Grades: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 07:37, 26 October 2011

Settings > Course administration > Grades This link allows the teacher to see and download all scored activities in a course. It can also be revealed to students to see their own scores in the Gradebook..

For administrators:

Introduction

The Grades link is sometimes referred to Gradebook. The two central ideas of grading are:

Grades are scores given to students(or other Roles) in a Moodle course
The Grades link (or gradebook) in the Course administration menu shows the scores given by each activity. Modules push their scores to grades, but the gradebook doesn't push anything back to the modules.

The three building blocks of Grade link:

The grade category

A grade category groups grade items together, and has settings for affecting these grade items

The grade item

A grade item stores a grade for each course participant, and has settings for affecting these grades

The grade -Student scores in a course

A grade has settings for affecting how it is displayed to the users, as well as locking and hiding functions.

As an overview: Grades can be calculated, aggregated and displayed in a variety of ways, the many settings having been designed to suit the needs of a great variety of organisations.

Many activities in Moodle, such as assignments, forums and quizzes may be given grades. Grades may have numerical values, or words/phrases from a scale or rating system.

Grades can also be used as outcomes and as arbitrary text attributed to each participant in a course.

How Grades Get Into the Gradebook

Grades pushed by modules

When activity modules produce grades, they use the gradebook public API to push (or send) their grades to the gradebook. These grades are then stored in database tables that are independent of the modules. The grades are still kept in the module database tables, and the gradebook will never access or modify these original grades.

The gradebook, however, provides administrators and teachers with tools for changing the ways in which grades are calculated, aggregated and displayed, as well as means to change the grades manually (a manual edit of a grade automatically locks the grade in the gradebook, so that the module which originally created the grade can no longer update that grade in the gradebook until the grade is unlocked).

Grades Manually Added by Teachers

Users with Teacher permissions for the course can add "manual" grade items to the gradebook through the Categories and Items section.

Settings affecting grades

Being the smallest unit in the gradebook, the grade is affected by many settings at different levels. Here is a list of these levels, in hierarchical order:

Outcomes

Outcomes are specific descriptions of what a student is expected to be able to do or understand at the completion of an activity or course. An activity might have more than one outcome, and each may have a grade against it (usually on a scale).

Gradebook reports

The gradebook includes a variety of reports. Select the Grades link in each course administration block. The default report is the grader report and other reports are available by using the "Choose an action.." pulldown menu under View to find:

Grader report - The main teacher view of a course gradebook.
Outcomes report
Overview report
User report

Additionally on "Choose an action" menu, teachers can find interactive category reports which can alter the way the "View" reports appear. The "My report preferences" link (on a tab in earlier versions), enables teachers to change how the grader report is displayed.

Grades organisation

Teachers may organise grades into grade categories, import and/or export grades, and make grade calculations.

Symbols to represent ranges of grades may be set as grade letters.

Administrators may control the appearance of the gradebook site-wide by adjusting settings available via the grades link in the site administration block:

