Advanced grading methods

Template:Moodle 2.2Advanced grading methods is a new subsystem introduced in Moodle 2.2. It allows to use various assessment forms like rubrics to calculate the grade for students' work. At the moment, only the Assignment module supports them. More activity modules (like Glossary and Database) are supposed to be supported in future Moodle versions. Also, more grading methods can be implemented as independent plugins (including custom ones fitting your particular need).

Basic concepts

By default, numerical grades in Moodle are selected by the teacher from a range like 0-100. When advanced grading methods are enabled, the grade selection element is replaced with a more complex assessment form provided by the plugin. The plugin contains the logic how to calculate the grade. Such a calculated grade is then passed back to the activity module as if the teacher used the standard grade value selector.

Example: The teacher creates new Assignment in the course with the grade up to 30. She defines a rubric to be used for grading. The rubric itself produces raw score up to 12 (eg it has four criteria with levels 0, 1, 2, 3). So the rubric's score 12 leads to the assignment grade 30, the score 6 leads to the grade 15 etc.

For each activity, a new copy of the assessment form is created. Note that this is different from how scales work. While scales are defined at the site level or course level and then can be used in all activities, advanced grading forms create a new copy of the form definition for every single activity that uses it. So a change in the form definition in one assignment does not affect other places where the same rubric is used.

Example: The teacher defines a rubric for an assignment in the course. Then she re-uses the rubric in another assignment (see below on how to do this). When the teacher modifies the rubric in the second assignment, the first assignment still uses the original rubric.

The grading form definition is part of the activity data. It is included in the activity's backup and it is copied when the activity is duplicated via the "x2" icon or imported from another course.

Configuring an activity module to use advanced grading methods

Choosing the grading method in the activity settings form.

Modules that support advanced grading methods have the grading method selector included in their settings form (for example in the Assignment settings form). The teacher can choose either 'Simple direct grading' or one of the installed grading methods plugins. Selecting 'Simple direct grading' means that the advanced grading is not used and the standard grade selector is displayed.

Alternative way is to follow the link 'Advanced grading' in the activity Settings block. The link leads to a page where the current active grading method can be changed, too.

The form definition and the associated assessment data are stashed when the grading method is changed from one type to another. That means it is save to change the current active grading method from 'Rubric' to 'Simple direct grading' and back to 'Rubric'. The rubric definition is kept in the database, although it may not be available while the current grading method is set to some other method.

Assessment form definition

Grading method management screen (no assessment form of the selected type is not defined yet).

The link 'Advance grading' in the activity settings form leads to a management screen where the assessment form can be defined, edited, deleted and eventually shared as a public template (if the user has such permission). If there is no form of the selected method defined yet, there are two options:

• Define new grading form from scratch - creates a blank grading form and lets you define it. Each grading plugin provides its own grading form editor.
• Create new grading form from a template - lets you re-use a previously defined form. You can copy any of your own grading forms (that is those you have created elsewhere) or a grading form that was shared as a public template at your site.

Every grading form has a name and a description. These are not displayed to students. The description should summarize the form, explain its usage etc.

The grading form definition can be saved as a draft or as a final version. If the grading form is saved as a draft, it can't be used for assessing. To release the form and make it available to assessment, save it using the button 'Save and make it ready'. The current status of the form definition is indicated via a tag displayed next to the form name.

Modifying the form after it has been used

It may happen that you define a grading form, make it ready for usage and start assessing students with it. After some time you realize there is a typo in the form or that it should be actually improved significantly (like by adding another criterion into the rubric). In such case, you are about to edit a form that has already been used for assessment.

If the grading plugin considers your change as significant, it may force you to mark all current assessment with a special flag 'Needs review'. It is your duty to go through all existing assessments made by the previous version of the form and re-assess them to make the calculated grades valid a comparable. If the change seems to be a trivial change (eg fixing a typo in the text), the form editor may ask you to decide whether the existing assessment should be marked with the 'Needs review' flag or not.

Please note, when there are other people using the form for assessment (eg there are several non-editing teachers in the course who participate on the submissions assessment), even a trivial rewording can be understood as significant change in the criterion meaning. Make sure you communicate the changes well with your colleagues.