FTT - Final Exams/Paper/Projects and Schoology

Two things are coming (besides Winter): final exams and my first child. In anticipation of my wife and I basically becoming shut-ins with no professional communications to the outside world, we better cover some end-of-the-semester Schoology tips before the last push!

Make sure your final exam/project/paper exists in your gradebook

So the first thing to do is to find out if you've created a final exam grading period. If your final exam exists outside of your running "semester grade," you'll have to create a grading period. So for example, my semester grade is made up of "class work" and "papers and projects." These two categories make up 80% of the final grade, while my final makes up the remaining 20%. If none of that makes sense, take a look at the breakdown below:

To do this:

• Click on the “Gradebook” tab and create an assignment that’ll be designated as your final.
• Change the grading period to “Final/Midterm Material Grades”
• Click on the Plus Sign at the top right, and click on “Add Grade Column.” 
• Name your final and set the points.
• You can initially unpublish your final, input all of your grades, and then publish 
• Then click on the "Gradebook Setup" tab to change the percentage weights.
• You can change the S1-DHS/HPHS from 100 to accommodate for the final

Final Grade Scales

Schoology's scale system isn't immediately intuitive so we'll have to make a distinction between assignment scales, and final grade scales. In the gradebook setup page, scales show up twice. The scale choice on the top right is for individual assignments. The scale choices under "Final Grade Settings" will be where you decide to round final grades or choose a pass/fail scale. 

The distinction between "THSD 113 Rounded .5" and Schoology's "Round Period/Final Grades" is important:

• THSD 113 Rounded .5 will round scores up to the nearest percentage. So an 89.6 will stay an 89.6, but it will count as an A-.
• Round Period Grades will turn an 89.6 into a 90.0.
• Teachers will also have the option to assign final grade values into Infinite Campus at the end of the grading period. 

Also important: Do not use the gradebook scale, "Numeric" as it will cause issues when the grades sync over to Infinite Campus. Failing grades will be relabeled from an "F" to the much scarier "H."

Course Override Column

Enabling the course override column gives you the ability to manually override all student scores. It will you give unilateral control over what percentage your students receives in your course, regardless of the calculated score. This can be useful for manually curving final scores. 

Have any other end-of-the-semester questions or concerns? Comment below!