Preparing Final Course Grades in Moodle

On this page:

• Set course total column to show five decimal places
• Manually input grades in the course total column
• Use Moodle course aggregation
• Import from a spreadsheet

Moodle displays a Course total (or final grade) to students. The Course total can be based on calculated or aggregated grade items from the Moodle Gradebook, or instructors can manually enter numeric grades to the Course total column.

At the end of the semester when grades are due, the letter grade associated with the Course total can be imported from Moodle into SPIRE on demand in a single click. For more details for importing grades to SPIRE, please see Import Grades from Moodle or Blackboard Learn to SPIRE.

Set course total column to show five decimal places

To ensure your students see an un-rounded grade for their Course total, we recommend keeping the default setting for the Course total column of showing five (5) decimal places. If you see fewer than five decimal places for the Course total:

1. To open the Moodle Gradebook from your main course page, go to Course Management (black gear icon , top right). The Course Management panel opens. Under Grading, select Gradebook setup. The Gradebook Setup page opens.                                                                                                                         
   Note: you can also go to the Gradebook setup page from Navigation Tray (hamburger menu , top left). Select Grades, and the Grader report page opens. In the navigation tab, click Setup. The Gradebook setup page opens.
2. In the top row on the Gradebook setup page, under the Actions column, click Edit. The Edit drop-down menu appears.
3. From the Edit drop-down menu, choose Edit settings. The Edit category settings page opens.
4. Under Category total, click Show more... to expand the available options.
5. From the Overall decimal points drop-down menu, select 5.
6. At the bottom of the page, click Save changes.

Manually input grades in the course total column

Moodle allows for manual input of the final course grade directly into the Course total column in the Grader report page.
Note: At the end of the semester, you can import grades to SPIRE. For more details for importing grades to SPIRE, please see Import Grades from Moodle or Blackboard Learn to SPIRE.

1. To open the Moodle Gradebook from your main course page, go to Course Management (black gear icon , top right). The Course Management panel opens. Under Grading, select Grader report. The Grader report page opens.                                                            
   Note: you can also go to the Grader Report from Navigation Tray (hamburger menu , top left). Select Grades, and the Grader report page opens.
2. At the top-right corner, click Turn editing on (green pencil icon , top right).
3. Scroll to the right to locate the Course total column and grade entry boxes appear. You can then enter a numeric grade for each student.
   Note: You must input numerical scores in this column. If you would like to convert numeric grades to letter grades of your own scale, you will need to set up a Letter conversion scheme. Letter grades in Moodle are automatically set to coincide with university standards.  For more details about letter grades in Moodle, please see Letter Grades in Moodle.
4. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Use Moodle course aggregation

While you have the option to create your own formulas for calculations, Moodle comes with preset calculations for the Gradebook.

The most common steps for Course total calculations in Moodle are as follows:

1. (Optional) Set up course Categories.
2. Select appropriate Aggregation methods.
3. If not using the university standard, set up a Letter conversion scheme. For more, see Letter Grades in Moodle.
   Note: At the end of the semester, you can import grades to SPIRE. For more details for importing grades to SPIRE, please see Import Grades from Moodle or Blackboard learn to SPIRE.

Import from a spreadsheet

The Moodle Gradebook allows you to import grades from a spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel.

1. Convert score to be from a scale of 100 points in your spreadsheet.
2. Upload to a new column in Moodle.
3. Use the Calculator tool to make the Course total column equal to the newly imported column.
4. If not using the university standard, set up a Letter conversion scheme. For more, see Letter Grades in Moodle.
   Note: At the end of the semester, you can import grades to SPIRE. For more details for importing grades to SPIRE, please see Import Grades from Moodle or Blackboard Learn to SPIRE.