Managing Group Weights

[CydneeHoltz]

How can I change the group weights for a single student in my class?

I recently got a midyear enrollment, and I would like to add her incoming class grade as an assignment and weight it for the percentage of time that we've already been in class (in her case this would be 65%). I can assignment something for an individual student but it has no weight unless I add it to an existing group, and then the weight would not be accurate for her. I tried creating a new group, but then all students have the new group and the adjusted weights which is not what I want.

[stimme · Accepted solution]

This is an interesting problem. Assignment group weights cannot be customized for specific students or sections in a course.

By adding assignments to your assignment groups then assigning them only to the new student, you can make clear to the new student how you're incorporating that incoming grade. Identifying which assignments you'll want to excuse the new student from and replacing those with placeholders could work.

For an example of replacement, if you have 15 discussions each worth 100 points in an assignment group, and the new student will be excused from the first 10 of them, then you could add one no submission assignment to the assignment group worth 1000 points, display grade as percentage, and assign to the new student only. Then enter that student's incoming grade. That would take the place of missed discussions.

By using that kind of approach, you could try to excuse and replace about 65% of your course's grades for this student. If your other students have already been scored on assignments worth 65%, then this shouldn't be too difficult.

[stimme · Accepted solution]

This is an interesting problem. Assignment group weights cannot be customized for specific students or sections in a course.

By adding assignments to your assignment groups then assigning them only to the new student, you can make clear to the new student how you're incorporating that incoming grade. Identifying which assignments you'll want to excuse the new student from and replacing those with placeholders could work.

For an example of replacement, if you have 15 discussions each worth 100 points in an assignment group, and the new student will be excused from the first 10 of them, then you could add one no submission assignment to the assignment group worth 1000 points, display grade as percentage, and assign to the new student only. Then enter that student's incoming grade. That would take the place of missed discussions.

By using that kind of approach, you could try to excuse and replace about 65% of your course's grades for this student. If your other students have already been scored on assignments worth 65%, then this shouldn't be too difficult.

[dbrace · Accepted solution]

Hi @CydneeHoltz,

@stimme's approach is similar to what I would offer.

Depending on the steps that you take, you might also need to excuse the student from other gradable items so that they do not impact their grade. If you do not know how to use statuses in the "Grades" area (what "excused" is considered) you can refer to How do I change the status of a submission in the Gradebook? - Instructure Community - 678  for assistance.

-Doug