Grading

Grading

There are two ways to enter grades in the Gradebook: by students and by assignments.

• Entering grades by students: This procedure uses the Grade Summary/Student page, which lists all assignments grades for one student. In addition to entering a grade, you can also send an email or post a comment to the student.
• Entering grades by assignment: This procedure uses the Grade Summary/Assignment page, which lists all student for one assignment. This page is particularly useful for entering several grades for he same assignment. You can also approve grades on this page.

Directions to Enter Grades:

1. Click Gradebook in the Navigation Bar.
2. To grade either:
   • By Students: Click "Students" in the Gradebook Navigation Bar and choose the student whose assignments you want to grade
   • By Assignments: Click "Assignments" in the Gradebook Navigation Bar and choose the assignment you want to grade all students for
3. Enter the grade (s) in the Points column.
4. Click 'Save Changes' to save the grades.
   Stellar highlights any grades that need to be updated; you can click the 'Save Changes' button to update grades.

   Note

   • If an 'X' is entered into a grade field, that grade is ignored and is not counted towards the final grade.
   • Grades can be 'cleared' by removing the grade and hitting 'Save Changes'.
     • Null grades cannot be approved
     • Null grades are treated as "not yet entered" in the dashboard and will cause any assignment that contains one to appear in the first column of the dashboard.
     • Null grades will appear as "cleared' in the grade history.
   • In order for students to view their approved grades the Student Display box must be checked in the [Configure] part of the Gradebook.

Students will not see their grades if they have not been approved. Like entering a grade, approving a grade can be done by student or assignment (see above for more details). To Approve a grade click the APPROVE button next to the grade. You can also approve more than one grade by clicking on the "Approve All" button. Once a grade is approved, it appears in the student's Grade Report.

Directions to Change an Approved Grades

1. Enter a new grade in the field for the Student who is receiving the grade. The field changes to yellow to indicate that the grade is not yet approved. Approved grades can be 'cleared' by removing the grade and hitting update. This is called a 'null' grade'.

   NOTE

   • Null grades cannot be approved.
   • Null grades will appear as 'cleared' in the grade history.
   • Letter grades CAN be set to null.
2. Click the Unable to render embedded object: File (savechanges.jpg) not found. button. The 'Letter Grade' field changes to white to indicate the field is updated however; the grade must be approved before it is viewable by the Student.
3. Click the Unable to render embedded object: File (approve.jpg) not found. button to approve a grade. The Letter Grade turns green to indicate it is approved. The confirmation message 'Grade Approved' appears on the 'Grade Status' column, also in green.

Cumulative - The student cumulative score for the assignment/exam.

Weighted Cumulative - (Optional) The assignment/exam's weighted cumulative score.

Grade Status - Instructor/Graders can approve grades in two ways: Unable to render embedded object: File (approveall.jpg) not found. and Unable to render embedded object: File (approve.jpg) not found. by student.

Approve All - All grade changes to the table are approved and submitted at the same time. Clicking Unable to render embedded object: File (approveall.jpg) not found. only affects the fields that contain grade values. Those that do not are disregarded.

Once approved, the 'Grade Status' column shows 'Grade Approved' and the Letter Grade changes to green, to indicate it is approved.

Approve by Student - Click the Unable to render embedded object: File (approve.jpg) not found. button to approve an individual Student's grade. Once approved, the 'Grade Status' column shows 'Grade Approved' in green and the Letter Grade changes to green. If a grade is not approved, the Unable to render embedded object: File (approve.jpg) not found. button is visible in the 'Grade Status' column.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the home page for the Gradebook. The Dashboard displays the "Unfinished", "Unapproved", and "Released Scores" so Instructors can easily review pending or completed assignments.

Needs Grading - Details what assignments/exams need to have grades assigned, or have grades that are overdue. If there are unfinished or overdue scores, the assignment title and the date the grade is due is listed. Click the assignment/exam title to jump to the grading table where you can enter and approve grades.

Needs Approving - Shows a list of assignments/exams that have grades entered but not yet approved. Click the assignment/exam title to jump to the grading table where you can approve grades that are ready to be finalized.

All Done - Shows a list of assignments/exams that have been graded and approved. Click the assignment/exam title to jump to the grading table where you can view all released grades.

Another way you can change and approve grades is by importing a spreadsheet. This way of changing and approving grades will allow you to update Stellar grades as well as keep a copy of the grades on your own desktop. When you export grades the spreadsheet will list the title, short name, due date, max points, weight, names and email addresses of the students, section the student belongs to (when applicable), points and whether or not the grade is approved.

Export XLS - Data from the Student/Grade List can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet (or another spreadsheet application). Excel is the default.
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Export CSV - Data from the Student/Grade List can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet (or another spreadsheet application) with Comma Separated Values. Excel is the default.

The export file has the following information for each student:

• Name
• Username
• MIT ID
• Section number
• Letter grade
• Cumulative grade
• Original, actual and makeup grade for each assignment (both approved and unapproved grades)

To export this information from the Gradebook:

• Click the Students tab in the Gradebook.
• Click the Export XLS, Export XLS with makeup grades or Export CSV button.
• Select whether to open or save the file.

