Gradebook is a powerful tool provided by Brightspace to help you calculate student grades quickly and efficiently. It is highly recommended to seek training prior to using it, so you can use Gradebook to its full extent. If you do not have time for a synchronous session, consider viewing a workshop recording or reviewing the online videos and articles regarding the Gradebook on the CTL’s Resources for Instructors.
Note: final grades must be submitted to UWinsite Student system, which is separate from Brightspace. At the end of the term use the Gradeflow tool to transfer final grades from Brightspace to UWinsite. The official grades will be posted in UWinsite student after final approval from the Dean or Department head; the grades displayed in Brightspace Gradebook are considered unofficial.
Table of Contents
Gradeflow takes either the Final Calculated Grade or Final Adjusted Grade column, whichever is marked as the final grade by instructors in Brightspace. The default option is Calculated Final Grades. It is important to check if the correct column is selected before transferring final grades to UWinsite using Gradeflow.
To check that the proper column is selected, in Grades:
- Select the Setup Wizard tab.
- Click Start (at the bottom) and click Continue to proceed to Step 2.
- Under Final Grade Released, ensure the correct option is selected. To have the Final Adjusted Grade column of grades transfer to UWinsite, the Adjusted Final Grade option must be selected.
- Continue through the Wizard and click Finish at the end.
- (Alternatively, you can click Settings (the blue gear icon just below the Nav bar) click the Calculation Options tab and scroll down to find the Final Grade Released section.)
When entering grades into UWinsite from Gradeflow, Excel, or manual input, these grades are saved in Draft mode. Once you have transferred or entered final grades into UWinsite, log into UWinsite and move your grades from Draft mode to Submitted mode. Grades are not submitted for the Dean or Department Head’s approval until you have completed this step.
Gradeflow is a tool that simplifies the final grade transfer process. It automatically pulls final grades from Brightspace and transfers them to UWinsite. Instructors can also make modifications (i.e., change the numeric grades into P/F based on a threshold, mark certain student grades as IP: In Progress) in Gradeflow. Visit Transferring Grades from Brightspace to UWinsite Student using Gradeflow for more information on how to use Gradeflow.
Gradebook comes with some standard columns that are unreleased (hidden) from students until you release them.
- Final Calculated Grade is a calculated column that Brightspace uses to display final grades according to the weight / point, depending on your grade system, that you assign to the different grade items.
- Final Adjusted Grade is a manually entered column for instructors to assign student grades based on the grades from Final Calculated Grade. This is useful for inputting student final grades when some aspects of your grade scheme cannot be implemented using Gradebook functions, but there are a few steps to using it correctly.
Instructors should not rename these two columns for other uses (e.g., inputting midterm marks). Instead, if you need another column in your Gradebook, create a new grade item by going to Gradebook’s Manage Grades > New > Item.
Gradeflow uses the values in either the Final Calculated Grade or Final Adjusted Grade columns when transferring final grades. You should ALWAYS compare the grades in Gradeflow against your syllabus and the Brightspace columns to ensure the grades have been accurately transferred.
To change which column for Brightspace to consider as final grades, go to Grades > Setup Wizard and select the appropriate column at the step Final Grade Released.
By default, Brightspace drops any ungraded item that was not assigned a grade. So, if a student did not submit an assignment or complete a quiz, or if you have not graded the assessment, the item will be omitted from the students’ final grade calculation, increasing their percentage average.
This may be fine at the beginning of term, but before submitting final grades be sure to either:
- enter a zero for missed assessments or
- change the option for ungraded items and change it to “Treat ungraded items as 0”. The option can be found by going to Grades > Setup Wizard > Grade Calculations > Ungraded Items. Alternatively, you can select the option Automatic Zero for Missing Submissions if you wishes to have missing submissions be treated as 0 but keep the ungraded submissions excluded from final grade calculations.
(You can also find this option under Settings (the blue gear icon just under the Nav bar) > Calculation Options > Grade Calculations.)
The option to hide grade items on the Enter Grades page, only hides the item from instructors, not from students. This option is used solely to organize the Gradebook view for instructors.
To hide grade items from students, go to Manage Grades page, select the item’s chevron arrow and then click on Hide from Users from the menu. 
It is recommended to hide all columns from students, and unhide them one by one as grades are entered. This also includes any Grade Categories, Calculated items, and Final Grade items, as these items can take grades from items that are currently not visible to students.
Even if you have hidden the grade item in the Gradebook from students, students can still access their grades and feedback from the assessment tool (e.g., Assignments, Quizzes, etc.) if the assessment is conducted using Brightspace. To avoid this, make sure you hide the assessment grades in both places, in the Grades tool and the assessment tool (Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions) and make them visible after the grades are ready for release.
When you create a new column, it appears as the last column on the right of Gradebook, just to the left of the Final Grades columns. You may need to scroll horizontally to gain access to it.
You can change the position of columns by clicking Manage Grades, More Actions and Reorder.
Brightspace will only import files of the following extensions: CSV, TSV, or TXT. Additionally, Brightspace requires the grade items and entered grades to be in a specific format for the import to be successful. You can take a look at the common spreadsheet format as a reference, if you have created grade files outside of Brightspace Gradebook.
It is recommended to create the grade item in Brightspace first, export the grade item into a spreadsheet (preferably in CSV), and then import the same spreadsheet that is filled out with student grades. When importing, Brightspace will match the column name with the grade items in Gradebook and overwrite existing values with imported values.
Gradebook may not be displayed properly on small screen devices like tablets and smartphones. It is recommended to use a laptop or desktop to take full advantage of the display features.
If Mac users are experiencing issues with scroll bars disappearing in large screen devices, go to the System Preferences and click Appearance. Select the radio button Always below Show scroll bars.