Category: Grading

Grading student submissions

1. On your course page, click the link to the assignment activity you want to grade. The Assignment page will open, showing the Grading summary and Submission status.
2. Click View/grade all submissions. The Assignment submissions page will open.
3. From the Separate groups or Visible groups drop-down menu, select a Group to grade. The page will reload to show only the students from that Group.
   Note: The groups drop-down will not appear unless you have completed step 7, above (Common module settings).
4. Click the Grade icon () next to a specific student’s submission from the Group. The submission Grading page will open.
5. Provide a grade and feedback comments as you would normally.
6. If you would like your grade and feedback to only be provided for an individual student, under Group submission settings, set the Apply grades and feedback to entire group setting to No. If set to Yes, the same grade and feedback will to be applied to all students in the group.
7. Scroll down to the bottom and click Save changes.

For information about configuring group assignments, see How To: Configure Group Assignments in Edspora.

Edspora’s gradebook is a powerful tool for sharing grades and feedback with students and calculating final grades. The gradebook provides several different options for how to calculate and display grades. You may configure your gradebook before the start of the semester or build it as you teach.

This page outlines the major functions involved in configuring the gradebook and provides links to step-by-step instructions. For an overview of how to input and record student grades, see Record Grades in Edspora.

Set Up Your Gradebook

Create and Arrange Grade Items and Categories

When you add activities such as Assignments or Quizzes to a Edspora course, corresponding grade items (columns) are added to the course gradebook. Edspora also lets you manually add columns to your gradebook to record extra grade items (for example, if you administer an offline midterm exam). In both of these cases, it’s fine to build your gradebook as you go, but when it’s time to calculate final grades, the organization of these items is essential to making sure you get the correct results.

• Create & Organize Items & Categories in the Edspora Gradebook.
• Grade Category Options in Edspora.

Calculate Grades

The simplest way to calculate grades is to let Edspora handle calculations. Edspora has built-in calculations (called aggregations) to compute the score for the entire course (and sub-totals if you need them). Edspora can aggregate grades as Natural (which has replaced Sum of grades), Mean of grades, and Custom weights (where weights are applied to individual items or categories as a percentage of the total grade). You can also create a custom formula if you require additional operations.

• Grade Calculation in Edspora.
•  Custom Grade Formulas in the Edspora Gradebook.

Additional Gradebook Options & Grading Methods

Display Grades with Letters and Percentages

By changing settings in your gradebook, you can control how grades are displayed to students, including showing grades as a numeric score (Real), percentage, or letter. By default, Edspora activities use the Grade type of Points, with the maximum points set at 100.

On the Letters tab in the gradebook, you can customize grade boundaries by matching ranges of scores to letter grades (e.g., 93.00-100.00 for A). Then when grading, enter the number that matches the letter grade you want to assign (e.g., 89 for a B+), or upload numeric scores from a spreadsheet. When Edspora generates letter grades, it will match numeric scores to the ranges in the Letters settings and display the correct letter grade to students.

Note: Grade items associated with Edspora activities allow only numeric scores to be entered. Letter grades can be typed directly in the Edspora gradebook or uploaded from a spreadsheet only for manually created grade items that are set to the Letter grade type.

• Advanced Grade Item Options in the Edspora Gradebook.

Grade with Rubrics and Non-numeric Scales

If you want alternative methods for evaluating student work, some Edspora activities support grading with rubrics and non-numeric scales. 

• Rubrics are useful when you want to assess student work using multiple criteria. In Assignment activities, you can use advanced grading options to configure a rubric and criteria, and then when grading, the rubric will calculate an overall score.  
• Custom Scales are for when you want students to see Excellent, Good, Fair, etc., as a grade on an item instead of a numerical score. While custom scales can be used to display non-numeric assessments (such as ?-, ?, and ?+), the gradebook will still be able to do calculations with these items if needed.

An alternative to giving numerical grades on an assignment is to use Grading scales. For example, you could use a custom scale when you want students to see Excellent, Good, or Fair as a grade on an assignment as opposed to a numerical score.

Grading scales are best for record-keeping purposes and other assessments you do not intend to factor into the course total in your Edspora gradebook. However, keep in mind that Edspora still assigns numerical values to each term within the scale in order to do mathematical operations (see below). Depending on your gradebook setup, these values can impact your grade calculations in ways you may not intend.

How Grading Scales Work

The aggregation method used with Scales affects scores. While you and your students will see the values assigned by a grading scale in the Grader report and User report, these values will function numerically in grade book calculations depending on the kind of grade calculation being used.

