Both instructors and students have Grades in the Administration block within each course. Grade items are automatically added when an assignment or quiz is created. You may also manually create items to add to the grader report. The Gradebook is a robust tool with many advanced features including formula calculations.


Access Gradebook

To access Grades module:

  1. Login and select the course title.
  2. Select Grades from the navigation bar. gradebook1
  3. Select the View. gradebook2

Anatomy of the Gradebook

When you navigate to the gradebook in your course, you will see one or more columns and one or more categories.

Columns are grade items, which will correspond to the assignments and other activities created in your course or will correspond to items added manually (more on that later).

Categories are folders that are manually created. Categories allow you to group similar kinds of grade items (quizzes, for example) and assign a weight to that group. A main parent category for the course will automatically be created and it will be labeled with the course name by default.

The default view is the Grader Report:

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  1. Tabs: These Tabs allow you to navigate to different parts of the gradebook, including different views of the gradebook as well as the Gradebook setup (more on this later).
  2. Participants: You can choose to organize the gradebook by groups (if you have enabled groups at the course level) or by selecting corresponding first letters of student’s first and last names.
  3. List of Participants: Here your students will be listed as per how you have elected to organize the gradebook.
  4. Category: Here is an example of a category, which includes one grade item as well as a category total. You can build other categories to organize your gradebook and distribute weight (in this case, there is an Assignments category).
  5. Grade Items: These are the columns that hold the corresponding grades for a particular assignment or test. Grade Items can be part of a category, or by themselves. When you turn your editing on, you will be able to enter grades for each student in these columns.
  6. Course Total: The default in UR Courses is to show the course total, which will calculate the total based on how you have set up the aggregation of your course and categories. It is possible to disable the course total.
  1. Range and Overall Average: These two rows display the grade range for the grade item or category total and the class average for grade items.

Viewing


Grades Display

There are three ways categories/folders can be displayed in the Grader report. Each section has a small icon immediately to the right of its name. Clicking the icon will cycle through these display modes for that category.

  • gradebookview1 Grades only view – grades without the category totals column
  • gradebookview2 Collapsed view - category total column only
  • gradebookview3 Full view - grades and the aggregates (the totals column for the category)

Show/Hide Icons

Once you are inside the gradebook, in the Grader Report view, and you have turned your editing on, you should see a number of icons and boxes. The boxes are where you will enter grades and feedback comments. In addition to the boxes appearing, icons in the shape of eye will appear beside every category, grade item, and grade cell. These icons allow you to hide the marks from students. You can hid the entire gradebook, hide the marks for an entire category, hide the marks for an entire grade item, or hide a single mark for a student.

To hide the marks you just need to click on the “eye” for the corresponding category, item or mark you wish to hide. The eye will then have a slash through it.

To show the marks you have hidden, you just need to click on the “eye”.

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Gradebook Views

When you click on the View tab there are subtabs were you can view:

Grader Report

The Grader report is where you can view and enter grades. Viewing and entering grades can be done individually for each student, or can be done for a group of students (if Groups are enabled at the course level).

Grader Report with Edit Mode Off: gradebookview5

Grader Report with Edit Mode On: gradebookview6

If you have groups enabled in your course settings and you have created groups from your class list, you can separate your gradebook into group views.

To view Groups:

  1. Access the gradebook for your course.
  2. In the Grader Report of the View tab, click the dropdown menu on the left side of the page labeled Visible groups. The default selection is “All participants”. Select the name of the group you want to view. gradebookview7
  3. You will now see grades for only that group of students. The group view includes the group average for assignments as well as the overall course average for each assignment. gradebookview8

Grade History

The Grade history report allows you to view the grade history of a specific student(s), grade item(s), and/or grader(s) between specific dates.

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Outcome Report

The outcome report shows the progress of a student through outcomes if you have outcomes set up for your course. The report shows the name, course, site wide average, the activity, average values, and the number of grades given.

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Single View

The single view report allows you to view all the grades of one student OR all the grades of every student for a grade item. Use the drop down menus on the right side of the screen to change what type of single report you are viewing.

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User Report

The User report in the view tab is much like the Grader report, in that the grader can view student grades, but in the User Report, you are viewing one student’s record at a time.

