grades

Canvas: Divide Gradebook for Multiple Graders

Channell C. WalkerLeave a comment

If you have multiple graders in your course and you need to assign each grader a set of students; then, you can use groups to do this.

Randomly assign the students to groups and assign each grader a group(s).

If you have other group work in the course then you should know that you cannot hide groups from students. If you have the groups for the gradebook obviously named then I would have to express a concern for students sucking up to their grader for better grades. To work around this, divide the students into their working groups and assign graders based on those groups. This way students won’t know the gradebook is being divided or who is grading their work.

Canvas: Merging Quiz Grades

Channell C. WalkerLeave a comment

An instructor emailed me with a question about merging quiz grades in Canvas. Unfortunately, Canvas cannot combine grades in the gradebook, but there is something you can do to work around this.

Here are the problems that need to be solved:

  • 3 Midterms in one semester and the lowest midterm grade gets dropped
  • Midterm #3 was split into 2 parts and now the instructor wants them combined.

I’ll admit, I don’t know Canvas as well Sakai or Moodle, so I asked a colleague. Turns out, it’s basically the same solution I would use for any other LMS.

  1. Manually add the scores for part 2 with part 1, so the total score is combined in one column.
  2. Move part 2 to a different assignment group weighted 0% or adjust the settings for it to “Do not count towards final grade.”
  3. Once you have your 3 midterms ready, move them into one assignment group and apply the rule, “Drop lowest score” to that group.

Moodle 2.8: Gradebook

Channell C. WalkerLeave a comment

All the grades for students can be found in the gradebook. This is where various assessments are collected. They can be sorted with categories and the gradebook will calculate totals using chosen settings.

Access the Gradebook

  1. Log in with your NetID and password at moodle.rutgers.edu
  2. Find the course you want to access.
  3. Once in the course, go to the administration block.
  4. Click on Gradebook Setup. This will take you to the Gradebook Setup view.

 

Gradebook Setup View

The Gradebook Setup view is the place to go to add categories and items, or edit your gradebook.

Add a Category

  1. In the Gradebook Setup view, scroll down to the bottom of the page.
  1. Click on the “Add Category” button.

Grade Category

  1. Input the Category name.
  1. Aggregation: Determines how grades in the category are combined for the final grade. Choose an option from the drop-down menu. 
  1. You can exclude empty grades by checking the box, otherwise, the empty grades will count as zeros. 
  1. Drop the Lowest: Input the number of grades you would like to drop. For example, drop the lowest 3 grades. 

Category Total

  1. Grade Type: Choose the grade options. 
  1. Maximum Grade: Input the top grade. 
  1. Grade Display Type: Determines how the grades are displayed in the gradebook. 
  1. Overall decimal points: The number places after the decimal in a points type grade. For example, 65.7 or 48.667.
  1. You can also hide the grade from student view until a certain date (Hidden Until) or after a certain date (Lock After). Just check the box and input the date using the data boxes or the calendar icons. 

Parent Category

  1. If you want the category to be associated with another category you can choose that parent category in the drop-down menu. For example, if you have a category called, Participation, and you wanted that grade to include discussion forums, then you would create a discussion forums category and choose Participation as the parent category. 
  1. Weight: You can have the category’s weight adjusted based on how much of the parent category’s weight it is going to take up. If you set the parent category weight to 25% and check the Weight Adjusted box, then the new category’s weight will automatically be adjusted to only take up 25% of the Parent Category.

Add a Gradebook Item

  1. In the Gradebook Setup view, scroll down to the bottom of the page.
  1. Click on the “Add Grade Item” button.

Grade Item

  1. Input the item name.
  1. Item Info: Information about the item that will not be displayed to students. 
  1. Grade Type: Choose the options the grade. 
  1. Maximum Grade: Input the top grade. 
  1. Minimum Grade: Input the lowest grade a student can earn. The default is zero.
  1. Grade to pass: Input the grade a student needs to earn to pass.
  1. Grade Display Type: Determines how the grades are displayed in the gradebook. 
  1. Overall decimal points: The number places after the decimal in a points type grade. For example, 65.7 or 48.667.
  1. You can also hide the grade from student view until a certain date (Hidden Until) or after a certain date (Lock After). Just check the box and input the date using the data boxes or the calendar icons. 

Parent Category

  1. If you want the item to be associated with a category, you can choose that parent category in the drop-down menu. For example, if you have a category called, Quizzes, and you create a gradebook item for a paper quiz, then you would add it to the Quizzes category. 
  1. Item Weight: When you add an item to a category, you can determine the item’s weight compared to other items in that category. Though, you have to choose the category before setting the weight. 

Edit Your Gradebook

In the gradebook Setup View, you can:

  • Adjust gradebook item weights
  • Move items via selection or drag-and-drop
  • Edit item settings

Adjust Weights

  1.  Find the item or category you would like to edit. 
  2. Under the weights column, you will see the text box next to the category or item name. Input the weight.
  3. Click on the “Save Changes” button. 

Move a Category or Item

  1.  Find the item or category you would like to move. 
  1. There is a two-directional arrow icon next to the category or item name.
  1. Click on the icon and drag the item or category up or down the list.
  1. OR move the item to a category by checking box under the select column next to the item you want to move.
  1. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to the “Move selected items to” drop-down menu.
  1. Choose the category and the item should move to that category. 
  1. Click on the “Save Changes” button. 

