Bruin Learn - Gradebook

Owned by Jaehyeon Park
Last updated: Dec 14, 2021
6 min read

Gradebook (Grades on the menu bar) on Bruin Learn helps instructors view and manage student grades as it does on CCLE. Many settings are quite similar to CCLE but some differences are noteworthy. First of all, ONLY published-to-display (grade-type) assignments, (grade-type) quizzes, (grade-type) discussions, and (grade-type) surveys are shown can be viewed in the gradebook (However, you can view unpublished assignments by changing the view setting in the gradebook later). Be reminded that Not-Graded assignments and quizzes are not available in the gradebook.

Most changes in the setting can be made in the gradebook, but some should be made from the Settings on the menu bar. For example, instructors could enable and edit the course grading scheme. Once you click view grading scheme, you will be directed to a pop-up window to view/edit the grading scheme. You are able to edit directly in this window by clicking the pencil icon at the top-right, but we have found that sometimes the change is not applied successfully. To be safer, it is recommended to click manage grading schemes and make a change there, as either the default or a new scheme.

Some more changes that can be made from the Settings are to (un)hide totals in student grades summary and (un)hide grade distribution graphs from students. These are unhidden by default.

View Setting

The default gradebook view setting is to view all students and their grades at a time. Instructors can view students individually in the Gradebook Individual View, by changing the Gradebook drop-down menu, but some options and settings from the gradebook are not supported in the individual view.

If instructors have designed Outcomes (on the menu bar), they could also view the Gradebook Learning Mastery to see if students achieve the mastery level based on the designed criteria.

Lastly, instructors can view their own and their graders' activities in the gradebook from the Gradebook History, by students, graders, artifacts (assignment items), and start/end dates.

 

More view settings can be customized from the View drop-down menu. The list could be arranged and filtered by different settings. Also, instructors could change the default colors that show assignment submission statuses for grading: late, missing, resubmitted, dropped, and excused. Moreover, instructors can make active the Notes column where they put an internal comment (up to 255 characters) to students to keep track of extra information for grading activities. This note column is not visible to students. Instructors can also hide/unhide unpublished assignments.

Gradebook Setting

Instructors can make a change to the gradebook setting from the gear icon at the top-right.

  • Late Policies: instructors can choose whether to automatically apply grades for missing submissions or deduction to late submissions. If enabled, the deduction interval can be set up by day or hour, with the lowest possible grade percent (a threshold) regardless of how late submission is made.

  • Grade Posting Policy: This is one of the most important parts of the gradebook. Please be reminded that the default grade posting policy on Bruin Learn is Automatically Post Grades. This means assignment grades that you post will be visible to students as soon as they are entered. Grades that have already been hidden will remain hidden, though. If instructors do not want students to know their grades as soon as they are put, they should change this setting to Manually Post Grades. This will make all grades hidden by default. Instructors can choose when to post grades for each assignment on each column in the gradebook. In the same way, instructors can also change the Grade Posting Policy for each assignment, by clicking the three dots at the top-right (they will show up when you place your mouse cursor) of each assignment column and choosing Grade Posting Policy.

  • Advanced: instructors can allow final grade override here. If enabled, instructors can enter an override grade that is different from the grade automatically calculated by Bruin Learn.

Grade Input

Instructors can enter a grade for students directly from each gradebook assignment cell. Also, if they click the rightwards arrow button inside a cell, they can open the grade detail tray on the right where they enter a grade as well as a submission status. If instructors click SpeedGrader, they will be directed to a speedgrader window for individual students that is equivalent to the one on CCLE.

Import/Export

Instructors can import a CSV file to upload changes to the gradebook or export the gradebook to a CSV file. The most latest export history is shown below the Export menu so that instructors could re-download it.

After exporting,

  • In the CSV file, columns that are read-only were calculated by rules from the Bruin Learn setting. Any changes made to these columns will be ignored and not be reflected when you re-upload the file to the course site.

  • Concluded and inactive students and their grades are not included in the CSV file unless instructors choose to unhide them from the Student Name setting.

Before importing,

  • You can create new assignments or update grades, but other settings such as assignment status, comments, and grade posting policies cannot be updated.

  • Changes made to non-read-only columns can be updated.

  • Required columns and order are student name; student ID; SIS user ID; SIS login ID; section; assignment

Awarding Extra Credit

In Bruin Learn, there are two ways for instructors to give extra credit to students. First, they can simply add up extra points to one of the existing assignments (even possible if the total is 100+ with that extra credit). Second, and probably most preferred by instructors, they can create a dedicated extra-credit assignment.

Removing a Test Student from Gradebook

Bruin Learn puts “Test Student” in the gradebook when you use Student View. As the test student’s grades could skew grade averages and trigger some errors, you may need to remove the test student row. To this end, you need to go to the Settings on the left menu bar and choose the Sections tab. Click the course section, place your mouse pointer over the “Student, Test” and click the red X button on the right.

 

Notes

  • Weight adjustment: While instructors could adjust the weighted mean of grades directly in the CCLE Gradebook, Bruin Learn does NOT provide that option in the Grades menu. Instructors are advised to do it from Bruin Learn - Assignments.

  • Letter scale: Again, while instructors could adjust the letter scale of grades directly in the CCLE Gradebook, Bruin Learn does NOT provide that option in the Grades menu. Instructors could do it from Setting by enabling and editing the course grading scheme. Please read the 2nd paragraph of this page for more details.