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  1. This dropdown menu gives you the ability to organize and view students via their assigned groups, if applicable.
  2. Here you can select which student you wish to view. Additionally, the View report as menu allows to see the report as the student would see it.

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Entering Grades


You may enter grades directly into the Gradebook or you may enter grades through the assignments. If you are entering grades directly into the Gradebook, the Gradebook is constructed like an Excel spreadsheet.

To enter grades into the gradebook:

  1. Access the Gradebook.
  2. Turn editing on. Ensure you are in the Grader Report.
  3. Type grades into the boxes with solid lines in the corresponding grade item column and student row.
  4. To enter feedback, type text directly into the box with the checkered lines directly to the right of the grade field.

gradebookenter1

TIP:

The student’s name and ID will always be visible on screen, regardless of how many assignments you have in your gradebook.

Note: Entering a grade from the grader report causes the grade to be flagged as "Overwrite," meaning you have manually entered a grade rather than using the grade sheet for a specific assignment. This is not a problem; it is just an alert that this grade has been manually overwritten. This does, however, finalize the grade and will not let you change the grade in any page other than the grader report.

To enter grades through assignments:

  1. Access the assignment from the course homepage.
  2. Click the View all submissions link at the link underneath the Grading summary. gradebookenter4
  3. A submission overview page will appear. Click the Grade button for the student that you would like to enter a grade for.
  4. A submission status will appear. Select the user from the Change user dropdown box on the top left side which will populate the grading window. Here you can choose the grade according to the value range, scale, or outcome you’ve specified for the assignment, enter feedback in the text box, and browse for and upload response files to send directly to the student. The grade will now automatically be included in the Gradebook. gradebookenter6

Quick grading:

Quick grading allows you to grade right from the assignment’s grading page instead of opening up a grading window for each student.

  1. Access the assignment from the course homepage.
  2. Click the View all submissions link at the link underneath the Grading summary. gradebookenter4
  3. The submission overview page will appear. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Options section. Click on the checkbox beside Quick grading. gradebookenter2
  4. You will now see a box underneath the Grade and Feedback columns for each student where you can now enter your grades and comments. gradebookenter5

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Setup


Gradebook Setup Tab

The gradebook setup tab allows you to view the gradebook in a different format, giving you a visual of all your categories and items, without being cluttered by marks. Here you can also add categories (folders) and grade items (columns in the gradebook) manually for occasions that you need to post a mark for an assignment or activity that is not submitted through UR Courses. gradebooksetup1

  1. Parent Folder: This is usually the name of the course. This folder acts as the parent folder for all other items in the gradebook.
  2. Category: This is also called a folder. Categories are used to collect a group of assignments, quizzes, exams or other activities and to distribute weight.
  3. Grade Item: A grade item may automatically appear in the gradebook from an item built into the course, or it may be added to the gradebook manually (for items graded outside UR Courses).
  4. Category Total: The category total is calculated as per your aggregation settings. The category total can be named or left with the default name of “Total”.
  5. Course Total: This is the total that belongs to the parent category for the course (1) and is calculated based on your aggregation settings.
  6. Weights/Aggregation: This is where you can adjust the weights for your categories and grade items towards the course total, depending on your aggregation settings.
  7. Max Grade: The maximum grade a student can achieve in an assignment (grade item) or category.
  8. Actions: Actions include deleting the grade item (this is dependent on how the grade item was set up initially as most assignments require you to delete them from the main course page), hiding/unhiding the grade item, and editing the grade item settings.
  9. Move selected items: You can move selected items to another category by choosing a category from this menu.
  10. Save changes: Any edits or additions made must be saved via the “Save changes” button for them to be applied to the gradebook.
  11. Add grade item/Add category: clicking on their specific button will allow for a grade item to be manually entered, or for a category to be created.

