View source for Talk:Grades

The following content has been moved here from [[Grades]]. --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 18:38, 29 November 2011 (WST)

''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..
* [[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]]

==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_categories|grade category]]
: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.

As an overview:
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.

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]].

Grades can also be used as [[Outcomes|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 [[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. 

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).

===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==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=2122 Gradebook forum]

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]