total course grade do I want the extra credit to be worth?
This may not be the way you would normally award extra credit, but it seems to be the best
way to make things happen in Sakai.
If you want add an extra credit item, start by changing the percentage for Extra Credit category,
then add the item as above. Make sure to test what you set up, to ensure that it behaves the
way you expected.
* In case you are thinking of just adding the extra credit to the test . . . if you raise the maximum over
100, then anything over 100 is no longer extra credit. For example, you make the maximum 120 and
someone gets 100 points – 100/120 = 80% (or a B, not an A+).
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Notes