Introduction

The Weighted Mean of Grades aggregation method is used by instructors who are weighting their grades by assigning percentages to collections of course activities. Pretend you use a course grading system that looks like this:

  • 40%: Quizzes
  • 30%: Assignments
  • 15%: Attendance
  • 15%: Discussions

If this is similar to your course grading system, use Weighted Mean of Grades. 

This article explains how Weighted Mean of Grades calculates a course or category total. A tutorial for how to change your gradebook's aggregation type to Weighted Mean of Grades is embedded at the end of this article. 

When should I set up my weights?

Entering weights is much easier to set up after all grade items have been created in your course.

General Workflow

If you know you'll be weighting your course grades, we recommend the following workflow:

  1. Create any graded activities and gradebook columns you'll be using in your course.
  2. Create categories for the areas you're weighting. For example, if Quizzes are worth 40% of the course grade, create a category called "Quizzes".
    1. See Gradebook: Creating a Category for more information.
  3. Move any columns for graded activities and gradebook columns into their corresponding categories.
  4. Set your course aggregation to "Weighted Mean of Grades" (instructions are embedded at the end of this article). 
  5. Enter and save your weights. 

Using Weighted Mean of Grades

Use Weighted Mean of Grades if the following is true:

  • You are using percentages in your course (e.g. Quizzes are worth 40% of the course total, Attendance is worth 10% of the course total, etc).

Grades calculated using the Weighted Mean of Grades (WMoG) aggregation type have the following characteristics:

Grades are weighted by the weight the instructor sets for the individual grade, or the gradebook category it’s been sorted into.

In a course with a Final Exam weighted at 20%, and an Assignments category weighted at 20%, both the Final Exam and Assignments category have equal weight in the course total.

The course total equals 100 by default, and all entered grades are collectively scaled to this total. 

The course total can be changed to another value.  

Weighting scales

AsULearn does not track the collective value of the weights. It will be up to you to verify your weights add up to the amount you intend (usually 100). However, weights do not have to add up to 100. Though most faculty who weight their grades use a 100 point scale, you can also enter weights out of 1, 10, 100, 1,000, or even 37. We recommend a simple, whole number to reduce confusion for students. 

Point values (mostly) don't matter.

Your weights will always override point values. Pretend your course is just these two assignments:

  • Midterm: 100 points
  • Final Exam: 100,000 points

If this midterm and final are both weighted at 50% each, then they both have the same weight in the final course total.

Point of confusion

A common point of confusion for faculty who are using Weighted Mean of Grades is that your weights will dynamically change throughout the semester. This is normal for this grade calculation. Pretend this is your course gradebook, where the total percentage is 100%:

  • 25%: Participation
  • 25%: Midterm
  • 25%: Forums
  • 25%: Final Exam

If it's Week 7 of the semester and a student has only earned grades for Participation and the Midterm, it wouldn't be accurate or fair for their course total to be 50/100. Instead, AsULearn will:

  1. Add up the weights of each entered grade (25% + 25% = 50%). 
  2. Scale those weights to the final weight you set for the course (25%/50% + 25%/50% = 50%/100% + 50%/100%). 

Example 1

In a course with four grades weighted at 25% each, and a course total of 100%, two entered grades will essentially calculate with weights of 50 percentage points each. Those grades will automatically rescale as more grades are entered.

Example 2

If one course grade is worth 100 points, and another grade is worth 100,000 points, both grades are still worth the same in the course total if their weights match.

NameGrade 1 (25%)Grade 2 (25%)Grade 3 (50%)Course Total
First Student5/550/100

-

75/100 (75%)

Second Student--75,000/100,00075/100 (75%)

Changing How Your Grades are Calculated

Gradebook: Changing Grade Aggregation Types

1. In the settings bar along the top of your course, select the Grades link.
Selecting the grades link.

2. Open the dropdown menu in the top left part of the page, and select Gradebook setup.
Opening the gradebook setup.

3. Within Gradebook setup, click the first ••• icon at the top of the Actions column, then select Edit category. 
Selecting category by clicking on the three-dot icon and then clicking edit category.

4. Open the Aggregation menu and select your preferred aggregation.
Selecting your preferred aggregation.

5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the popover window.

Exclude Empty Grades

"Empty Grades" are grades that have not been entered in the gradebook yet. A grade may be empty because a student has not completed a course assessment yet, or because the instructor hasn't graded submitted work. 

Empty grades display as dashes in the gradebook, and are different than scores of zero. Zeros are calculated in the course total, but empty grades (dashes) do not count towards the course total by default.

By leaving Exclude Empty Grades enabled, you are directing AsULearn to display a course total that only includes the graded items in the course, while ignoring grades that have not yet been entered.

Exclude Empty Grades option


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