Adding a Grade Item

There are two ways to add grade items (assignment columns) to the gradebook:

  1. Build an assignment or quiz into your course. Any activities you build into the main page of your course will automatically appear in the gradebook if the activity has a built- in grade option and you use it. For example, if you use the “Add an activity or resource” on the main page of your course, you will have a corresponding grade item (column) automatically appear in your gradebook.
  2. Add a Grade Item manually in the Gradebook. To Add a Grade Item Manually:
    1. Access the Gradebook.
    2. Click the Setup tab and then the Gradebook setup tab.
    3. Click Add grade item at the bottom of the page. gradebooksetup2
    4. Set your settings appropriately.
      1. Item name: The item name should be descriptive and meaningful for students (Midterm Essay, for example).
      2. Grade type: Specifies the type of grade used. Types include:
        1. Value – enables the maximum and minimum grade settings.
        2. Scale – enables the scale setting
        3. Text – feedback only. Only value and scale grade types may be aggregated. The grade type for an activity based grade item is set on the update/edit page for that activity. gradebooksetup3
          1. Scale: You can choose a scale if you are using the scale Grade type.
          2. Maximum grade: The maximum grade allowed for the assignment.
          3. Minimum grade: The minimum grade allow if needed.
          4. Grade to Pass: This setting can be used to set a grade that users must equal or exceed to pass.
          5. Grade display type: Specifies how to display grades in the grader and user reports. Grades may be shown as actual grades, as percentages or as letters.
          6. Overall decimal points: Specifies the number of decimal points to display for each grade. This setting has no effect of grade calculations, which are made with an accuracy of 5 decimal places.
          7. Hidden: Checkbox allows you to hide the assignment column.
          8. Hidden Until: Enables you to enter the date until which the grades will be hidden to participants (usually after the end of the activity and of the grading process).
          9. Locked: Checkbox allows you to lock the grade item. Both whole columns and individual grades can be locked in the gradebook via the locked field. Teachers may want to do this to prevent further changes from the modules or from other teachers. When a grade is locked, any changes that might affect that grade are ignored. When the graded item is unlocked, activities are asked to resend the latest grades. One way to lock is to click the lock icon beside the grade item either in the Categories and Items tab or in the Grader Report.
          10. Locked after: Allows you to specify the date after which the grades will be locked. Usually this date is set to the end of the activity and the beginning of the grading process.
          11. Weight: Set weight of the item relative to the category/course.
          12. Grade category: Select the parent category for the grade item.

Note: Grade items added manually to the Gradebook will not appear as “clickable” links. Grade items that appear in the Gradebook automatically as a result of an activity added to the course, will appear as a green “clickable” link that will take you directly to that assignment, exam or activity.

Adding a Category

Categories act as folders to group similar grade items in the gradebook (“Essays” for example). Using categories enables you to have totals for groups of assignments and otherwise manage assignments as a group.

To add a category:

  1. Access the Gradebook.
  2. Click the Setup tab and then the Gradebook setup tab.
  3. Click Add category at the bottom of the page gradebooksetup5
  4. Set your Grade category settings appropriately. gradebooksetup4
    1. Category name: Should be descriptive and meaningful to students (“Essays” for example).
    2. Aggregation: The way grades will be totaled for a category. See Aggregation section for more information.
    3. Exclude empty grades: If checked, any grade items that do not have a mark for a student will not be included when calculating the category total.
    4. Include outcomes in aggregation: If enabled, outcomes are included in the aggregation. This may result in unexpected category totals.
    5. Drop the lowest: Enables you to automatically drop the lowest x number of grades within a category.
  5. Set your Grade item (Category Total) settings. gradebooksetup6
    1. Category total name: The grade item here is the Category total column. The item name should be meaningful and reflect this (“Essays Total” for example). If you do not give the totals column a name, the default will be “Total” which can be confusing especially if you have a number of categories. This feature is accessed by clicking the “Show more…”.
    2. Set other settings according to Adding a Grade Item section instructions.
  6. Click Save changes. The category will now appear in your gradebook.

Note: The category (column) will expand as you add grade items to it.

Moving Categories and Items

Now that you have your categories and items created in the gradebook, you may want to move some items around. For example, if you create a category after you have created all the grade items you need, you will have to move the grade items into the category folder.

To move items in the gradebook:

  1. Access the Gradebook.
  2. Click the Setup tab.
  3. Click the “Move” icon next to the item you would like to move. gradebooksetup7
  4. A series of blocks will appear. Click the block between the items where you want the item to go.
  5. Click Save changes.

To move several grade items at the same time:

  1. Access the gradebook.
  2. Click the Setup tab.
  3. Click the checkbox to the right of any items you want to move in the Select column. gradebooksetup8
  4. At the bottom, the Move selected items to box should now be enabled.
  5. Click on the box and choose the category you would like to move the items to. gradebooksetup9
  6. The items should now appear in the chosen category.
  7. Click Save changes.

