Exempt students from course activities

Students can be exempt from an activity within the grade book or the Content tool. By using exemptions, an instructor can provide an implicit reason why a student does not have a score for a grade item or an activity. When you simply give a student a blank grade or a zero (0), Brightspace interprets it as one of the following:

  • The student has not submitted the assessment;
  • The assessment has not been graded;
  • The student has failed the assessment.

Using the exemption function enables you to exclude a grade item from the final calculation for one or more students, or to select which students will see certain content items in your course. You can set exemptions for the following:

  • Content items
  • Numeric grades
  • Selection box grades
  • Pass/fail grade items
  • Calculated
  • Formula
  • Text grade item types

Note that you cannot exempt a student from a final calculated grade or final adjusted grade.

For an overview of how exemptions interact with Content, Class Progress and Assignments, please check this Brightspace video. You can also find more information on grade exemptions on this page.

You can find step-by-step guides on how to set exemptions for your students, to see more information click on the + next to the option you want to view. You can also follow this Brightspace video.

Be aware that exemptions can only be set on the following topic types:

  • File topics
  • LTI links
  • Checklists
  • Assignments
  • Discussions
  • Quizzes
  • Surveys
  • Self-Assessments

For details on how grade exemptions affect grade calculations, class statistics and release conditions, please expand the following sections: