1. In the Grade Center, access the Create Calculated Column menu and select Total Column.

2. On the Create Total Column page, type a brief name and an optional description. The name becomes the column name in the Grade Center and on students’ My Grades pages.

Note: If the name is too long to display clearly in the Grade Center, add a shorter name in the Grade Center Name box. Only the first 14-15 characters appear in the column heading in the Grade Center grid.

3. Make a selection in the Primary Display menu. The selection is the grade format shown in the Grade Center and to students in My Grades. If you created custom grading schemas, they appear in the list.

Five default options appear:
Score: A numeric grade is the default setting. If you don’t make a selection, the score appears in the grid.
Letter: A letter grade appears. The default grading schema is used to assign letter grades. For example, a score of 21/30 equals 70% and appears as a C.
Text: Text appears in the column when you create and associate a text grading schema. Examples of text values include: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Poor -OR- Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory. If no text grading schema exists, and you select the Text option, you can type text in the column’s cells. If you choose to share the column results with students in My Grades, they see the text values for their grades.

Note: You can convert a numeric score to text. But, if you don’t create a custom text grading schema, and return to numeric scoring, values that can’t be converted display a zero after conversion. If you want to include text as grades, we recommend that you create a text grading schema and associate it with the appropriate columns.

Percentage: A percentage appears. For example, a score of 21/30 appears as 70%.
Complete/Incomplete: When a student submits an item, a Completed icon appears in the column regardless of the score achieved.

4. Optionally, make a selection in the Secondary Display menu. The default setting is None. In the Grade Center column, the secondary value appears in parentheses. The secondary value doesn’t appear to students.

5. If grading periods exist, you can associate the column with a grading period. If no grading periods exist, the menu doesn’t appear. You can use grading periods to filter Grade Center data and create calculated columns.
6. In the Select Columns section, select what to include in the column’s calculation. This table lists the column options.

All Grade Columns *

Include all individual grade columns in the Grade Center.

All Grade Columns in Grading Period *

Select a grading period from the menu to include only those columns associated with the grading period in the calculation. If no grading periods exist, the menu doesn’t appear.

Selected Columns and Categories *

Select grade columns and categories individually.

Select the columns in the Columns to Select box and select the right-pointing arrow to move the selections to the Selected Columns box. A column that is set to No for Include this Column in Grade Center Calculations doesn’t appear in the selection list.

For Windows, to select multiple items in a list, press the Shift key and select the first and last items. To select items out of sequence, press the Ctrl key and select each item needed. For Macs, press the Command key instead of the Ctrl key.

Select the categories in the Categories to Select box and select the right-pointing arrow to move the selections to the Selected Columns box. When you select a category, you can view which columns are included in the category in the Category Information area below the Categories to Select box. Other options appear after you move the category to the Selected Columns box:

• If grading periods exist, make a selection in the Grading Period menu.
• Drop Grades removes a number of either the highest or lowest grades for each category from the calculation. If you don’t type numbers in the boxes, no grades are dropped.
• Use only the Lowest -OR- Highest Value to Calculate removes all grades from the calculation except for the best or worst score.

7. Calculate as Running Total: Select Yes to calculate as a running total. Running totals exempt cells that don’t contain data. Select No to include all selected columns in the calculation, using a value of 0 if no grade exists. The result can make grades appear artificially low.
8. Select the Options:

• Include this Column in Grade Center Calculations: Select Yes to make the column available for potential inclusion when creating calculated columns.
• Show this Column to Students: Select Yes to display the column to students in My Grades.
• Show Statistics (average and median) for this Column to Students in My Grades: Select Yes to include statistical information with the grade value when shown to students.
  Select Submit.

Note: If you delete a column from the Grade Center that is included in a total calculation, the column is also removed from the calculation.

You can create five types of smart views in the Grade Center:
Subject Group: Choose from sub-sections of students. You must create subject groups before you can use them as selection criteria.
Performance: View student performance on a single item, such as a test.
User: Choose individual students.
Category and Status: Choose a category, users or groups, and grade status. For example, you can select the Blog category, four groups, and the Completed status.
Custom: Select students with a combination of attributes. The process for creating the five types of smart views is similar.

1. In the Grade Center, access the Manage menu and select Smart Views.
2. On the Smart Views page, select Create Smart View and provide a name and an optional description.
3. Optionally, select the Add as Favorite check box.
4. For Type of View, make a selection.
5. In the Select Criteria section, set the requirements.
6. In the Filter Results menu, select which columns, categories, statuses, or grading periods you want to appear in the Grade Center grid.

All Grade Center columns that are not hidden on the Column Organization page appear, including columns that you have hidden from users.

