Brightspace Frequently Asked Questions
Check out our newly updated Brightspace FAQs! This list runs through the most common questions the Brightspace Support Team gets throughout the year. If you have any questions not listed here, be sure to contact our Support team for assistance.
Support Schedule
The Vanderbilt University Brightspace Instructional Technologists are available for support between 8 AM and 4 PM Monday through Friday. Any emails received after 4 PM will be addressed when our team returns to normal support at 8 AM the following business day. While we’re out, we encourage you to utilize our On-Demand Resources to answer any questions that arise.
When creating a Grade Item in Brightspace, one of the options is a “Calculated” grade. This grade item will take the numerical point values of other grade items to calculate a grade. This can be helpful in many scenarios. In the guide below, we detail how to use a Calculated Grade Item to give a Midterm grade.
- Identify Grade Items that will contribute to the calculated grade
- Create the calculated grade
Identify grade items that will contribute to the calculated grade
Go into the Grades area of your Brightspace course, and select the Manage Grades tab.
Before creating the calculated grade item, make sure your grade book already contains the items you want to contribute to that grade. In this example there are multiple homework assignments, quizzes, and a midterm highlighted that will contribute to a calculated grade item.
Create the Calculated Grade Item
1. Go into the Grades area of your Brightspace course, and select the Manage Grades tab.
2. Click New and select Item
3. For the Grade Item Type, select Calculated
4. Give your item a name. Ex. “Midterm Grade”
5. Scroll down to select which existing grade items will contribute to the calculation:
6. Make sure that Milestone Grade Calculation is selected
7. Click Save and Close