Grading Scheme

Quest's grading scheme page allows you to control how the course average is calculated from the assignment grades. It appears immediately after creating a new course, but can be edited throughout the semester via the link in the left-hand menu under Grades.

The minimal grading scheme only includes Homework and Learning Modules:

University of Texas at Austin Instructors

The default grading scheme for a UT course also includes 3 bubble sheet types, Quiz, Exam, and Final. These can be removed upon request, but their presence doesn't affect student's grades unless a weight is applied.

Weight (%) and # Drops

Each assignment type has a percent weight. Weight is the percentage of the final grade that that assignment type will be worth. You can also give any number of drops for each assignment. If you choose to drop 3 assignments, Quest will ignore the lowest three grades in that assignment type when calculating the average.

Retries Allowed

You can decide whether students will have the ability to retry answering a question. If switched on, a student will have as many retries as choices for multiple choice questions, and up to 7 tries for short answer, and numerical and algebraic free responses. For more information about question types click here: Basic Question Types

Randomize Order

When selected, this option specifies that each student will see a unique version of the assignment with the questions in randomized order.

Participation Credit

Use the drop-down menu to choose the criterion that defines "participation" for assignments of this type:

"Normal", which leaves participation grading off
"Respond one", which defines a participating student as being one who responds to at least one question in a particular assignment
"Respond all", which defines a participating student as being one who responds to all of the questions in the assignment

The numerical field is the percent of the whole assignment that is awarded as participation credit. The remaining points in the assignment are awarded based on performance, as in a normal assignment. Assignments for students who do not meet the participation criterion are graded normally.

For example: the instructor sets up an assignment type to be scored as "Respond one" with "10". If a student answers only one problem and the response is incorrect, then that student gets 10% on that assignment. If a student completes half of the assignment and gets all of those questions correct, then that student gets 55% on that assignment: the student is awarded 10% for responding to at least one question, and half (45%) of the remaining credit (90%) was earned by answering half of the questions correctly, for a total of 55% on that assignment.

You can turn off participation grading on an individual assignment by selecting "Override Default Participation Credit" under Assignment > Edit Settings.

No Negative Points

By default a student gains less credit for each subsequent try to a problem within one assignment, with the possibility of a student being awarded negative points for a question, however it is not possible for students to gain a negative assignment score. Selecting "No Negative Points" prevents students from being penalized for incorrect tries to a problem.

For example: If retries and negative points are allowed and a multiple choice question worth 10 points has 5 options, the student will have 4 attempts to get the correct answer with the following possible grade outcomes:

First attempt correct: +10 points
Second attempt correct: +5 points
Third attempt correct: 0 points
Forth attempt correct: -5 points
Never correct: -10 points

The same scenario with "No Negative Points" selected:

First attempt correct: +10 points
Second attempt correct: +7.5 points
Third attempt correct: +5 points
Forth attempt correct: +2.5 points
Never correct: 0 points

This is to encourage students to think seriously about a problem before answering, however it can be confusing for students and we recommend that you explain the use of this feature to students in the course syllabus.

Adding additional assignment types

Simply click "Add Type", then name the type and select the submit method. For more information about assignment types and submit methods click here: Assignment Types

This change will not persist unless you save the changes to your grading scheme.

The next section in your grading scheme controls how Quest calculates averages within assignment types.

"sum points in group" makes each assignment weighed based on how many total points the assignment is worth
(default) "weight assignments equally in group" makes each assignment's weight within the type equal, regardless of how many points each assignment is worth
"scaled score" makes assignments scale based on various student scores, similar to grading on a curve

The last two settings are a bit more self-explanatory:

Grade visibility is the date on which students are able to see their average grade in the course.

The grade distribution allows you to determine what score students must reach for each letter grade in the course. The grade breaks listed do not round, e.g. an A set to 90 would mean that a score of 89.95 does not get an A.

Once you have finalized your settings, select "save changes" at the bottom of the page. You will have the ability to come back at a later time and make changes to your grading scheme.

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