1.2.2 Provide learning assessment information

The Grades link appears in the Administration block for Teachers by default, and for Students by choice. The Grades page displays a Gradebook, which for Teachers gives an overview of all the graded activities, such as Quizzes and Assignments. The Activities that are not graded by default, such as Forums (unless Ratings are used), can be added manually to the Gradebook. Unit 4 will address these features more in detail. However, what is important to realize when setting up the learning environment is that as instructor you can make a choice to display the Gradebook to participants. Gradebook can be be very useful to give a quick summary of all graded activities, grades, deadlines and feedback. On the other hand, if the assessment strategy is only partly thought through, the grading system is not well planned, or the grades have lesser importance, displaying the Gradebook may raise unnecessary questions and confusion.