The data can also be exported from the Dashboard:

• Select "Roster XLS", "Roster XLS with makeup grades" or "Roster CSV"from the "Download" drop-down menu. The full grade history, assignment summaries, and letter grades can also be downloaded from this menu.
  • This spreadsheet will include student name, username, MIT ID, section, letter grade, cumulative grade, and the grades for each assignment (Actual, Original, Makeup grades are optional)
    

Directions to Export Grades in a Spreadsheet:

1. Click on the Gradebook link in the navigation bar
2. Click on the assignments link in the Gradebook navigation bar.
3. Click on the (PIC) next to the assignment you wish to export grades from.

Directions to Enter Grades through Spreadsheets:

1. Click on the Gradebook link in the navigation bar
2. Click on the assignments link in the Gradebook navigation bar
3. Click the next to the assignment you wish to enter grades in to export your grades into an excel spreadsheet on your desktop.
4. Open and make changes to the grades in the spreadsheet. To approve an individual's grade, go to the "Approved" column for that student and change the value from FALSE (unapproved) to TRUE (approved). Make sure you save the changes made to your spreadsheet.
5. When you have completed approving grades, click (PICTURE).
6. Click Browse and select your updated spreadsheet.
7. Choose to either import changed grades or import all
8. Click 'Preview'. Stellar displays changes made in the grades and asks if these updates are correct.
9. Click 'Make these Changes' or if the information is not correct, click 'No, Go Back' and make sure you have edited the spreadsheet correctly. Start from step 4 again. Stellar lists the changes made
10. Click 'Done'.

The History pop-up tells you: the grade given, the Date and Time it was entered, the Action done to the homework: Create (new but not approved), Change (modified but not approved), Makeup (entered or updated a makeup grade), or Approve (final and approved), the Grader's email, and the role of the Grader. The Grade History link will not appear till at least one grade has been updated to the appropriate field.

Directions to View a Grade's History:

1. Display the Grade Summary/Assignment or Grade Summary/Student page.
   • To display the Grade Summary/Assignment page, click the Assignments tab in the Gradebook, then click an assignment title.
   • To display the Grade Summary/Student page, click the Students tab in the Gradebook, then click a student's name.
2. Click the icon. The History pop-up opens:

   

   • The current Letter Grade
   • The Date and Time it was entered,
   • The Action - Create (new but not approved), Change (modified but not approved), or Approve (final and approved), Original and Makeup; the Grader's email, and the role of the Grader.
3. To close the History pop-up, click the [ x ] in the pop-up's title bar.

Gradebook pages that display grade summaries, each from a different perspective, are:

Student/Grade List: This page provides a class-level view of the grades, listing all students, their cumulative point scores, and points for each assignment. Stellar also displays the total number of grades entered for each assignment and the class average.

Grade Summary/Student: This summary shows all assignment grades for a specific student, including each assignment's maximum points and weight (if applicable). You can also use this page to enter grades, write a comment to the student, and email the student.

Assignments|Assignments Page: This page lists all Gradebook assignments, their due dates, maximum points allowed, class average, and weight percentage. You can also display a graph that shows the range of grades for each assignment.

Grade Summary/Assignment: This page shows all grades for a specific assignment. The summary includes the assignment's due date, maximum point value, weight (if applicable), class average, and number of student submissions that have been graded. You can also use this page to enter grades.
The view for the graders/TAs/admins etc will be different from the student view. Attached are the different views:

Student View

When a student clicks on the "Gradebook" link their Grade Summary will be displayed. The Weighted Score column is only visible when you check the option on the Gradebook CONFIGURE PAGE
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Grader / TA / Instructor Views

Graders, TAs, and instructors will see the following when accessing the Gradebook. Access to certain tabs in the Gradebook navigation bar is dependent upon what ROLE(i.e. grader, TA, etc) the user has. Graders, for instance, do not have access to the "Letter Grade" tab or the the "Configure" tab.
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Changing a grade in the Gradebook is the same procedure as entering a grade. If the grade was already approved, its approval status is removed and the grade must be approved again in order for it to be posted in the student's Grade Report. Stellar records any changes to a grade or makeup grade in its history.

Makeup grades allow can be inputted into the Gradebook through the Makeup Grade field. A Makeup grade will not automatically be put as the grade received for the assignment. You can choose to either keep the original grade, use the makeup grade, or input a different number by manually filling the main point field for that assignment.

Directions to Enter a Makeup Grade:

1. Display the Grade Summary/Assignment or Grade Summary/Student page.
   • To display the Grade Summary/Assignment page, click the Assignments tab in the Gradebook, then click an assignment title.
   • To display the Grade Summary/Student page, click the Students tab in the Gradebook, then click a student's name.
2. Click the Makeup grade button (PIC)
   Stellar will display a section with the grade given, original grade, and makeup grade. If you have already put in a grade, the original grade field will be automatically populated.
3. Enter the Makeup grade in the Makeup grade field.
4. (Optional)- Change the grade given by entering a new number in the top field.
5. Click 'Save Changes'.

Entering or changing a makeup grade will be recorded in the history as "Makeup" not "Create" or "Change".

The graph tool displays students' grades that have at the least an updated grade. The Y-axis displays the number of students; the X-axis displays the points received; the number of scores, average, and standard deviation is displayed below the graph.

Clicking on the graph icon displays the recorded point values for an assignment as a bar chart. This link can be found by clicking "Assignments" in the Gradebook Navigation Bar and by clicking an assignment listed on that page, or on the dashboard.