There are two different ways to set up grading for the Attendance tool: (1) manually grade attendance, or (2) automatically grade attendance. Either method will provide one Gradebook item accounting for all of the Attendance items, and must be enabled by designating a total point value for all Attendance items.
Select Attendance.
Select the Attendance tool from the site Tool menu.
Select Grading.
Select Grading from the Actions Menu.
Edit grade settings.
Enter a numerical value for Total Points Possible. Entering a point value will reveal other grading options below.
Allow students to see their grade.
Check the Allow students to see their grade within this tool checkbox if you want students to see their grade within the Attendance tool itself.
Note: This setting does not impact the visibility of an Attendance item in the Gradebook.
Send grades to the Gradebook.
- Check the Send grades to the Gradebook checkbox to automatically create a Gradebook item for attendance.
- Enter a name for the Gradebook item within the Gradebook Item Name text area.
Note: If you choose to do this, you will need to enter grades within the Attendance tool (for manual grading) or take attendance within the Attendance tool (for automatic grading). Doing so will automatically update the scores for the Gradebook item within the Gradebook tool.
Select Manually grade attendance.
- Select the radio button next to Manually grade students' attendance.
- Select Save Settings.
By choosing this option, you will need to manually grade attendance for each student using the How do I grade attendance items? instructions.
Select an automatic grading option.
Select one of the radio buttons corresponding to automatic grading configurations, depending on your preferences. After selecting an option, additional settings will appear to allow you to configure grading rules. To set up discrete grading rules, choose one of the options highlighted above.
Add grading rules.
For either of the first two automatic grading options, the grading rule screen will look like this.
- First, select a status that corresponds with how students will earn or lose points. The status options are Present, Absent, Excused, Late, and Left Early. Select the Status dropdown menu and choose the applicable type of status.
- Enter a range within the From and Through fields. Example: By entering 1 in the From field and 2 in the Through field, this rule will take effect when students fulfill the status 1 or 2 times.
- Enter the number of points that will be rewarded or deducted for fulfilling the condition.
- Select Add Rule.
Note: After selecting Add Rule, your rule will appear below the Grading Rules heading.
Continue adding rules.
- To add additional grading rules, modify the text in the From, Through, and Points fields.
- Then, select Add Rule. Continue adding as many rules as desired.
Example: Students lose points as they miss class.
In the above example, students lose two points per absence beginning with the first absence. Ideally, create enough rules to account for all of your class meetings over the course of a term. For instance, if a course meets 30 times over the course of a term, attendance rules should designate what happens for each absence, presence, or other designated status for up to 30 meetings.
Alert: Important! When choosing one of the first two automatic grading options, wherein students either start with the total number of points and lose points as they miss class, or students start with zero points and earn points as they attend class, the grading rules are not inclusive/cumulative. This means that, like in the above example, you must provide enough rules to account for each unique attendance status that a given student may have.
Select Grade All.
If attendance was taken prior to rule creation or any edits to grading rules, select the Grade All button to score students based on their current attendance data.
Select an automatic grading option.
Select one of the radio buttons corresponding to automatic grading configurations, depending on your preferences. After selecting an option, additional settings will appear to allow you to configure grading rules. To set up grading where each instance of a specific attendance status is worth a uniform number of positive or negative points, choose the option highlighted above.
Add grading rules.
Refer to the steps outlined above in Add grading rules. For this type of attendance grading, Sakai will multiply the given rule by the number of times a student meets the prescribed status. As with the above steps, make sure to select the Grade All button if adding or modifying rules after attendance has been taken.
Example: Attendance status multipliers.
In the above example, students will lose two points for each time they are absent, and will lose 0.5 points for each time they are late or leave class early.
Tip: This automatic attendance grading configuration option where specific attendance statuses are multiplied by a positive or negative point value is the quickest and most straightforward to set up for most use cases.