Chapter 4. Assigning Grades

In the previous chapter, we added a total of five assignments using scales, number grades, outcomes, a marking guide, and a rubric. We also added a graded item directly into the Gradebook.

Once graded activities are added to a Moodle course, we need to award grades to students. Some of the activities are graded by Moodle, such as quizzes and some elements of lessons, but activities with a lot of written content need to be reviewed and graded by the teacher.

In this chapter, we will look at different ways of grading work using a range of grade types. We will see how to:

• Grade assignments with number grades, scales, outcomes, marking guides, and rubrics

• Add written feedback, including inline comments with online text submitted by students

• Download and upload grades using the offline grading options

• Use quick grading directly within the Gradebook

Grading an assignment

Let's first find our way to assignments and the grading screen. Within a course, we need to click on the name of the assignment that we want to grade. If you created the assignments based on the instructions within Chapter 3, Adding Graded Activities, click on Task 1 to view it.

At the top of the assignment screen, we can see the name of the assignment—in this case, Task 1—as well as the assignment details. Beneath the assignment details, we are provided with a Grading summary section. The grading summary tells us about the following options:

• How many students under the Participants option are in the course for which we are expecting assignments to be submitted.

• Beneath this, we can see whether any drafts of work have been submitted in the Drafts section.

• The Submitted option tells us how many students have submitted their assignment. This is only relevant when students are required to submit their work electronically either through file or an online submission.

• The Needs...

Grading an assignment with a marking guide

If you followed the instructions in Chapter 3, Adding Graded Activities, open the assignment titled Assignment 4.

The assignment grading table will be the same as the one we have seen previously with the simple grading method, Click on View/grade all submissions and click on the grade icon next to a student that you want to grade.

The biggest difference between the grading pages we have seen previously and using the marking guide is the way in which we grade the assignment. When grading assignments with a scale, we were provided with a drop-down list in order to add the grade, and for a numerical grade, we had a textbox to which we could type the grade. For a marking guide assignment, there is no single grade entry point. Instead, we are provided with the grading criteria for which we can add a grade. Moodle will then add each grade together in order to provide the final grade for the assignment.

Next to each piece of criteria, there is a text entry...

Grading an assignment with a rubric

If you created Assignment 5, click to view this now and make your way to the grading screen of a selected student. Much like the marking guide, instead of a single grade entry point, we have a table that provides us with the criteria for the assignment. However, unlike the marking guide, we will not be grading with a numerical grade of our choice.

The rubric table enables us to easily grade work even though there is a lot of information on the screen.

When grading assignments, the teacher reviews the work and clicks on the box that contains the statement and points that they want to award. We can also add written feedback in the textbox on each row. A section to add in the overall feedback is also available.

In the following screenshot, you can see how this rubric grid has been completed by the teacher:

The shaded boxes show you the grade awarded for each criterion, and some comments have been added to the feedback column as well.

The final grade for the assignment...

Grading a graded item within the Gradebook

We have seen how we can grade assignments by accessing the activities from within the main course screen. However, in Chapter 3, Adding Graded Activities, we also added a graded activity directly into the Gradebook. So, how do we grade this? We go into the Gradebook! Let's take a look:

1. From the main course screen, go to the Grades area (navigate to Administration | Grades).

2. Click on the Turn editing on button in the top-right corner of the screen.

3. We will be able to add a grade directly into the graded item.

   

In the previous screenshot, you can see the Attendance grade option. This item was set up as a value grade. To add the grade, we type a number into the empty textbox. At the bottom of the screen, there is an Update button that saves any grades that we have added.

We can also use this grading method for any other type of graded activity within the Gradebook.

Quick grading within the Gradebook

Turning editing on within the Grades area will allow us to...

Summary

In this chapter, we have seen how to grade assignments that have number or scale grades and graded outcomes, and we used the marking guide and rubric grading forms. We also saw how we can use the quick grading options within the assignment area and the Gradebook screen.

We saw how we can grade individual assignments, but how do all of these come together in the Gradebook? In the next chapter, we will look at how the grades can work together in the Gradebook and how calculations can be set up to calculate the final course grades. We will also see how we can further customize the Gradebook.