Entering Grades and Feedback in Brightspace

Summary

This guide explains how to create grade items directly within Brightspace tools like quizzes and discussions, so that grades are automatically recorded in the gradebook.

Body

Introduction:

When creating assessments in Brightspace using built-in tools like quizzes, assignments, or discussions, you can streamline grading by linking them directly to the gradebook.

This step-by-step guide will show you how to create grade items within each tool so that student scores are automatically recorded, saving you time and ensuring consistent tracking.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

There are two ways you can manually enter grades in Brightspace:

• Spreadsheet view – Enter grades for all students and all grade items in a single spreadsheet view.

• Standard view (by grade item) – Enter grades for a single grade item for an individual student, or all students in the course.

Entering Grades Manually in Spreadsheets View

1. Log into Brightspace and navigate to your course. Click on the Class Progress tab to open the drop-down menu.

• Select [a] Grades.

• Navigate to [b] Enter Grades and click on [c] Switch to Spreadsheet View.

NOTE: You can return to standard view at any time by selecting Switch to Standard View.
2. Locate the grade column for the item you wish to grade and enter the grades for each student.
TIP: You can search for a specific student using the search field above the grades table. Select Show Search options to filter search results, or use the view by drop-down menu to view course groups.
3. Select Save when you have finished entering grades.

Entering Grades Manually in Standard View (by Grade Item)

1. Go Back to Grades
2. Under Select Grades, Select the arrow next to the grade item (column) you want to add feedback to, then select Enter Grades.
3. Enter a grade in the grade column for each student.
TIP: You can search for a specific student using the search field above the grades table. Select Show Search options to filter search results, or use the view by drop-down menu to view course groups.

Entering Feedback

1. The same way we entered grades manually in Standard View, but instead of entering a grade, navigate to the Feedback column and click on the pencil icon
2. In the pop-up window, enter your feedback in the HTML Editor. You can use the Insert Stuff , Insert Image , or Insert Quicklink icons to insert feedback files for your students.
3. You have the option to enter private comments that will only be visible to instructors and TAs with grading privileges.
4. When you have finished entering your feedback, select Save.

Bulk Entering Grades (Set Grades)

1. Go back to Grades and Under Select Grades, Select the arrow next to the grade item (column) you want to add feedback to, then select Enter Grades.
2. Select the checkboxes to the select the students you want to grade. To select all students, select the checkbox in the first row.
3. Select Set Grades.
4. In the Grade Selected window, enter the grade value you want to assign to all selected students.
5. Select Save.
6. Select Save and Close to save your changes and return to the Enter Grades tab.

Troubleshooting Tips:

• For assessments that are graded outside of Brightspace, you need to create a grade item, then manually enter student grades into the gradebook.
- participation grades, offline midterms, and student presentation grades.
• Troubleshooting grades
- Grades for quizzes, assignments, discussions, and other content can be made visible and published to learners in the Grades tool. Grade visibility for activities is controlled by the details you set in the Grades tool.
• Learners can't see their grade for their quiz
- The visibility for a quiz grade is controlled in the Evaluation & Feedback menu when you create or edit a quiz. You can click the check box for Attempt grade to let learners view their grade for their quiz. You can also select the check box for Auto-publish attempt results immediately upon completion so that learners can see their grade as soon as they finish a quiz.
  - Additionally, navigate to the Grades tool and select the quiz you want to configure. In the Properties tab, in the Display Options > Student View section, click Override display options for this item to alter how the quiz grade is displayed to learners.
• Learners can't see their grade for their assignment
- Assignments and assignment feedback are manually published by the instructor. In the Assignments tool, when you select an assignment to grade, all the submissions for your learners appear. If you click on a user to view and grade their assignment, you can either click Publish to publish the assignment grade and feedback or click Save Draft to continue working on the submission later. Learners may not be able to view their assignment grade because the graded assignment submission is still saved as a draft. The published grade appears in the Grades tool for both you and the learner.

Additional Resources:

Details

Article ID: 163997

Created

Tue 6/3/25 1:54 PM

Modified

Thu 6/5/25 10:41 AM