• Natural: The first value in the scale is given the value of 1, and subsequent values are assigned the next whole number (e.g. “Very Poor” = 1, “Poor” = 2, “Fair” = 3, “Good” = 4, “Excellent” = 5).
• Mean of grades or Custom weights: The first value in the scale is given the value of 0, and subsequent values are assigned the next whole number (e.g. “Very Poor” = 0, “Poor” = 1, “Fair” = 2, “Good” = 3, “Excellent” = 4).

Using Scales to replicate a standard letter scale is not recommended:

While you could create a conventional letter scale using a custom scale, doing so may have unexpected effects on grade calculation because of the way each letter is assigned a numerical value (see below).

F (1), D (2), D+ (3), C- (4), C (5), C+ (6), B- (7), B (8), B+ (9), A- (10), A (11)

When using a custom scale like this instance, calculating a grade percentage will not align with the traditional letter scale. For instance, a C on the scale above would be equivalent to 45% (5 / 11). If you want to see grades in your gradebook displayed as letter grades, it may be simpler to edit the category settings and change the display mode. 

Set a Scale Grade Item to Not Aggregate

Any grade item on the gradebook can be set to not aggregate in the calculation of the grade book. To set a scale grade item to not aggregate:

1. Select Course Management, the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under Grading, select Gradebook setup. The Gradebook setup page will open.
3. Locate the row for the grade item you wish to edit, go to the Weights column and change the value to ‘0’.
   Note: This option will not be available if using the Mean of grades aggregation method.
   Note:If using the Natural aggregation method, click the checkbox next to the weight to enable edits of the weight column.
4. Click Save Changes when complete.

Create a Custom Grading Scale

To create a custom grading scale:

1. Select Course Management(black gear icon, top right), the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under Grading, select Gradebook setup. The Gradebook setup page will open.
3. In the navigation tabs, click Scales. The Course scales page will open.
4. At the bottom of the page, click Add a new scale. The Add a scale page will open.
5. Type a name for your scale in the Name box.
6. Enter the actual terms of your scale in order from least to greatest, separated by commas (e.g. “Very Poor, Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent”).
7. (Optional) Enter a description for your scale.
8. Click Save Changes when complete.

Apply a Scale to a Grade Item or Category Total

After creating a custom scale, it can be used with a grade item or category total by editing advanced settings. Note: The scale for an activity-based grade item is set on the activity settings page. 

1. Select Course Management(black gear icon, top right), the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under Grading, select Gradebook setup. The Gradebook setup page will open.
3. Under Actions, in the row for a grade item or category title click Edit. The Edit page for this item will open.
4. On the Edit page, click to the Grade item or Category total heading to view and adjust the settings. 
5. In the Grade type drop-down menu, select Scale. (If you do not see this option, click Show more… to view all options)
6. In the Scale drop-down menu, select the name of the scale.
7. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.

This page describes how to enter grades directly in the Grader report, how editing grades in this manner causes overrides, and how to enable or disable grade overrides and locks.

Manually Edit and Override Grades in the Grader Report

Edspora allows you to enter or edit grades directly in the Grader report. This method is different than grading submissions from within an activity such as an assignment.

1. Select Course Management, the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under Grading, select Grader report. The Grader Report page will open.
3. With the gradebook on the Grader report tab, click Turn editing on.
   Grade cells will change to show an entry field and a message appears at the top of the page explaining that if another grader for this course updates the gradebook while you are editing grades, your changes will be lost.:
4. Search for the column that you want to edit or override. Manually input grades into blank cells in the table, or edit grades already recorded for particular activities (e., quizzes, etc.).
5. To save changes, click Save changes or press Enter on your keyboard. If you have edited grades linked to a Edspora activity, Edspora will highlight the cells in orange to show that the grade has been overridden.

Modify Grades on the Single View Grading Page

1. Select Course Management, the Course Management panel will open.
2. On the Course Management panel, under Grading, select Grader report. The Grader Report page will open.
3. Each column and row heading contains a Single view icon). To view and edit the Single View page:A grading page will open showing all the grades for the student, or all the students for the grade item.
   •  For a student, click the pencil icon to the right of a student’s name.
   •  For a grade item, click the pencil icon in the grade item’s column heading.
4. In the Override grade column (at left), select the checkboxes for the items you wish to grade. You can select individual boxes, or in the column heading, click All to make all grades editable.
   Note: Manual grade items do not require this step, all others that have Override grade deselected will be skipped.
5. At the bottom of the page, below the table, select the Perform bulk insert checkbox.
6. From the drop-down menu:
   To enter the grade only in cells that are blank, select Empty grades.
   To enter the grade in all cells, select All grades.
7. Enter the grade you wish to give in the Insert value field.
   Note: All entries must be numeric. This function does not work with grade items graded with scales or letters.
8. Click Save to save grade changes. A confirmation message will appear. Click Continue to refresh the Single View grading page.
9. When you return to the Grader report, overridden grade items will be displayed with an orange background and marked “Overridden” to indicate grades have been edited in the gradebook.