Edit Item Settings

  1.  Find the item you would like to edit. 
  1. Click on the Edit link. This will take you to the item’s settings page.
  1. Make your edits.
  1. Click on the “Save Changes” button.

The Different Views

The gradebook can be viewed in different ways. Click on the drop-down menu at the top of the page to see the menu. Under the View category you will see the following:

  1. Grader Report – See all students and gradebook items in one spreadsheet.
  2. Grade History – See modifications to any grades and search by the user. If an assignment has multiple attempts each grade can be seen here.
  3. Outcomes Report – See the course average.
  4. Overview Report – All your grades in every course you are enrolled. This is good for student use.
  5. Single View – Grades for a specific gradebook item.
  6. User Report – grades for a specific user.

Moodle 2.8: Assignments

Channell C. WalkerLeave a comment

An assignment in Moodle is content students can interact with while going through the course to build on the theoretical material learned through the text content. They can be essays, worksheets, video responses, audio files, etc. Assignments can be added to the grade book during the initial setup or, later, as a gradebook item.

Access the Assignment Tool

  1. Log in with your NetID and password at moodle.rutgers.edu
  2. Go to the course you want to edit.
  3. Once in the course, turn editing on
  4. Then, scroll down to the lesson or week to which you want to add the assignment and click on “+ Add activity or resource”
  5. Choose “Assignment” from the list of activities

General

  1. Give the assignment a name.
  2. For the description, you can add the assignment instructions here or upload the instructions as a file. If you want the student to see the description on the course page, then check the box beneath the description text box.
  3. The additional files box is where you can upload an assignment document for students to download. To add a document file, drag and drop the assignment from your computer’s desktop or folder onto the arrow. You can also add the assignment file by clicking on the “Add file” button and browsing your computer or other files you have stored on the Moodle server.
    • Click on “Add file” button
    • Then select “Upload file” in the sidebar.
    • Click on “Choose file” button
    • Find the file on your computer, select it and click on “open.”
    • Add a Save as file name (optional)
    • Click on “Upload this file” button

Availability

The availability section is where you can input an open and close date for student access to the assignment.

  1. Allow submissions from: Check the enable box first, input the date using the data boxes or the calendar icon. 
  2. Due Date: Check the enable box first, input the date using the data boxes or the calendar icon. 
  3. Cut-off Date: This is the date to cut-off late submissions. 
  4. Remind me to grade by: If you’re setting up your assignments ahead of time, you may want to set a little reminder for yourself telling you to grade it by a certain date.

Submission Types

  1. Check file and/or online texts. It is recommended to check both boxes.
  2. Enter the max number of uploaded files a student can submit.
  3. Maximum submission size should be left at the default setting
  4. Accepted file types: Click on the “Choose” button to select the file types in the pop-up menu.
  5. (Optional) Check the box to enable a word limit and input the number. 

Feedback Types

  1. Feedback Types: choose the ways you would like to give feedback from the following options:

    • Feedback files
    • Feedback comments
    • Offline grading worksheet
    • Annotate PDF
  2. Comment Inline: Decide if you want to add comments to the submitted text. TIP: use a different colored text to make your comments stand out from the student’s work.

Submission Settings

  1. This section allows you to determine how students can submit their work for the assignment.
  1. Require students to click submit button – It is recommended to set this to “Yes,” in case a student accidentally submits the wrong file, this will give them the opportunity to check before submitting.
  2. Require students to accept the submission statement: This is an optional setting which is a statement based on the honor system stating the student will not cheat.
  3. Attempts reopened – Allows the student to submit the assignment multiple times, but you can choose if the assignment can be reopened only by the teacher or if the assignment is automatically reopened until the student earns a passing grade. If you do not want students to have multiple attempts, then choose “Never.”
  4. Maximum Attempts – This is the number of attempts or submissions students have. This feature becomes active when you set attempts to “Manually” or “Automatically until pass.”

Group Submission Settings

  1. If your assignment is for a group, then you would use this section along with the submission settings.
  2. Students submit in groups – change to yes.

Notifications

  1. This section allows you to say whether or not you want an email every time a student submits an assignment. This can clutter up your inbox and most people find it annoying especially since they can check for submissions on Moodle.
  2. It is recommended that students get notified about submissions as it is a form of receipt and reassurance that their assignment has been submitted.

Turnitin Settings

  1. Using this service is entirely up to you, but it is a third-party service that scans students’ papers for possible plagiarism. It is best to use it for midterms or finals. Just go down the list and answer each question based on the best fit for your assignment.
  2. TIP: The “Allow submission of any file type?” setting may not work for audio and video files. It’s best to use Turnitin for document file formats.

Grade

  1. You can grade by points or a scale such as ABCDF, pass/fail, etc. The option to choose a scale only becomes available when you choose “Scale” in the grade type.
  2. You have the choice of also using a grade guide or rubric as your grading method. A grade guide is similar to a rubric, but not as flexible.
  3. Grade Categories are first created in the gradebook and then they can be selected here.
  4. You can input the grade a student needs to earn in order to pass.
  5. Blind grading hides the student’s identity.
  6. Use grading workflow is for an assignment that needs multiple rounds of grading before the grade can be released to the students. To assign instructors to grade different parts of an assignment, change the “Use grading allocation” setting to “Yes.”

Click on “Save and Return to Course” to go back to the main course page.