Assessments are the backbone of any course. Whether you're grading a final exam or assigning a low-stakes quiz to check understanding, how you set up your evaluations determines the student experience. SyllaCourse gives you two distinct paths, summative and formative, and each one is designed to save you time while keeping your course pedagogically sound.
If you've ever spent an afternoon wrestling with a gradebook, manually linking every quiz to its matching column, you'll appreciate what summative evaluations do behind the scenes. And if you've ever wanted to sprinkle in a quick discussion or case study without it counting toward the final grade, formative evaluations are your answer.
Let's walk through both, step by step.
Summative Evaluations: The Gradebook Connection
When you set up your course in SyllaCourse, you'll reach the Evaluation Setup step before generating your content. This is where summative evaluations live. Think of this page as your "grading blueprint" where you define what gets graded, when it happens, and how much it's worth.
Here are the seven evaluation types you can add:
Each one carries a weight (its percentage of the final grade) and is assigned to a specific week or module. When you click Generate, something powerful happens behind the scenes: SyllaCourse doesn't just create the evaluation activity. It automatically creates a matching grade item in the gradebook and links the two together.
No manual linking required. When your course package is imported into Brightspace (D2L), every summative quiz, assignment, and test is already wired to its gradebook column, complete with the correct weight, point value, and identifier. You save the tedious step of opening the gradebook and connecting everything yourself.
For example, if you add a Quiz worth 10% in Week 3 and a Major Test worth 40% in Week 8, SyllaCourse will generate both the quiz and the test and create two gradebook entries with those exact weights. The moment you import the package, the gradebook is ready to go.
The "Grade Item Only" Option
Sometimes you need a line in the gradebook that isn't tied to any digital activity inside your LMS. Maybe it's an in-class oral presentation, a participation grade, or a lab performance mark that you assess in person.
That's where Grade Item Only comes in. When you select this type, SyllaCourse creates a standalone entry in the gradebook. No quiz, no assignment dropbox, no discussion thread. Just a clean gradebook column with your specified weight, ready for you to manually enter marks.
Example: You want "Class Participation" worth 5% in your gradebook, but there's no online submission for it. Add a Grade Item Only evaluation, give it a label like "Class Participation," set its weight to 5%, and you're done. The gradebook entry will appear automatically upon import.
Splitting Evaluations: Divide and Conquer
Here's a scenario many instructors encounter: you know you want Assignments to be worth 30% of the grade, but you want that 30% spread across three separate assignments, not one giant submission.
SyllaCourse's Split feature handles this beautifully. You start with a single evaluation (say, an Assignment worth 30%) and click the split icon. Choose how many pieces you want (2, 3, 4, or more), and the system automatically:
• Divides the weight evenly across all the new items (30% ÷ 3 = 10% each)
• Labels them sequentially (Assignment #1, Assignment #2, Assignment #3)
• Distributes them across your course timeline proportionally
• Adjusts coverage ranges so each item maps to the right weeks
How it works for tests: If you split a Major Test that originally covers Weeks 1 to 15 into two parts, the system intelligently creates Midterm (Weeks 1 to 7) and Final (Weeks 8 to 15), each set at the end of its coverage period. Every resulting item gets its own grade item in the gradebook.
The split feature is also smart about rounding. If 30% doesn't divide perfectly by the number of parts, SyllaCourse adjusts the last item's weight so the total adds up to exactly the right number. No rogue 0.01% floating around.
Formative Evaluations: Added in Course Structure
Now let's talk about the other side of the coin. Formative evaluations are not configured on the Evaluation Setup page. Instead, they are activities that you manually add within the Course Structure page (the course builder): things like case studies, practice quizzes, or discussion forums that are meant for learning, not grading.
Because these activities are not defined on the Evaluation Setup page, SyllaCourse treats them as purely formative. That means:
• No grade item is created in the gradebook
• No weight is assigned, they are 0% of the final grade
• The activity itself is still generated with full AI content (questions, scenarios, discussion
prompts), but it simply isn't linked to any gradebook column
Example: You drag a "Case Study" activity into Week 4 of your course builder. SyllaCourse will generate a beautifully crafted case study with a fictional scenario and 10 questions (6 multiple-choice and 4 true/false), but it won't touch the gradebook. Students complete it for practice, you review participation if you wish, and the final grade stays unaffected.
This is particularly useful when you want to check understanding before a major test, provide low-pressure practice opportunities, or simply spark engagement with a creative activity like an interactive crossword or visual organizer.
Summative vs. Formative: A Quick Comparison
To make the distinction crystal clear, here's how the two approaches compare side by side:
Summative evaluations (Evaluation Setup page):
• Carry a weight toward the final grade
• Automatically create a linked grade item in the gradebook
• Types include Quiz, Major Test, Assignment, Project, Discussion, Presentation, and Grade Item Only
• Support splitting into multiple equal parts
• Matched to the corresponding generated activity by type and week
Formative evaluations (Course Structure page):
• Carry no weight (0% of the final grade)
• Do not create any grade item in the gradebook
• Added by dragging activity blocks (Case Study, Quiz, Discussion, etc.) directly into a week or
module
• Fully generated with AI content, just without gradebook integration
• Ideal for practice, engagement, and learning reinforcement
Pro Tip: You can have both a summative quiz and a formative quiz in the same week. The summative one (defined in Evaluation Setup) counts toward the grade; the formative one (added in Course Structure) is for practice. SyllaCourse knows the difference because only activities with a matching evaluation on the setup page receive a grade item.
The Takeaway
SyllaCourse draws a clear line between evaluations that count and activities that teach. By separating summative evaluations (configured once on the Evaluation Setup page, with automatic gradebook linking) from formative evaluations (added freely within Course Structure), the platform gives you complete control over your grading strategy without the manual busywork.
Next time you build a course, try this: set up your summative evaluations first, use the split feature to break larger assessments into manageable pieces, then jump into Course Structure and sprinkle in formative case studies and discussions wherever your students could use extra practice. Your gradebook will be ready on import. Your students will have a rich, balanced learning experience. And you'll never manually link a grade item again.
Happy designing! ✦