Using Moodle’s Gradebook for the first time can feel intimidating, The good news is that adjusting categories and weights can be done any time and the setup starts to make sense fairly quickly. My recommendation for most users is to leave the default settings on simple weighted mean of grades. You will add a grade category for each of your components and set the maximum grade to the number that corresponds with the percentage for each item. For example, if participation is 15% of the grade, you will create a category called Participation and set the maximum grade to 15.
Here is a ten-minute video recorded during a faculty workshop on using the Moodle Gradebook: https://www.loom.com/share/a067f4afa451443db041b6ff6107040f
For help setting up your gradebook or advice on specific use cases, please contact Sara Sprague at spraguesa@hollins.edu.