Editing a Category or an Item

If you need to, you can easily go back and edit a category or item using the edit/update icons beside the item in the Setup tab.

To edit a category or grade item click on the Edit menu in the Actions column. Then click on Edit Settings.

gradebooksetup10

Aggregation

The aggregation is the way in which the grades will be totaled for a category.

To Adjust Aggregation:

  1. Access the gradebook via the Navigation block.
  2. Click the Setup tab.
  3. Click on Edit button in the Actions column for the course and the Edit settings option in the menu that appears.
  4. Select Aggregation type from the drop-down menu.

Aggregation Types:

Mean of Grades

The sum of all grades divided by the total number of grades

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10, category max 100:
(0.7 + 0.25 + 1.0)/3 = 0.65 → 65/100

  • Setting the Course aggregation to Mean of Grades gives everything in the gradebook equal weight in the course total, even if the marks are different for each assignment. For example, if one essay out of 10 would have the same weight as an essay out of 20.

Weighted Mean of Grades

Each grade item can be given a weight, which is then used in the arithmetic mean aggregation to influence the importance of each item in the overall mean. In simple terms, the category total will be equal to the sum of the scores in each grade item, these scores being multiplied by the grade items’ weights, and that sum being finally divided by the sum of the weights.

gradebooksetup11

A1 70/100 weight 10, A2 20/80 weight 5, A3 10/10 weight 3, category max 100:
(0.7 * 10 + 0.25 * 5 + 1.0 * 3 )/18 = 0.625 → 62.5/100

  • Once this aggregation is selected, a weight box will appear in the gradebook setup. Enter the weight in the box and press Enter for each item to be weighted.
  • Weights may be fractions (.25, .5) or integers (25, 5). However, be consistent in your use of fractions or integers.
  • Weights do not have to add up to 100, although they usually will.

Simple Weighted Mean

The difference from Weighted mean is that weight is calculated as Maximum grade – Minimum grade for each item. Such as, 100 point assignment has weight 100, 10 point assignment has weight 10.

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10, category max 100:
(0.7 * 100 + 0.25 * 80 + 1.0 * 10)/190 = 0.526 → 52.6/100

  • Weights are determined by the number of possible points in a graded item.
  • Similar to Sum of Grades, the difference being that Simple Weighted Mean displays percentages (when the category max is 100) and Sum of Grades displays points.

Lowest Grade

The result is the smallest grade after normalization. It is usually used in combination with Aggregate only non-empty grades.

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10, category max 100:
min(0.7 + 0.25 + 1.0) = 0.25 → 25/100

Highest Grade

The result is the highest grade after normalization.

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10, category max 100:
max(0.7 + 0.25 + 1.0) = 1.0 → 100/100

Mode of Grades

The mode is the grade that occurs most frequently. It is more often used for non-numerical grades. The advantage over the mean is that it is not affected by outliers (grades which are uncommonly far from the mean). However it loses its meaning once there is more than one most frequently occurring grade (only one is kept), or when all the grades are different from each other.

A1 70/100, A2 35/50, A3 20/80, A4 10/10, A5 7/10 category max 100:
mode(0.7; 0.7; 0.25; 1.0; 0.7) = 0.7 → 70/100

Natural

The sum of all grade values, scaled by weight. The Maximum grade of the category is the sum of the maximums of all aggregated items.

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10, without forcing weights:
(70 + 20 + 10)/(100 + 80 + 90) → 100/190

  • The gradebook shows point totals, not percent. The student report shows point totals and percent.
  • It is not possible to ignore empty grades – an empty grade is counted as zero.

Note: An empty grade is a missing gradebook entry, and can mean different things. For example, it could be a participant who hasn't yet submitted an assignment, an assignment submission not yet graded by the teacher, or a grade that has been manually deleted by the gradebook administrator. Caution in interpreting these "empty grades" is thus advised.

Setting Max Grades

Setting Max Grade and totals:

  • Any max grade you set is the maximum grade allowed for that assignment/column.
  • Max grades for Extra Credit will not affect category totals.

