Gradebook sanity arrives in September

[jch]

Enhancements Coming to the Gradebook in Moodle Courses
Changes to the 'Grades' tab in Moodle LMS rolling out in September.

Beginning with the September 2021 term, students in online courses will see a current average of their graded assignments that is more reflective of their course progress to date.

Previously, scores under the 'Grades' tab were calculated based on all assignments even before they were due. This included assignments that were yet to be submitted with zero ("0") placeholder scores. Students will now get a clearer picture of where they stand as their course progresses based on the assignments they have submitted. Beginning with the September term, the displayed grade will be weighted only against the assignments that were due up to that point.

This change in the Moodle LMS assignment grading system will begin for students enrolled in the September term. Students currently enrolled in June, July, and August 2021 terms will complete their courses under the former structure. To familiarize enrolled students with the new format, the University has integrated a visual tour in the 'Grades' section of Moodle courses.

This message arrived in my inbox this morning. I'm thrilled that TESU is FINALLY making this change. Now it will be much easier to understand grade status.

[bjcheung77]

Was that email to your personal email inbox or for one of the courses you're taking? I didn't get the email... as I have no courses or TECEP exams with them at the moment... hmm, interesting, great stuff to know!

[jch]

The email was sent by enrolled@tesu.edu to my firstname.lastname@students.tesu.edu email (automatically forwarded to my personal email) Wednesday morning with the title "Changes Coming to the Moodle Course Gradebook"

[rachel83az]

Personally, I would prefer to know what my grade would be if I stopped doing assignments right then (old way). But I guess more people prefer the new way.

[LevelUP]

Looks like they just clicked a button in the Moodle LMS admin that did this change.  I would like to see the grades both ways.

They probably won't do this but it would be nice if they made a custom plugin that when you did a forum post in a TESU course that it would automatically put your name & the discussion forum name automatically so we don't have to type this in manually.

[jch]

Personally, I would prefer to know what my grade would be if I stopped doing assignments right then (old way). But I guess more people prefer the new way.

I'd appreciate if they showed both like ASU ULC, but I strongly prefer the new approach being the default grade displayed. I'll admit that I didn't expect some people to like the old way. In the example situation you provided, it does make sense.

[rachel83az]

It would be nice if they showed both! At least it shouldn't be too difficult to just calculate the over-all grade if you need to. But, if I get sick, it's nice to be able to figure out if I can easily skip an assignment or two with minimal impact to my grade or if I need to at least submit something.

[jch]

Rachel, I took the initiative and emailed TESU about it. Here's what they had to say:

First, thank you for the positive feedback! While I do agree with you on all accounts, we don't have a way currently to display both types. That would be nice - even a way to toggle between them. Maybe one day! I do appreciate the suggestion. Thanks for reaching out.

Seems like Moodle doesn't have this capability, but they'll look for it in the future.

[rachel83az]

Cool, thanks for emailing them. It's too bad that Moodle doesn't allow that functionality.