Points, and how a course adds up

Every question carries a number of points. Add them up and you have the course total a learner sees against their own score.

Setting what a question is worth

On the question itself, in the lesson editor. The default is one.

There is no separate “total marks” setting for the course — the total is simply the sum of its questions. Adding a question raises the total for everybody, including people already partway through, and their existing marks are untouched.

Zero is not a weight

A question worth zero points refuses every mark, including yours. A written answer worth nothing cannot be scored at all — it will sit in the gradebook looking like something is broken, and nothing you do will clear it.

If you want a question that does not count, that is fine; just know you are also making it unmarkable. For a reflection nobody scores, that is probably what you want. For anything you intend to read and respond to, give it at least one point.

Weighting

Points are the only weighting there is. A question worth 10 counts ten times a question worth 1, and there are no sections, categories or percentages on top.

That makes it simple and it makes it blunt. Two practical consequences:

• A long essay worth the same as a multiple-choice question tells the learner what you think of their time. Weight the work.
• Lots of small questions quietly outweigh one big one. Twenty one-pointers are worth twice a ten-point essay.

Progress is not points

Two different figures, and learners confuse them, so it helps to know which is which:

• Progress counts lessons completed out of lessons in the course. Getting a question wrong does not reduce it.
• Points count marks earned out of marks available.

Somebody can be 100% through a course and have scored badly. Both numbers are shown, and they mean different things.

Changing a question’s points later

Allowed, and it changes the course total for everybody. Marks already given stay as the number they were — so raising a question from 1 to 10 after somebody scored 1 leaves them with 1 out of 10 on it. If you re-weight a live course, look at the gradebook afterwards.