There are two ways to edit Max grades:

  1. For manually added grade items and columns, click Edit and then Edit settings in the Actions column exit to the item in the Setup tab.
  2. For items built into your course, on the main page of your course turn Edit Mode on and then find the item on the main page of your course. Then click the Edit icon beside the assignment.

Note: Changing Max Grades after grades have already been entered for students may cause course totals to not calculate appropriately, especially when using Weights. The latest version of UR Courses does recalculate, but we sure to double-check totals.

Extra Credit

The Extra Credit in the Gradebook allows you to assign extra credit to an assignment. An assignment marked Extra credit will not add to the category total, but will allow a student to obtain extra marks up to the category maximum.

To Use the Extra Credit Feature:

  1. Access the Gradebook.
  2. Click the Setup tab.
  3. If you haven’t already, you will need to add a Grade Item for the extra credit.
  4. Mark the item Extra Credit by clicking in the checkbox in the edit setting screen of the item.
  5. If you have the Extra Credit item inside a category, note that the category total does not change to include the Extra Credit total.

Note: The Extra Credit feature is available only if your main/parent category aggregation is set to Simple Weighted Mean of Grades or Natural.

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Scales


Outcomes

Outcomes are descriptions used to describe a student’s demonstrated ability and comprehension of an activity or course. Each outcome is rated by a scale.

To add an outcome:

  1. Turn on Edit mode.
  2. Click on Grades.
  3. Click on the Grader report and choose outcomes.
  4. Click on the Manage outcomes.
  5. Click on Add a new outcome.
  6. Fill in the required fields, Full name, Short name, and Scale.
  7. Click on Save changes.

scales1

Note: You can use a built in Scale or create your own.

Scales

Scales are a way of evaluating or rating a student’s performance and can be used with activities that allow a grade. Activities that use a “scale” instead of a “point” grade will still appear in the gradebook.

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Default Standard scales include:

  1. Default Competence scale: When you choose this one, in the gradebook you are able to choose Competent or Not yet competent. scales3

  2. Pass/Fail: In the Gradebook, the Pass/Fail scale allows you to choose an entry of Pass or Fail instead of entering a number or letter. scales4

  3. Separate and Connected ways of knowing: This allows you to choose Mostly separate knowing, Separate and connected, or Mostly connected knowing. scales5

  4. Alpine Levels: In the Alpine levels you have four different options (Fail, Pass, Merit, and Distinction) that you choose one of them. scales6

To apply a scale:

  1. From the main page of your course, Turn on Edit mode.
  2. Locate the activity that will use the scale on the main page of your course.
  3. Click on the three dots and choose Edit Settings button.
  4. Scroll to the Grade section of the activity settings and change the grade type to Scale.
  5. Select which scale you would like to use.
  6. Scroll down and click on Save and display.

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Custom Scales

It is also possible to create custom scales. For example, you can give the student a word or small phrase as a way of rating or giving a student feedback.

To create a custom scale:

  1. Click Grades in the Navigation block.
  2. Click the Grader report and choose Scales.
  3. Click on Add a new scale button at the top.
  4. Enter a Name for the scale.
  5. Enter the ordered list of values to be used in the scale, from negative to positive, and separate by commas scales8
  6. Click the Save changes button.

Editing a scale: If a scale has not yet been used, you will see an edit and a delete icon under the edit column. Once a scale is used for an activity, it is no longer possible to move or delete it, and you can only edit the scale name and description.

Example custom scales (from Moodledocs)

  • The Cool Scale - Not cool, Not very cool, Fairly cool, Cool, Very cool, The coolest thing ever!

    • (Valued as 0/5pts, 1/5pt, 2/5pts, 3/5pts, 4/5pts, and 5/5pts respectively in any normalized aggregation method)
    • (Valued as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively in the sum aggregation method)
  • General Introductions (The Affirmative Scale) - Welcome!, Glad to have you here!, Great post!

    • (Valued as 0/2pts, 1/2pt, and 2/2pts respectively in any normalized aggregation method)
    • (Valued as 1, 2, and 3 respectively in the sum aggregation method)
  • If you would like two options in your scale (incomplete and complete) type "incomplete, complete" in the scale box.

