Linking a Discussion Topic to the Grade Book

The following article details the steps required to link a discussion topic to your Grade Book.

Please note that the course layout, steps, and screenshots shown below may differ slightly for your campus.

A discussion topic can be linked to the Grade Book either by linking it to an existing grade item or by creating a new grade item during the discussion topic creation process.

Linking to an existing grade item

1. Verify that you have a grade item for your discussion topic that does not already have an association to another activity.  Grades items and their associations are found in the Manage Grades area of the Grade Book.  Note that the name of the grade item and the name of the discussion topic do not need to be the same.
   
    
2. On the Discussions page, either click the chevron next to the discussion topic and select Edit Topic if the topic has already been created, or use the New button and select New Topic to start creating one.  Note that each topic needs to be contained inside a forum.  If you do not have a forum created yet, you can do so either before or during the creation of your topic.
   
    
3. If you are creating a new topic, make sure to give it a name.  If you do not yet have a forum created to house your topic, a new one will be created that has the same name as the topic you create.  If you want to change the forum name, or if there is already a forum you want to put the topic into, click the Change Forum button and customize the forum to your preference.  Once that is done, click the box that says “Ungraded.”  You will then be able to enter the point value for the topic.
    
4. Look to the right of the point value box for the area that says “In Grade Book.”  Click that to open a drop-down menu and select Edit or Link to Existing.
   
    
5. On the screen that follows, select “Link to an existing grade item” and select the name of the grade item from the drop-down menu.  Once that is done, click OK.
   
    
6. If the item in the grade book had a different point value than the discussion topic you are creating or editing, the point value listed in the “Grade Out Of” box might have changed.  Make any necessary changes to correct it, then click Save and Close.
   

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Creating a new grade item

1. On the Discussion page, either click the chevron next to the topic name and select Edit Topic if the topic has already been created, or use the New and New Topic buttons to start creating one.
   
    
2. If you are creating a new discussion topic, make sure to give it a name.  If you do not yet have a forum created to house your topic, a new one will be created that has the same name as the topic you create.  If you want to change the forum name, or if there is already a forum you want to put the topic into, click the Change Forum button and customize the forum to your preference.  Once that is done, click the box that says “Ungraded.”  You will then be able to enter the point value for the discussion topic.
   
    
3. Look to the right of the point value box for the area that says “In Grade Book.”  Click that to open a drop-down menu and select Edit or Link to Existing.
   
    
4. Select the option to “Create and link to a new grade item,” then click Ok.  The new grade item will be given the same name as the discussion topic.  That can be changed at a later point through the grade book if necessary.
   
    
5. Click Save and Close at the bottom of the screen.
    
6. The Manage Grades page in the Grades area will now have a grade item with the same name and point value as the discussion topic, and the Association column will read “Discussions.”
   

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If you need further assistance or have additional questions please contact:
SUNY Online Support Services Help Desk
1-844-673-6786 | sunyonlinehelp@suny.edu