Options	Description
All Columns	All Grade Center columns that are not hidden on the Column Organization page appear, including columns that you have hidden from users.
None (Show user information only)	No grade columns are selected. Only user columns appear, such as Last Name. If you chose to hide some user columns from view, they don’t appear.
All columns shown to users	All columns set to appear to users and those that you haven’t hidden on the Column Organization page appear.
All columns hidden from users	All columns appear that are hidden from users. Columns that you hid on the Column Organization page don’t appear.
Selected Columns Only	Select columns from the list of columns that appears.
Selected Categories Only	Select the categories from the list of categories that appears.
Selected Grading Periods Only	Select grading periods from the list of grading periods that appears.

7. If the Include Hidden Information check box appears, you can select it to display hidden columns that pertain to the filter. When you view the smart view, the columns you hid on the Column Organization page appear in the grid also.

8. Select Submit.

Different Smart Views and their functionalities: *

Subject group smart views

You can create smart views that are based on groups you create in your subject. You can use subject group smart views in two ways:

Students use the groups to collaborate with other students and complete group assignments. You create smart views to track their progress.
You create a group to track a set of students who aren’t performing well on assignments and tests. You hide the group from students and use it only to view data in the Grade Center.

Performance smart views

You can create smart views that are based on student performance for a single item such as a test.

In the User Criteria menu, select a Grade Center column.
In the Condition menu, select an option such as Equal to or Greater than.
In the Value box, type a score or scores, or select a status such as Needs Grading or Completed.

User smart views

You can create smart views to display all or selected grade columns for specific users.

Example: Track student progress

If several students are taking your subject without completing a prerequisite subject, you can create a smart view to track their work as the term progresses. You can use this data to determine if you will allow students to enroll in your subject without the required foundation subject in the future.

In the Users menu, select an option:

• All Users to include results for all students.
• Selected Users to select individual students.

Category and status smart views

You can create smart views that display columns based on a specific category, selected users or groups, and a grade status.

Example: Assignments not attempted

Use a smart view to display only the assignment columns in the Grade Center grid with a Not Attempted grade status. You can contact those students and remind them of deadlines and offer help.

Example: All unit tests

For a specific group in your subject, create a smart view to display all the unit test columns in the Grade Center grid with a Completed grade status. Then, you can determine if a study session is needed before the final test.

In the Users menu, select an option:

• All Users to include results for all students. Select the Include Hidden User Information check box to display the user rows you have hidden from view in the Full Grade Center.
• Selected Users to select individual students.
• Selected Groups to select individual groups. If no groups exist, the selection box is empty.

Note: For Windows, to select multiple users or items in a list, press the Shift key and select the first and last users. To select users out of sequence, press the Ctrl key and select each user needed. For Macs, press the Command key instead of the Ctrl key.

In the Filter Results menu, select a grade status such as Needs Grading.

Custom smart views

You can create custom smart views to use a variety of criteria in one formula. Custom smart views are based on complex search queries provided in the formula editor. Detailed smart views can help you build a comprehensive organization of Grade Center data.

About the formula editor
When you create a custom smart view, you can use multiple user criteria. By default, as you add each criterion, it is assigned a number and appears in the Formula Editor box. The numbers are connected by AND. Each criterion you add can have a condition such as Equal to, Greater than, and Less than. Each condition requires a value to compare with the condition. For example, you can view scores that are Less than (condition) 60 (value) on a test.

After you add the criteria, the formula for the query is represented by a statement: 1 AND 2 AND 3. Use the Manually Edit function after the Formula Editor box to change the operators (AND and OR) and to insert parentheses to change the way the formula is completed.

Criteria and the formula editor

In the Select Criteria section, set the requirements:

• In the User Criteria menu, make a selection such as a group, a grade column, or last access.
• In the Condition menu, make a selection such as Equal to or Less than, or select Status Equals.

In the Value box, type scores or select a grade status for the condition.

As you select data, a query formula is built in the Formula Editor box. The first set of criteria is labeled “1.”

To add a second set of criteria, select Add User Criteria and set additional requirements. The second set of criteria is labeled “2.” Continue to add more criteria as needed.

Edit, copy, and delete smart views

You can edit and copy default system smart views, but you can’t delete them. For example, you can edit the Tests smart view so that only test columns with a Completed status appear in the Grade Center grid.

If you create a smart view, you can delete it:

• On the Smart Views page, access a smart view’s menu.
• Select Edit to make changes to a smart view, such as renaming or selecting different criteria.
• -OR- Select Delete to remove a smart view you created. When you remove a smart view, no data is deleted from the Grade Center.
• -OR- Select Copy to create a copy of an existing smart view. “Copy of” appears in the title of the copied smart view on the Smart Views page. Select Edit to make changes to the copy.