    • (Valued as 0/1pts and 1/1pt respectively in any normalized aggregation method like weighted mean, mean, simple weighted mean, etc.)
    • (Valued as 1 and 2 respectively in the sum aggregation method)
  • Generic Social Forum (This scale only worked prior to the averaging function) - Please clarify., I don’t understand., Hmmm. Tell me more., Interesting, Very cool., Awesome!

    • (Valued as 0/6pts, 1/6pt, 2/6pts, 3/6pts, 4/6pts, 5/6pts, and 6/6pts respectively in any normalized aggregation method)
    • (Valued as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively in the sum aggregation method)
  • "Refer", pass, merit, distinction

    • (Valued as 0/2pts, 1/2pt, and 2/2pts respectively in any normalized aggregation method)
    • (Valued as 1, 2, and 3 respectively in the sum aggregation method)
  • "Hesitant" Fail, Acceptable, Average, Excellent

    • (Valued as 0/3pts, 1/3pt, 2/3pts, and 3/3pts respectively in any normalized aggregation method)
    • (Valued as 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively in the sum aggregation method)
  • "Stars" ☆----, ☆☆---, ☆☆☆--, ☆☆☆☆-, ☆☆☆☆☆

    • (Valued as 0/4pts, 1/4pt, 2/4pts, 3/4pts, and 4/4pts respectively in any normalized aggregation method)
    • (Valued as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively in the sum aggregation method)

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Settings and Preferences


Settings

There are multiple settings in UR Courses that effect the Gradebook, how grades are calculated, and how marks are displayed to students.

It is important to remember that course settings take precedence over activity settings, and activity settings take precedence over gradebook settings.

gradebooksettings1

Course Settings

To access your course settings:

  1. From the main page of your course, select Settings option from navigation bar.

The main setting located here that will affect the Gradebook is the Show gradebook to students setting located in the Appearance section. If set to “No” the students will not be able to see their grades, even if they have been added to the gradebook.

gradebooksettings2

Activity Settings

Depending on the type of activity, the settings available will change. However, generally, you will find the below settings:

gradebooksettings3

  1. Grade: Select the type of grading used for this activity. If "scale" is chosen, you can choose the scale (pass/fail, satisfactory, etc) from the "scale" dropdown. If using "point" grading, you can then enter the Maximum grade available for this activity.
  2. Grading Method: Choose the advanced grading method for calculating grades in the given context. To disable advanced grading and switch back to the default grading mechanism, choose 'Simple direct grading'.
  3. Grade category: This setting controls the category in which this activity's grades are placed in the gradebook.
  4. Grade to pass: This setting determines the minimum grade required to pass.
  5. Anonymous submissions: Blind marking hides the identity of students from markers. Blind marking settings will be locked once a submission or grade has been made in relation to this assignment.
  6. Hide grader identity from students: this will not allow students to see who has marked the grade item that they have submitted. It will only allow them to see feedback and the grade.
  7. Use marking workflow: If enabled, marks will go through a series of workflow stages before being released to students. This allows for multiple rounds of marking and allows marks to be released to all students at the same time.

Gradebook Settings

Settings for grade items and categories can be set from the Gradebook setup.

  1. Click on Grades option from the navigation bar and then click on Grader Report drop down menu. In that menu select Gradebook setup option.

gradebooksettings4

  1. Clicking on the Edit button in the Actions column.

gradebooksettings5

  1. Clicking on Edit settings in the menu that appears.

Settings available to grade items can be reviewed in the Adding a Grade Item section.

Settings available to grade categories can be reviewed in the Adding a Category section.

Course Grade Settings

While much of how activities display and interacted with the gradebook will depend on the activity settings, there are several settings within the gradebook that you can access to change how grades are calculated and displayed to students.

gradebooksettings6

The Course grade settings tab in the Gradebook setup allows you to manage your settings that affect how the Gradebook appears for all participants in the course.

gradebooksettings7

General Settings:

  1. Aggregation position: Defines the position of the aggregation total column in the report related to the grades being aggregated. Default position is Last.
  2. Min and max grades used in calculation: Determines whether to use the initial minimum and maximum grades from when the grade was given, or the minimum and maximum grades as specified in the settings for the grade item. The default is to use the minimum and maximum grades as defined in the grade item settings.

