Grade Aggregation Moodle

MOODLE GRADE AGGREGATION METHODS
Grade aggregation is just a fancy term for how grades are calculated. The Moodle
Gradebook is set up so that you can group similar grade items together and perform
specific calculations on those grouped items. Not every course will need this level of
grade complexity. Many courses use the same grade calculation strategy for all graded
items. However, it's still very important to understand the various options for calculating
your grades, since the aggregation method that you choose can drastically alter the final
course grade.
First you need to understand what Moodle calls Categories within your Gradebook.
Every course has one main Category. When you see this Category listed, you'll notice it
is given the same title as your course. As mentioned earlier, many courses will not
need to have any additional categories, but some will. You can have as many
categories as you need and they can be nested inside other categories.
Each category has a grade aggregation method set on it, and that aggregation method
determines how grade items that are included in that category will be calculated. You
can change your aggregation method at will any time you want without affecting
anything other than how the category's scores are calculated. So keep this in mind, in
case you make a mistake. You can always go back and change your aggregation
method. However, you will want to make sure it is right once you start showing
aggregated points to your students. Now let's explore the various aggregation methods
that you have to choose from.
Mean of Grades
If you use this calculation method, Moodle will first determine the percentage scores for
each grade item. It will then sum them those scores and divide that sum by the total
number of grade items.
Here is an example:
Discussion (20 pts) Quiz (10 pts) Essay (100

pts)
Student's raw scores: 20 5 80
Raw score divided by points possible 20 /20 = 1 x 100 = 5 /10 = 0.5 x 80 /100 = 0.8 x
multiplied by 100 to give percentage: 100 100 = 50 100 = 80
Sum percentages: 100 + 50 + 80 = 230
Divide percentage by total grade 230 / 3 = 76.67
items:
Category percentage: 76.67%
Weighted Mean of Grades
With this calculation method, the graded items will be multiplied by the weight you give
them and that total will be divided by the sum of the weights.
Here is an example:

weight of 5 weight of 2 pts) weight of
10
Raw score divided by points possible: 20 / 20 = 1 5 / 10 = 0.5 80 /100 = 0.8
Multiply by the weight: 1x5=5 0.5 x 2 = 1 0.8 x 10 = 8
Sum weighted scores: 5 + 1 + 8 = 13
Divide sum by weights: 13 / (5 + 2 + 10) = 13 / 17 = 0.76
Multiply by 100: 0.76 x 100 = 76
Category total percentage: 76%
Simple Weighted Mean of Grades

This is similar to the way Weighted Mean of Grades is calculated, except that each item
is weighted based upon the maximum points possible for that item. Therefore, a 20
point discussion will have a weight of 20 and a 100 point essay will have a weight of
100.
Here is an example.

pts)
Raw score divided by points possible: 20 / 20 = 1 5 / 10 = 0.5 80 /100 = 0.8
Multiply scores by weights: 1 x 20 = 20 0.5 x 10 = 5 0.8 x 100 = 80
Sum weighted scores: 20 + 5 + 80 = 105
Divide sum by weights: 105 / (20 + 10 + 100) = 105 / 130 = 0.81
Multiply by 100: 0.81 x 100 = 81
Mean of Grades (with extra credit)

This aggregation method is only included for backward compatibility for instructors who
were using Moodle before version 1.9. It is not recommended that you use this
aggregation method for any courses designed after December 2009.
Median of Grades
When this aggregation method is selected, the result will be score that falls in the
middle of all the highest and all the lowest grades. If your total grade items are an even
number then it will average the two middle grades. So using the example we have been
using with the three grades of 100%, 50% and 80%, the median grade would be 80%.
Lowest Grade
This is pretty self-explanatory. The category grade will be the lowest grade that has
been assigned. So using our previous example of 100%, 50% and 80%. The grade for
the category would be 50%.
Highest Grade
Again this is pretty self-explanatory. The category grade will be the highest grade that
has been assigned. So using our previous example of 100%, 50% and 80%. The grade
for the category would be 100%.
Mode of Grades
The mode is the grade that occurs the most frequently and is usually used for non-
numerical grades (e.g. pass/fail, satisfactory/unsatisfactory, etc.)
Sum of Grades
This is the only aggregation method that does not internally convert scores individual
grade items to percentages. Using our previous example here is how it would work.

pts)
Sum scores: 20 + 5 + 80 = 105
Divide sum by total possible: 105 / (20 + 10 + 100) = 105 / 130 = 0.81
Multiply by 100: 0.81 x 100 = 81
Another feature of this calculation method is that you can mark a grade item as an
extra-credit item. When you do this, that item will not factor in to the maximum possible
points, but if a score is entered for the item it will be added to the student's total. Here is
an example:
Discussion (20 pts) Essay (100 Quiz (20 pts)
pts) extra credit
Sum non-extra credit scores: 20 + 95 = 115 out of possible 120
Add extra credit points up to max 115 + 10 = 120 (the remaining 5 points are ignored since
possible: they are beyond the maximum possible)
Divide total by maximum possible and (120 / 120) x 100 = 100
multiply by 100:
Choosing an Aggregation Method

If the points you have assigned for each grade item is in proportion to how much the
grade item counts towards the total score, then you'll probably want to choose "Simple
Weighted Mean of Grades" or "Sum of Grades".
If the points possible for each grade item is not relative to that item's weight for the total
course grade but you do want to give different weight to different items, then you'll
probably want to use the Weighted Grades method and assign weights either to groups
of grade items (you'll have to create categories), or to each grade item individually.
If the points possible for each grade item is not relative to that item's weight for the total
course grade and all items have the same weight, then you'll probably want to use the
Mean of Grades method.
Example: Set a course to weight quizzes as 20%, assignments as 30% and exams as
50%
1. In your course click on Grades from the Administration block.
2. Click the Categories and Items tab.
3. In the Aggregation column for the course category (the top folder), click the
down-arrow and select "Weighted mean of grades".
4. Scroll to the bottom and click the "Add category" button.
5. Give the category the name "Quizzes" and choose "Simple weighted mean of
grades" as the aggregation method.
6. For the "Item weight" enter 20.
7. Click Save changes.
8. Repeat to add an "Assignments" category with a weight of "30", and an "Exams"
category with a weight of "50".
9. You can now move already created grade items into these categories, or when
you create new grade items, you can choose the appropriate category in which to
place the item.
10. That's it. The Gradebook will calculate the scores based on the weights you've
given these categories, regardless of how many points you assign for each item.

Grade Aggregation Moodle

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MOODLE GRADE AGGREGATION METHODS

Discussion (20 pts) Quiz (10 pts) Essay (100

Discussion (20 pts) Quiz (10 pts) Essay (100

Simple Weighted Mean of Grades

Discussion (20 pts) Quiz (10 pts) Essay (100

Mean of Grades (with extra credit)

Discussion (20 pts) Quiz (10 pts) Essay (100

Choosing an Aggregation Method

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