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Grades}}
+{{Tracking progress}}
-[[Image:Grades icon link.JPG]] feature can be found in the course administration block. This page describes Grades (sometimes called Gradebook to avoid confusion) from Moodle 1.9 onwards.  If you are using an older version, please see the documentation labeled [[Grades_pre-1.9]].
+* [[Gradebook]]
+* [[Grade settings]]
+* [[Managing grades]]
+** [[Grade items]]
+** [[Grade categories]]
+** [[Grade calculations]]
+* [[Scales]]
+* [[Outcomes]]
+* [[Grade letters]]
+* [[Grade import]]
+* [[Grade export]]
+* [[Grades FAQ]]
-==Definitions==
-;[[Grades|Gradebook]]
+''Settings > Course administration > Grades''
-:The '''"Grades"''' feature is often referred to as the '''Gradebook'''.  Both refer to "A central location in Moodle where students' grades are stored and displayed". Teachers can keep track of their students' progress and organize which set of grades their students will be able to see. Students see their own grades.
+This link allows the teacher to see and download all scored activities in a course.  It can also be revealed to students to see their own scores in the Gradebook..
+* [[Grader report]]
+* [[Grade preferences]]
+* [[Outcomes report]]
+* [[Overview report]]
+* [[User report]]
+* [[Grade import]]
+* [[Grade export]]
+* [[Grade items]]
+* [[Grade categories]]
+* [[Grade calculations]]
+* [[Scales]]
+* [[Outcomes]]
+* [[Grade letters]]
+* [[Gradebook course settings|Course settings]]
+* [[Grades FAQ]]
+For administrators:
+* [[General grade settings|General settings]]
+* [[Grade category settings]]
+* [[Grade item settings]]
+* [[Gradebook report settings|Report settings]]
+* [[Grade permissions]]
-;Activity
-:An instance of an [[:Category:Modules|activity module]] (e.g. a single quiz, assignment etc...)
-;Calculation
+==Introduction==
-:A formula used to determine grades, based (optionally) on other grade items. Not the same as [[Calculated_question_type|Calculated question types]].
+The Grades link is sometimes referred to Gradebook.
+The two central ideas of grading are:
-;Category
+#'''Grades''' are scores given to students(or other [[Roles]]) in a Moodle course
-:A set of grade items.  A [[Grade categories|grade category]] also has its own aggregated grade which is calculated from its grade items.  There is no limit to the level of nesting of categories (a category may belong to another category). However, each grade item may belong to only one category.
+#The Grades link (or '''gradebook''') in the Course administration menu shows the scores given by each activity. Modules push their scores to grades, but the gradebook doesn't push anything back to the modules.
-;Course completion
+The three building blocks of Grade link:
-:The concept of meeting certain criteria for completing a course. In the context of the gradebook, this means a set of grades that must be reached, or a number of outcomes/competencies to complete/master.
-;Grade
+*The [[Grade_categories|grade category]]
-:A '''grade''' is a single assessment. It may be a number or an item on a scale (possibly tied to an outcome). Raw grade value is the numerical or scale grade from activity. Final grade is the grade reported in gradebook.
+:A grade category groups grade items together, and has settings for affecting these grade items
+*The [[Grade_items|grade item]]
+:A grade item stores a grade for each course participant, and has settings for affecting these grades
+*The grade -Student scores in a course
+:A grade has settings for affecting how it is displayed to the users, as well as [[Grade locking|locking]] and [[Grade hiding|hiding]] functions.
-;Grade item
+As an overview:
-:A "column" of grades.  It can be created from a specific activity, calculated from other grade items, or entered manually.
+Grades can be [[Grade_calculations|calculated]], [[Grade_categories#Aggregation|aggregated]] and [[Grader_report#Display|displayed]] in a variety of ways, the many settings having been designed to suit the needs of a great variety of organisations.
-;Grade locks
+Many activities in Moodle, such as [[Assignment module|assignments]], [[Forum module|forums]] and [[Quiz module|quizzes]] may be given grades. Grades may have numerical values, or words/phrases from a [[Scales|scale or rating system]].
-: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.
-;History
+Grades can also be used as [[Outcomes|outcomes]] and as arbitrary text attributed to each participant in a course.
-:The gradebook has its own type of log, which keeps a history of all changes made to grades.
-;[[Outcomes]]
+==How Grades Get Into the Gradebook==
-:Outcomes are specific descriptions of what a person is expected to be able to do or understand at the completion of an activity or course. An activity might have more than one outcome, and each may have a grade against it (usually on a scale).  Other terms for Outcomes are ''Competencies'' and ''Goals''. See some [[Development:Outcomes_examples|outcome examples]].
-;[[Scales]]
+===Grades pushed by modules===