Grade Item Settings:

  1. Grade display type: Specifies how to display grades in the grader and user reports. Grades may be shown as actual grades, as percentages (in reference to the minimum and maximum grades) or as letters. Default is Real.
  2. Overall decimal points: Specifies the number of decimal points to display for each grade. This setting has no effect on grade calculations, which are made with an accuracy of 5 decimal places. Default is 2.

Overview Report:

  1. Show rank: Whether to show the position of the user in relation to the rest of the class, for each grade item. Default is Hide.
  2. Hide totals if they contain hidden items: Specifies whether totals which contain hidden grade items are shown to students or replaced with a hyphen. If shown, the total may be calculated either excluding or including hidden items. If hidden items are excluded, the total will be different to the total seen by the teacher in the grader report, since the teacher always sees totals calculated from all items, hidden or unhidden. If hidden items are included, students may be able to calculate the hidden items. Default is Hide.

User Report:

  1. Show rank: Whether to show the position of the user in relation to the rest of the class, for each grade item. Default is Hide.
  2. Show percentage: Whether to show the percentage value of each grade item. Default is Show.
  3. Show average: Whether to show an average column. Note that participants may be able to estimate others’ grades if the average is calculated from a small number of grades. For performance reasons the average is approximate if it is dependent on any hidden items.
  4. Show contribution to course total: Whether to show a column of percentages indicating how much each grade item contributes to the user’s course total percentage.
  5. Show hidden items: Specifies how hidden grade items are shown. If Hide is selected, they are hidden completely. If Show is selected, the hidden grade item row is shown in grey with the grade hidden completely. If "Only hidden until" is selected, grade items with a "hide until" date set are shown in grey with the grades hidden completely until the set date, after which the whole item is shown. Default is Hide.
  6. Hide totals if they contain hidden items: This setting specifies whether totals which contain hidden grade items are shown to students or are replaced with a hyphen. If shown, the total may be calculated either excluding or including hidden items. Default is Hide.

Preferences: Grader Report

The Preferences: Grader Report allows you to set your preferences for the Grader report. These are settings that only you will see.

gradebooksettings8

  • Click the gradebookicon2 button for a description of each setting.

gradebooksettings9

Note: It is highly recommended to set your Show show/hide icons setting to Yes. Otherwise, you will have restricted functionality in the Grader report.

Hiding the Course Total

There are two ways to hide the course total.

  1. Change the Grade type to “None” in a Category. This method of “hiding” the course total eliminates the course total entirely. This means that graders will no longer be able to view the course total when entering or viewing grades.

    To Change the Grade Type to “None”:

    1. Go into the Gradebook setup option in the Grader report drop down menu under Grades option in navigation bar.
    2. Click on the Edit button in the Actions column.
    3. Click on Edit settings in the menu that appears.
    4. In the Category total section, set Grade type to None. gradebooksettings10
    5. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. You will no longer be able to see the course totals in the Grader report.
    6. Students will see a Course Total line, but the student’s grade will be blank. The course total range will show as “—“.
  2. Close the hide (eye) icons. This way of hiding the course total enables the grader to view course totals, but hides the course total from the students.

    To Hide the Course Total using the Hide Icons:

    1. Go into the Gradebook. Make sure Edit Mode is turned on and make sure you are in the Grader Report. For this to work, the category Grade types should be set at “Value”.
    2. Click the hide/show icon, , in the Course total column. This will hide the Course total for the column AND for every student. gradebooksettings11

Note: The course total calculated in UR Courses may not end up being the exact final mark for a student, for a variety of reasons. It is important to remember that the final mark for students must be updated into DOME and a student’s final grade will be displayed in UR Self-Service.

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Importing and Exporting


Importing Grades to the Gradebook

Many instructors keep track of their student’s marks outside of UR Courses such as in an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Luckily, the Gradebook in UR Courses allows us to import grades from .CSV and .XML files.

Some things to note:

  1. Importing grades is equivalent to manual grading in the Grader report. This will cause the cells in the Grader report to turn colour and the grade can no longer be edited via the activity submission page.
  2. Importing grades will also override any grades that have already been entered.

