With Spring 2014 classes ending on Wednesday, May 30, 2014, and final exams on the horizon, we have some important Moodle grading and end-of-semester information for you:
- Grading with Moodle
- Tips for avoiding Moodle gradebook conflicts and overrides
- Transferring grades to Moodle from SPIRE
- Moodle Opscan support
- Requesting Moodle for Summer Session and Fall 2014 on-campus courses
For complete details on all of these topics, keep reading below.
Grading with Moodle
Moodle provides you with a variety of methods for managing grades that can meet almost any instructional goal and work process. For example, use the Moodle Gradebook to aggregate grades, or calculate grades in a spreadsheet program (e.g., Excel) and upload final grades to Moodle for one-click importing to SPIRE. For more information on Moodle’s flexible grading options, see About Grading in Moodle.
Some important dates to be aware of as you begin to think about grading for Spring 2014:
- Last Day of Classes: Wednesday, April 30, 2014
- Final exams begin: Friday, May 2, 2014
- Last Day of Exams/End of Semester: Thursday, May 8, 2014
- Grades must be approved in SPIRE: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 (before midnight)
If you need help or have questions about grading with Moodle, contact the Instructional Media Lab (413-545-2823 | instruct@oit.umass.edu).
Download All Moodle Assignment Submissions at Once
Moodle allows you to download a zip file containing all of your students’ submissions to a Moodle assignment for easy reading.
To do this, go to the assignment in your Moodle course. In the Assignment administration settings block on the left side of the screen, click Download all submissions. A download window for your zip file will open.
Watch Out for Rounding in Turnitin
Turnitin allows you to set up rubrics that include partial points. However, after you’ve given students a grade using the rubric, any numbers that aren’t whole numbers will be rounded.
The best way to avoid this is simply to scale your rubric in a way that doesn’t use decimal points.
Avoid Gradebook Conflicts & Unintended Overrides
The Moodle gradebook only allows you to add/edit grades on one page at a time. Be sure to check that you don’t have multiple browser tabs or windows open for the same Moodle course gradebook.
If multiple Instructors or TA’s will be using a single Moodle course gradebook, see our tips for avoiding gradebook lock-outs: Grading in a Moodle Course with Multiple Instructors or TAs.
For questions or help with the Moodle gradebook, contact the Instructional Media Lab (413-545-2823 or instruct@oit.umass.edu).
One-Click Grade Transfer to SPIRE
Once final grades are ready in the “Course total” column of the Moodle gradebook, you can import final grades directly to SPIRE with just a single click. For details, see Import Grades From Moodle to SPIRE.
For questions or assistance with transferring grades from Moodle to SPIRE, contact the Instructional Media Lab (413-545-2823 | instruct@oit.umass.edu).
Moodle Opscan Support
Academic Computing can help instructors upload processed Opscan results into Moodle, but does not provide support for processing Opscan sheets.
For questions about getting Opscan results, please contact Opscan Services at 413-577-9500 or email opscan@admin.umass.edu.
For questions or help with uploading processed Opscan results into Moodle, contact the Instructional Media Lab (413-545-2823 | instruct@oit.umass.edu).
Request Moodle for Summer Session and Fall 2014 On-Campus Courses
For each term you teach an on-campus class, you must request a Moodle course in SPIRE.
To request Moodle for Summer Session and Fall 2014 on-campus courses, log in to SPIRE at https://www.spire.umass.edu. In the Menu, go to Faculty Home > Moodle Course Request. You will go through a series of screens that will gather information about your course. For details, see Request Your Moodle Course in SPIRE.
Note: Not all classes are eligible for requesting an LMS course. For more information, see Course Eligibility for Requesting a Learning Management System (LMS).
For instructions on how to reuse a previous Moodle course for this summer or fall, see Reuse a Moodle Course using “Import.”
For questions or help with requesting or reusing a Moodle course, contact the Instructional Media Lab (413-545-2823 or instruct@oit.umass.edu).
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Best of luck with the end of the semester!
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding Moodle, contact the Instructional Media Lab (413-545-2823 or instruct@oit.umass.edu).
