The Final Grade Item(s) - Brightspace Instructor Help

There are a number of options available for you in presenting final grades to your students. You can set a letter grade scheme to display with your final grades, manually recalcuate final grades if you have not selected automatic recalculation, and you must release the final grade before students will be able to see it.

Final Calculated Grade vs. Final Adjusted Grade
Setting a Grades Scheme for the Final Grade
Recalculating Final Grades Manually
Calculating Final (Adjusted or Calculated) Grades
Releasing the Final (Adjusted or Calculated) Grade

Final Calculated Grade vs. Final Adjusted Grade

There are two Final Grade items built into your Brightspace gradebook. The first is the Final Calculated Grade, which is constantly calculating in the background of your course and only visible to you while the course is running. This grade item automatically takes into account any grade item in your gradebook that you have assigned a weight.

The second is the Final Adjusted Grade, which allows you to copy the grade automatically calculated by the Final Calculated Grade into a new column, and alter it slightly as necessary.

By default, the Final Adjusted Grade is the column set to be released, and the following instructions assume that this is the case in your course. If you’re not sure which Final Grade you have set to release, go to My Tools > Grades and choose Enter Grades, and scroll to the far right to see the Final Calculated Grade and Final Adjusted Grade columns. One will show an icon of an eye with a line drawn through it. This is the final grade that will be released to students.

Turnitin recently introduced an AI tool designed to assist instructors in detecting AI-generated content in student submissions. This tool potentially analyzes writing styles and may detect anomalies that could possibly indicate the use of generative AI. However, while this technology represents a significant step forward, caution is advised in its application. It’s important to recognize that the tool is not infallible and may not catch every instance of AI-generated content. Instructors should not rely on the AI tool to detect AI generated content, but rather, use it as one of several strategies in a comprehensive approach to uphold academic standards and encourage genuine student learning and creativity.

Setting a Grades Scheme for the Final Grade

You can assign a grade scheme for your Final Grades columns, regardless of what default grades scheme you have set. A typical example would be to create a Letter Grade scheme that is assigned to the Final Grades column that you release to your students.

Navigate to the Manage Grades page to display the grades list.
Click the link to the Final Adjusted or Final Calculated Grade (whichever you have chosen to display for students).
For the Grade Scheme dropdown list, select the name of your preferred grade scheme (for example a Letter Grade scheme).
To display the scheme values when viewing the grade column, in the Display Options section, you can select to show options such as the Grade scheme symbol or Grade scheme colour. Note Depending on what default options you’ve selected for your grade book, you may first need to select Override the display options for this item and then choose which options to show.
Click Save and Close.

Recalculating Final Grades Manually

If you have not chosen to keep your grades automatically updated when you set up your grade book, you must recalculate final grades manually. You will see the Recalculate icon in the Final Calculated Grade column for students whose final grades need updating. Do one of the following:

Click the user’s name whose grade you want to recalculate. In the Final Grade section, click the Recalculate the Final Calculated Grade icon and follow the onscreen prompts to Calculate. When you are done, scroll to the bottom of the student’s grade entry page and click Save. Click Cancel to return to the User List.
To recalculate all grades, click Grade All from the Final Calculated Grade action menu. On the Final Grades page, select Recalculate All from the dropdown menu beside the Final Grades heading. Follow the onscreen prompts to recalculate and save your changes.

Calculating Final (Adjusted or Calculated) Grades

If you are using the Final Adjusted Grade, you can transfer all the Final Grades as follows: From the Final Grades page, click the dropdown arrow to the left of the Final Grades title and then click Transfer All on the dropdown menu.
You can also transfer the final grade for a student by clicking the green arrow in the Final Adjusted Grade column.
Click Save and follow the onscreen prompts to confirm.

Releasing the Final (Adjusted or Calculated) Grade

Students will not be able to see their final grade until you release it to them. It is strongly recommended that you not release the final grade until you have completed all your grading.

To do so:

Go to the Final Grades page in one of the following ways:
- Navigate to the Manage Grades page to display the grades list. From the dropdown menu next to the final grade type you are using (adjusted or calculated) select Enter Grades, or
- Navigate to the Enter Grades page. In either the Spreadsheet or the Standard View, find the grade column you are using (adjusted or calculated) and select Grade All from the dropdown list beside the column name.
Select all students, or individual students, and click the Release/Unrelease link to release the final grades (or reverse this if grades had already been released)
Click Save to save your changes

Students should now be able to see their Final Grades. If you wish to verify this, you can preview an individual student’s grades.