Note: If you enter mistaken grades and wish to start over, see Remove Overrides from Grade Items, below.

Working with Multiple Graders

Only one grader (Instructor or TA) can manually enter grades in the gradebook at the same time. Edspora will not allow you to save changes to a gradebook that has been updated by someone else after you opened the page for editing. This is to prevent grading conflicts and unintended overrides if multiple graders use a gradebook at the same time.

To avoid this issue:

• Don’t open grading screens in multiple windows on your own computer. For example, don’t turn on editing in the gradebook Grader report in one browser window, while entering grades on the Assignment submission screen, or rating Forum posts in another browser window.
• If more than one person will need to manually enter grades in a course gradebook, we recommend you agree on a plan to alert each other when you are entering grades and when you complete a grading session.

Note: More than one grader can safely grade Edspora Assignments at the same time if they work from the Assignment submission page, grade one student at a time, and do not use the Quick grade feature. 

About Grade Overrides

Overrides are triggered when you manually edit grades for Edspora activities such as Quizzes, Forums, Assignments, or Category totals in the gradebook. Once saved, these items become highlighted in orange and will display “Overridden” in red text, indicating that the grade is overridden. The override prevents further updates to the grade from outside the gradebook.

Grade overrides occur with several types of gradebook activity:

• Editing Category or Course Totals in the Gradebook – If you edit cells in a Calculated column, such as a Category total, the calculated column will be overridden and will not recalculate if grade items within the category are changed.
• Manually Grading Edspora Activities from within the Gradebook – If you manually edit grades in the gradebook for an activity such as a Quiz, Assignment, or Forum, grades will be overridden and will no longer automatically update if changed from outside the gradebook (e.g., if a quiz is re-graded or an assignment is graded from the Assignment submission page).
• Changing Grades from the Grade Page – To make changes on the Grade page, users must first select the Override grade checkbox. This page also includes a column of Exclude from totals checkboxes.
• Importing Grades from a Spreadsheet – If you import grades for a Edspora activity or category from a spreadsheet, the grades will be flagged as overridden and will no longer automatically update if grades are changed from outside the gradebook (e.g., if a Quiz is re-graded, or an Assignment is graded from the Assignment submission page).

In all of these cases, overridden grades can still be changed from the Grader report by further manual editing, but will not change if grades are updated somewhere else in the course.

Note: Grades can also be locked, meaning the value cannot be changed even when editing is turned on in the Grader report. Locks are turned on by editing settings in the gradebook (see below) and are not triggered by editing a single grade.

Reasons to Override or Lock Grades

• You no longer want grades to be updated by assignments.
• You want to override a grade received on a quiz.
• You do not want teaching assistants to change grades after a certain deadline.

Potential Issues When Grades Are Overridden or Locked

• Overridden Calculated columns will not automatically update when changes to grade items are made.
• If a grade is overridden in the Grader report, you cannot change a grade or edit comments on the activity grading screen unless you disable the override/unlock the grade.

Lock/Unlock a Grade Column

To prevent further changes for an entire column, you can lock that column and preserve the currently displayed grades.

1. Open the Grader report and click Turn editing on. Grade cells will change to show an entry field and settings icons will appear in the table.
2. In the Controls row, click Edit immediately below the column heading. The Edit grade item screen will open.
3. Under Grade Item, select or deselect Locked, then click Save changes. The Grader report will reload reflecting the changes made (e.g., highlight color or edit fields).

Enable/Disable an Override or Lock for a Single Student’s Grade

 If you release an override or remove a lock, grades will revert to the value recorded in the activity or, for a calculated column, the calculated value.

1. Open the Grader report and click Turn editing on.
2. Click Edit next to the overridden grade. The Edit grade page will open.
3. Select or deselect the Overridden box and/or the Locked box, then click Save changes. When the Grader report loads the display will change to indicate the state (i.e., previously overridden grades will not be highlighted, or locked grades will not be editable when editing is on).

Note: To release the override for all grades for a grade item, use the Single View tool.

Exclude Grades from Category Calculations

On the Edit grade page, you can exclude grade items from the grade calculations for particular activities. This can be used to excuse a student from a graded activity, or to show students a grade for an activity (e.g., practice quiz, etc.) that will not count towards their final grade.

If a grade is excluded, it will not be part of the aggregation calculation that you have selected for the category. It will also be excluded from any Drop the lowest category settings you have selected. Once saved, these items become highlighted in orange and will display “Excluded” in red text indicating that the grade is excluded.

Note: A grade item that is excluded from a category calculation is also excluded from the Course Total.

