Advanced grading methods

Advanced grading methods
Project state	Planning
Tracker issue	TODO
Discussion	TODO
Assignee	David Mudrak

Moodle 2.2

Project goals

• Long-term goal: To be able to use advanced grading methods (like rubrics and other multi-criteria assessment forms) to assess all reasonable places (like assignment submissions, forum posts, wiki pages, database records etc.), not just the submissions in the workshop module
• Short-term: To allow using rubric as a grading tool for the assignment module and for a manual grade item in the gradebook

Project scope

This project does NOT change the gradebook internals or its API for obtaining and storing grades. It has also nothing to do with other gradebook issues like aggregating hidden grades and friends.

This project aims to provide a clear API to

• embed a selected grading form (rubric, scale, single grade with decimal points) into the caller's page in both editable and read-only modes
• process the submitted data
• obtain the calculated grade
• obtain the filled data for post-processing (eg to calculate grade for peer-assessment in the workshop)

Moodle core (internally implemented as a new part of the gradebook subsystem) will provide UI to edit assessment forms at standalone pages. The caller (client) like the assignment module or the grader report should be able to easily embed the form in its own page. For example:

• the quick grading mode in the assignment module should be able to embed multiple instances of grading forms in the table with all submissions
• the forum module should be able to load (preferably via AJAX) the grading form for any post on demand
• the workshop module should be able to display the grading form under the student's submission

Things that must be decided and designed carefully:

• forms sharing - the situation is similar to what question bank tries to deal with. But the concept of storing forms in various contexts seems to be suboptimal to me
• export/import - how to easily publish forms definitions and re-use them
• backup/restore - grading forms must be part of the gradebook structures, like grade categories and grade items are

Relevant tracker issues

• MDL-795 - 'workshop-like' teacher assessment methods (rubrics, accumulative, etc) for assignments
• MDL-2255 - Rubrics for all Activities
• CONTRIB-2058 - Ability to edit/delete rubrics (Assignment Rubric activity module)

Implementation plan

• New core plugin type called "Grading method" to be added into get_plugin_types() as 'grademethod' with the location in /grade/method/*
• All grading methods to be implemented as plugins - 'Rubric', 'Multi-scale' (aka Accumulative grading strategy in the Workshop) etc. Current grading tools could be re-implemented as 'Single scale' and 'Decimal points' plugins
• The mechanism of embedding the forms into pages in Moodle to follow the patterns already used in Files API, Comments API or Ratings API (using component, context, gradearea and itemid).

See also

• Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Examples of Assessment Rubrics
• LMS Instructure and especially their way of defining rubrics
• Rubrics Manual for JOULE by Moodle Rooms