How grading works

A question in scaffold is graded by default. When the learner picks an answer and submits it, the question is marked, a score is recorded, and the result flows back to the LMS gradebook.

This page covers the four pieces of that loop.

What “graded” means

A graded question contributes points to the page’s total. Each question has its own point value (the default is 1). When a learner submits, the question awards its full points for a right answer, zero for a wrong one, and a fraction in between for partial credit (see Partial credit).

You can turn off grading for any individual question. An ungraded question still shows correct / incorrect feedback to the learner, but it doesn’t contribute to the score. Use ungraded questions for practice, warm-ups, or self-check moments.

The graded / ungraded toggle sits in the quick menu above the block.

Where the score goes

The LMS adapter stores each learner’s assessment state inside the LMS so their attempts and results survive reloads. In the currently available Open edX and Moodle integrations, it then publishes the official score through the LMS’s grading mechanism. Scaffold does not run a separate gradebook or external student-record service.

Canvas, D2L, and Blackboard support is planned through LTI 1.3 and is not currently available.

You see the result in the same place you’d see any other graded activity in your LMS. Scaffold isn’t a parallel gradebook; it’s the authoring tool that the LMS treats as one more graded activity.

Learning records are separate

Supported assessment questions can also emit an xAPI answered learning record after the authoritative submission has been accepted. That record can describe the response, correctness, normalized score, and attempt number, but it does not calculate or publish the official grade.

If learning-record delivery is unavailable or fails, the submission, saved assessment state, learner feedback, and LMS grade are unchanged. See Learning records and xAPI for the supported question types and host destinations.

What the learner sees on submit

After the learner clicks Submit they see one of three things, depending on the question’s settings:

• Their score for the question
• The correct answer, if you’ve left Show answer on
• Feedback: per-choice feedback for the answer they picked, plus any summary feedback you’ve written

You can also let the learner try again. With Try again enabled, an incorrect submission gives feedback and lets them resubmit. The Points and attempts page covers how many tries you can allow.

The settings that shape grading

Four settings in the quick menu and settings sheet do most of the work:

• Graded / not graded — whether the question contributes to the page’s score.
• Points — how many points a correct answer is worth.
• Attempts — how many times the learner can try.
• Feedback mode — when the learner sees feedback. Immediate shows it after each click; On submit waits until they click Submit. See Feedback timing.

The next three pages cover these in turn.