1. Open the Grader report and click Turn editing on.
2. Click Edit next to the grade you wish to exclude. The Edit grade page will open.
3. Select Excluded, then click Save changes. When the Grader report loads the excluded grade will be marked.

Edspora only supports inputting letter grades into manual grade items that have been set to the Letter grade type. However, it is also possible to enter numerical scores and set them to display as letter grades.

This page explains how to adjust the numerical values that correspond to the letters in your grading scale (A, B, C, etc.), how to add a letter grade column, and how to configure the Edspora gradebook to display letter grades for numeric columns.

Edit Grade Letter Boundaries

If you are entering numeric values, you can customize the numeric-to-letter conversion scheme in your course.

Important: Once a Letter Grade item is added to a gradebook, you cannot adjust Grade Letter Boundaries (unless you delete all letter grade items). Be sure to set the grading scheme before adding any Letter Grade items.

1. In the Administrationblock, under Course Administration click Grades. The gradebook will open to the Grader report or the last page you viewed.
2. In the navigation tabs (at top), click Letters. The Grade letters page will open showing the values currently being used to convert scores to letter grades.
3. Click Edit grade letters at the top of the scores summary. The Edit grade letters page will open.
4. To edit the grade boundary values, check Override site defaults. The fields for Grade letters and Letter grade boundaries will unlock and become editable.
   Note: Letters A and F must correspond to maximum and minimum, respectively. 
5. Enter new grade letters and/or boundary values as required.
   Note: Numerical values will display as rounded to the second decimal place but letter grade boundaries can have up to 5 decimal places.
6. At the bottom of the page, click Save changes.

Display Letter Grades for Numerical Scores

Setting a numeric grade item to display a letter grade will not “lock” your Grade Letter Boundary scheme (as happens if you add a manual Letter grade item). However, since there is only one grading scheme allowed for the entire course, adjusting the scheme will affect the letter grades displayed for all grade items.

Note: Even if a numerical column is set to display letter grades, when editing is turned on in the Grader report, you must read and input numerical values.

To have numerical grade items and category totals display letter grades:

1. In the Administrationblock, under Course Administration click Gradebook setup. The gradebook will open to the Gradebook setup page.
2. Under the Actions column, in the row for a grade item or category title, click Edit. The Edit drop-down menu will open. From the Edit drop-down menu, click Edit settings. The Edit page for this item will open.
3. Depending on which item you selected, click the either Grade item or Category total heading to expand the page.
4. Below the list of settings click Show more….
5. In the Grade display type drop-down menu, select Letter.
   Note: This setting allows up to two grade display types. For example, by selecting Letter (percentage), the grade will display as “B (85%)”.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page. This will change how the grade displays on the User report and the Grader report when editing is turned off.

Add a Manual Letter Grade Item

When you add a graded Activity to a course (such as an assignment or quiz), Edspora automatically adds a column (grade item) to the gradebook for the activity. You can also create grade items not linked to Edspora activities by adding them manually on the Gradebook setup page of the gradebook, then set the grade item to allow you to enter or upload letter grades rather than numeric scores.

Note: You cannot edit grade letter boundaries while Letter grade items exist in your gradebook.

To add a grade item that lets you enter Letter grades:

1. In the Administration block, under Course Administration, click Gradebook setup. The gradebook will open to the Gradebook setup tab.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add grade item. The New grade item page will open.
3. In the Item name field, enter a name for the column. Try to use short names, and do not use special characters, commas, ampersands, or quotes.
4. In the Grade type drop-down menu, select Letter. (If you do not see this option, click Show more… to view all options)
   Note: This option cannot be changed after the grade item is saved.
5. The Max grade option will no longer be available. The maximum grade will always be A, minimum grade will always be F.
6. When finished, click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page.

Use a Manual Letter Grade Item as the Course Total

If you have added a Letter grade column for the purpose of importing Course total grades you need to give the Course total column a formula to pull the grades from the Letter grade item into the Course total column:

1. After adding your Letter grade item to the gradebook as described above, navigate to Gradebook setup and, in the row for Course total, click Edit. The Edit drop-down menu will open. From the Edit drop-down menu click Edit calculation.The Edit calculation page opens.
2. Scroll down to ID numbers and locate the Letter grade column you wish to use for your course total.
3. In the text entry box for your Letter grade item, provide an ID name or number, for example, FinalLetterGrade.
4. Click Add ID numbers. The ID will show on the page after your Letter grade item surrounded by double-brackets, for example, [[FinalLetterGrade]].
5. Stay on the Edit Calculation page and scroll up to the top of the page. In the Calculation entry box enter the formula:  = [[ID Number]], for example, = [[FinalLetterGrade]].
6. Click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page.
7. Check to ensure that the grades from your Letter grade item are appearing in the Course total column.