-:A scale is a set of responses from which the teacher can choose one.  e.g.  Very cool, Cool, Fairly cool, Not very cool, Not cool
+When activity modules produce grades, they use the [[Development:Grades#API_for_communication_with_modules.2Fblocks|gradebook public API]] to push (or send) their grades to the gradebook. These grades are then stored in database tables that are independent of the modules. The grades are still kept in the module database tables, and the gradebook will never access or modify these original grades.
-;[[Grade letters|Letter grades]]
+The gradebook, however, provides administrators and teachers with tools for changing the ways in which grades are calculated, aggregated and displayed, as well as [[grade/edit/tree/grade|means to change the grades manually]] (a manual edit of a grade automatically locks the grade in the gradebook, so that the module which originally created the grade can no longer update that grade in the gradebook until the grade is unlocked).
-:Special representation of grade values similar to scales.  Letters are configured in course contexts or above and are defined by lower boundary. e.g.   A (above 90 %), B (above 80 %), C (above 70 %), D (above 50 %), F (above 0 %)
+===Grades Manually Added by Teachers===
+Users with Teacher permissions for the course can add "manual" grade items to the gradebook through the Categories and Items section.
+==Settings affecting grades==
+Being the smallest unit in the gradebook, the grade is affected by many settings at different levels. Here is a list of these levels, in hierarchical order:
+*[[General_grade_settings|Site-wide general settings]]
+*[[Grade_category_settings|Site-wide grade category settings]]
+*[[Grade_item_settings|Site-wide grade item settings]]
+*[[Gradebook_report_settings|Gradebook report settings]]
+*[[Gradebook_course_settings|Course settings]]
+*[[Grade_categories|Category settings]]
+*[[Grade_items|Grade item settings]]
+*[[grade/edit/tree/grade|Grade settings]]
+==Outcomes==
+[[Outcomes]] are specific descriptions of what a student is expected to be able to do or understand at the completion of an activity or course. An activity might have more than one outcome, and each may have a grade against it (usually on a [[Scales|scale]]).
+==Gradebook reports==
+The gradebook includes a variety of reports. Select the [[Grades]] link in each [[Course administration block|course administration block]]. The default report is the grader report and other reports are available by using the "Choose an action.." pulldown menu under View to find:
+* [[Grader report]] - The main teacher view of a course gradebook.
+* [[Outcomes report]]
+* [[Overview report]]
+* [[User report]]
+Additionally on "Choose an action" menu, teachers can find interactive category reports which can alter the way the "View" reports appear. The "[[Grade preferences|My report preferences]]" link (on a tab in earlier versions), enables teachers to change how the grader report is displayed.
+==Grades organisation==
+Teachers may organise grades into [[Grade categories|grade categories]], [[Grade import|import]] and/or [[Grade export|export]] grades, and make [[Grade calculations|grade calculations]].
+Symbols to represent ranges of grades may be set as [[Grade letters|grade letters]].
+Administrators may control the appearance of the gradebook site-wide by adjusting settings available via the grades link in the site administration block:
+*[[General grade settings]]
+*[[Grade category settings]]
+*[[Grade item settings]]
+*[[Gradebook report settings]]
 ==See also==
-*[[Development:Grades]]
+*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=2122 Gradebook forum]
-*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeUy-_kbvqQ Basic Moodle Gradebook howto video]
+Video tutorials:
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeUy-_kbvqQ Basic Moodle Gradebook howto]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hrLNbifiGQ Gradebook reports]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXEefYe3qdk How to use the grade item settings and grade letters at admin level]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUslTuZPu6A Grade category settings]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB58W3KePBc How to set up the gradebook]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmkEGfvjj9U How to use outcomes in Moodle]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZcbN_7p2zI How to export grades from the gradebook]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6zWwJGb9TA How to use gradebook site settings and defaults]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKUGyzAXcyA How to set up calculations in the gradebook (basic)]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBEj8mmu8lM How to set up calculations in the gradebook (advanced)]
+*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWPUEqdhI4A How to change the display of grades in the gradebook]
+[[ca:Qualificacions]]
+[[cs:Známky]]
+[[de:Bewertungen]]
+[[eu:Kalifikazioak]]
 [[fr:Notes]]
+[[es:Calificaciones]]
+[[ru:Оценки]]
+[[ja:評定]]

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