CSV Import

To import grades from a CSV file:

  1. Edit the file you will be importing appropriately, ensuring that the column headers are meaningful and match the grade items in your gradebook. (It may be easier to Export the gradebook to use as a template.)
  2. Save the file as a .CSV file by changing the Save as type to CSV. gradebookimpexp1
  3. From the main page of your course, select the Grades option from the navigation bar. gradebookimpexp2 4 .Click on the Grader Report drop down menu and select import from the menu. gradebookimpexp3
  4. Click on the CSV file from the Import as drop down menu.. gradebookimpexp4
  5. Upload your .CSV file either by dragging and dropping the file into the space provided or click on the Choose a file... button to browse for your file. gradebookimpexp5
  6. Select the Encoding. UTF-8 is the default and standard for most .CSV files. If the wrong encoding is selected, it will be noticeable in the preview of your upload.
  7. Select how data is separated in the .CSV with the Separator setting. Normally, this is comma.
  8. Select “Yes” for the Verbose scales setting.
  9. Choose how many rows you will see in the preview of the upload with the Preview rows setting.
  10. Click on Upload Grades.
  11. Review the preview to ensure the data is correct.
    • In the Identify user by section, choose how to map the marks. The best is to use a student’s ID number. gradebookimpexp6
    • In the Grade item mappings section, you may specify how grades are mapped. If your .CSV file is set up correctly, this may not be necessary, but it can be done for each individual grade item. gradebookimpexp7
  12. Click on Upload grades. If there are any issues mapping or uploading the marks UR Courses will provide you with the appropriate message(s).

XML Import

To import grades from an XML file:

  1. Edit the file you will be importing appropriately, ensuring that the column headers are meaningful and match the grade items in your gradebook. (It may be easier to Export the gradebook to use as a template.)
  2. Save the file as an .XML file by changing the Save as type to XML. gradebookimpexp8
  3. From the main page of your course, select the Grades option from the navigation bar. gradebookimpexp9
  4. Click on the Grader Report drop down menu and select import from the menu gradebookimpexp10
  5. Click on the XML file from the Import as drop down menu.
  6. Select whether or not you wish to Import feedback.
  7. Upload your .XML file either by dragging and dropping the file into the space provided or click on the Choose a file... button to browse for your file.
  8. Click on Upload Grades. If there are any issues with the XML code UR Courses will provide you with the appropriate message(s).

Exporting Grades from the Gradebook

UR Courses allows us to export the gradebook as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, an OpenDocument spreadsheet, a plain text CSV file, and as an XML file.

Instructors can also export the gradebook to be uploaded to DOME.

To export the gradebook:

  1. From the main page of your course, select the Grades option from the navigation bar.
  2. Click on the Grader Report drop down menu and select Export from the menu.
  3. Select the type of file you want the grades to be exported as in the Export as drop down menu.
  4. Select which grade items you wish to include in your exported file. gradebookimpexp12
  5. Adjust the Export format options as needed.
  6. Click on Download.

Note: If you intend to re-import the exported grades, use the Plain Text CSV file or XML file export options.

Exporting Gradebook to DOME

Final grade entry into Dynamic Online Mark Entry (DOME) is required at the end of each semester. Grades can be exported from UR Courses and imported into DOME without any grade reentry.

To upload to DOME:

  1. Open UR Courses.
  2. From the main page of your course, select the Grades option from the navigation bar.
  3. Click on the Grader Report drop down menu and select Export from the menu.
  4. Select Dome spreadsheet option in the Export as drop down menu and then click on Download option. gradebookimpexp13
  5. Save the spreadsheet. (No changes will need to be made to the spreadsheet.)
  6. Open DOME.
  7. On the Menu screen, enter the Year and Term.
  8. Press Select this Role for the role you are in.
  9. Select the Classes tab to view all your classes for the chosen term.
  10. Find the desired class and click View/Enter Grades.
  11. Click the Upload Grades button.
  12. Select the Browse button.
  13. Find and choose the file to be uploaded and press Open.
  14. Press Load File.
  15. The grades from your spreadsheet have been entered into a Preview Grades screen.
  16. Review to confirm that grades have been entered correctly.
  17. Press Save Upload if entries are correct OR If grade entries are incorrect, press Clear Upload. Grades will revert back to the last saved version of grades.
  18. When you are satisfied that the grades have been entered correctly, enter your PIN and press Submit.

Note: To upload grades into DOME, the file must be an Excel or .csv file. The 9-digit student ID number must be in the first column and final grades in the third column. The columns MUST have titles/headers.

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