Establishing a Grading Policy For a Course

Overview

A course grading policy defines how learner assessments are calculated toward a final score. Establishing a policy requires two main steps: setting the overall Grade Range (e.g., Pass/Fail or traditional letter grades) and defining Assignment Types along with their relative proportional weights.

Step 1: Defining the Overall Grade Range

The Grade Range bar controls the threshold scores required for a student to pass your course and qualify for a certificate.

Procedures:

1. Open your course in Studio.
2. From the Settings menu in the top navigation bar, select Grading. The overall grade range editor sits at the top of the page.
3. Adjusting the Default Scale: By default, new courses are configured as Pass/Fail with a single passing cut-off line set at 50%.
4. Adding Letter Grades: Click the plus (+ icon) above the range bar to split the scale and add a new grade tier. For example, splitting the scale can create a traditional F, B, and A progression.
5. Adjusting Threshold Scores: Hover your mouse over any dividing threshold line, click, and drag it horizontally to alter the required percentage cutoff.
6. Renaming Tiers: Click directly on a grade label (such as Pass) to type a custom name (e.g., Excellent or Merit). Note that the baseline F / Fail label cannot be renamed or deleted.
7. Removing Tiers: Hover over a custom tier and click the remove link that populates above its block.
8. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Step 2: Configuring Assignment Types and Weights

Assignment Types group similar sets of graded problems together and assign them a collective weight toward the learner's final score calculation.

By default, every new course populates with four baseline templates: Homework, Lab, Midterm Exam, and Final Exam.

Procedures:

1. Scroll down the Grading settings page to the Assignment Types section.
2. To create a new group, click New Assignment Type. To alter an existing type, modify its active fields:
   • Assignment Type Name: Give the category a clear name (e.g., Weekly Quizzes).
   • Weight of Total Grade: Enter the percentage value this entire type represents (represented as a integer from 0 to 100). Ensure the combined weights of all active assignment types equal exactly 100.
   • Total Number: Enter the total quantity of these assignments you intend to deploy across the course run outline.
   • Number of Dropped: Specify how many of the lowest-scoring assignments in this category the system should automatically drop from the learner's final average calculation.
3. Click Save Changes.

Step 3: Applying Graded Status to Subsections

Once your baseline policy groups are defined, you must map them to your structural outline items.

Procedures:

1. Navigate back to your Course Outline page in Studio.
2. Locate the specific Subsection housing your graded assessments.
   • Note: Grading rules, due dates, and timers can only be assigned at the Subsection level. They cannot be applied to overarching Sections or to individual Units.
3. Click the Configure (gear icon) next to the subsection title.
4. On the configuration window, locate the Grading or Assignment Type dropdown field.
5. Select your desired type (e.g., Homework) from the choices list.
6. Set Due Date: (Optional but highly recommended for Instructor-Paced runs) Configure the assignment deadline timestamp in UTC.
7. Click Save.

A clear indicator badge (such as a checkmark or category label) will display next to the subsection row in your outline view, confirming its active graded status.

Important Structural Rules

• Homogeneous Content: A graded subsection should only contain components that match its assigned type. You cannot mix different assignment categories within a single subsection container. If a weekly topic requires both a Homework set and a Lab exercise, create two separate subsections side-by-side.
• Score Visibility Controls: The subsection configuration modal is also where you control whether learners see their problem score results immediately upon clicking submit, or if those marks should be hidden until a specific release date or kept private indefinitely.