Sum grading (total of points) involves separating graded assignments into categories, then weighting each assignment based on the number of total points it is worth. When all points are added together, it creates a total points available for students to achieve a perfect score. The way an instructor grades students should be clearly described in the course syllabus. Before starting to setup a sum grading system in Moodle, consult your syllabus to make sure the gradebook’s points reflect the syllabus’ points exactly.
To setup a sum grading system in Moodle, go to the Simple View in the gradebook (inside the gradebook navigational menu in the upper left corner of the gradebook). Set the first dropdown menu in the Simple View to “Sum of Grades”. This setting will total up every assignment point and create a course total that is a sum of all the assignments.
Set the Aggregation type to “Sum of Grades”
Next, create categories for each category in your syllabus. You can create these categories by clicking on the “Add category” button at the bottom of the Simple View page. For each category, set it to “Sum of grades”. If the category has 3 Quizzes each worth 100 points, then the category total should be 300.
Set each category to “Sum of grades”
After all categories have been changed, make sure that all category totals and the course total are all adding up correctly. This should change based on how many assignments are in the course.
The Course total should reflect the sum total of all assignments.
Finally, any items that are outside of a category should be moved into the appropriate category or removed from the gradebook (by setting the grade to “no grade” in the assignment). Move all quizzes into the Quizzes category and forums into the Forums category until all graded items are inside of a category. To move the items, check the checkbox on the far right for each item, then scroll to the bottom on the Simple View and select the dropdown menu. Choose the category you wish to move the items.
Select a category from the dropdown list at the bottom of the Simple View
Once all items are moved into categories, your finished gradebook should appear like the image below. If there are any items that do not count towards a student’s final grade, and are outside of a category, make sure they are removed from the gradebook.
Sample Finished Gradebook (click to enlarge)