In Oncourse CL Assignments, which method should I use to link my assignment to the Gradebook?

Note: This document applies to the default Assignments tool in Oncourse CL. The issues discussed here are not relevant to the pilot Assignments Beta tool.

Note: As of December 2008, letter grades in Gradebook are referred to as non-calculating grades. Non-calculating grades may be any string of text up to eight characters. If you want your grades calculated automatically, you must enter them as either points or percentages. See Changing the grade entry, type, and scale in Gradebook, How changes in the Gradebook tool affect data for previous semesters, and How changes in the Gradebook tool affect grade entry for current and future semesters.

Assignments cannot transmit non-calculated grades to the Gradebook tool.

In Assignments, instructors have two options for creating an initial relationship between an assignment and a Gradebook item:

• Select Add Assignment to Gradebook.
• Select Associate with existing Gradebook entry.

In general, choosing Add Assignment to Gradebook is the simplest option because you can enter and edit assignment grades in one place (in the Assignments tool), and they will display both there and in the Gradebook.

However, for percentage gradebooks, you may want to associate the assignment with an existing gradebook item, because this will give you flexibility in setting the relative weight for the gradebook items.

These recommendations are based on the following issues regarding the relationship between the Assignments and Gradebook tools:

Using the Add Assignment to Gradebook option

• You must use the Assignments tool when you want to edit the point value and due date of an assignment. Also, you must grade assignments in the Assignments tool.
  
  
• The settings Gradebook retains for this item are Release this item to Students, Include this item in course grade calculations, and Category (if you've created categories).
  
  
• A grade you assign for an individual assignment through the Assignments tool cannot be overridden in the Gradebook.
  
  
• Grades you assign for an individual assignment do not display in the Gradebook (even for the instructor) until you release the grades or return a grade to a student from the Assignments tool. In the Gradebook, assignment grades will not show up for students if you have not selected (in the Gradebook) the Release this item to Students setting.
  
  
• It may be confusing that, after starting with Add Assignment to Gradebook, you have to use the default Associate with existing Gradebook entry setting upon further editing in the Assignments tool.
  
  
• For percentage gradebooks, if you choose this option, a gradebook item will be created with a relative weight of 1, and there is no way to change this relative weight.

Note: The limitations of using this option are that you can't use the Gradebook to override an assignment grade, and you must make any changes to settings, as well as any grade changes, in the Assignments tool. An additional limitation with percentage gradebooks is that you cannot set the item's relative weight to any value other than 1.

Using the Associate with existing Gradebook entry option

• You must change the point value and due date settings in both the Assignments and Gradebook tool (i.e., you must manually synchronize them).
  
  
• Grades you assign in the Assignments tool do not display in the Gradebook (even for the instructor) until you release the grades or return a grade to a student from the Assignments tool. In the Gradebook, assignment grades will not show up for students if you have not selected (in the Gradebook) Release this item to Students.
  
  
• A grade you assign for an individual assignment through the Assignments tool can be overridden in the Gradebook. This change will be reflected in the Assignments tool.
  
  
• If you click Release Grades in the Assignments tool, any grades you have changed in the Gradebook tool will be overridden by those in the Assignments tool.
  
  
• For percentage gradebooks, you can set the item's relative weight to any value and change it at any time.

Note: The biggest disadvantage of using this option is that if you want to edit settings, you must make the changes in both the Assignments and Gradebook tool. The advantage is that you can use the Gradebook to override an assignment grade. For percentage gradebooks, this method is recommended because it allows you to choose the item's relative weight.

Additional issues

• When you import assignments and Gradebook items from another site, the items in the Gradebook that you created with the Add Assignment to Gradebook option won't appear in the Gradebook at first. However, they will be added the first time you edit and save each imported assignment.
  
  
• For imported assignments that you created using the Associate with existing Gradebook entry option, you will have to use the Assignments tool to re-associate them with the appropriate Gradebook items. Imported assignments will have Add Assignment to Gradebook selected by default; to associate the item with an existing Gradebook entry instead, select Associate with existing Gradebook entry and choose the desired Gradebook entry before you post the assignment.

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