myCSUSM
FAQs About the GradeBook
- Do grades transfer from Cougar Courses into MyCSUSM? How do I enter official grades
into MyCSUSM?
Grades from Cougar Courses do not transfer to MyCSUSM; they must be manually entered.
We don't have access to this process as it's controlled by the Registrar's Office. The Administrative Coordinator in your department, or another faculty member, may be able to help you. You can also contact the Registrar's Office for assistance.
- How do I enter a grade for an activity the students did on paper/in-person/outside
of CC?You can enter grades for activities completed outside of Cougar Courses by using manual grade items. Please see our help guide on how to create manual grade items. Then, see our help guide on how to enter grades manually.
- How do I change the point value of a grade item in the gradebook?
From the gradebook Setup page you can only change the point value of manual items. To do so, click the Edit for that item, and then Edit Settings. Change the Maximum Grade and save.
To change the point value of an Assignment, Turnitin Assignment, Forum, or other activity (except Quiz) created on your course homepage, you need to go to the course homepage, go the activity, and click the pencil to go to the settings to change the maximum grade. Keep in mind if an item has already been graded it might not be possible to change the maximum grade.
For a Quiz you will need to go to the Edit Quiz page to change the maximum grade.
- How do I delete grade items from the gradebook?
From the gradebook Setup page you can only delete a manual grade item. To do so, click the Edit for that item, and then Delete.
If the grade item is an activity that was created on your course homepage, you must delete the activity from your course homepage to remove it from the gradebook. From your course homepage to the activity, click the three dots below, and choose Delete. If you do not want to delete the activity, but you do want to remove it from the gradebook, go into the settings of the activity and change the Grade Type to None (Assignment or Turnitin), set the maximum grade to 0 (Quiz), or change the Grade Type to None or the Aggregate Type to No Ratings (Forum).
Alternatively, on the gradebook Setup page you can check the box for Weight for the item and enter 0. Save. That grade item will then not be included in the course total.
- Why do I see two grade columns for the same forum? One says "rating" at the end, the
other says "whole forum."
You can choose to grade a forum using Ratings or Whole Forum Grading. You will want to choose only one because if you enable both there will be two columns in the gradebook for that forum, one for each method. Hopefully you haven't yet entered grades, or have only entered grades for one method. If so:
- To remove Whole Forum Grading: Go to the Whole Forum Grading section and change the Type to None. Save.
- To remove Ratings: Go to the Ratings section and change the Aggregate Type to "No ratings." Save.
If you have entered grades for for methods, the only method that can be removed is Ratings. Whole Forum Grading cannot be removed after you have entered any grades.
- How do I reorder items in my gradebook?To reorder grade items in your gradebook go to the gradebook Setup page. To the left of the grade item click the Move icon (the up/down arrow). Then click on the small white box where you want to move the grade item. Wait, and then the grade item will be moved to that spot. Repeat for each grade item.
- Why can't I see the course or category totals on the Grader Report page?
The Grader Report page has three possible views: full view, aggregates only (totals columns), and grades only (no totals). If you don't see a category total or the course total, you may have inadvertently changed the view from full view to grades only. To fix this, click the small icon just to the right of the course name or category name in the grades table until it displays the correct view (you may have to click a few times).
- How do I see the student view of the gradebook?To see what a student sees in the gradebook, go to the View tab of your gradebook, and click on the User Report tab. In the “Select all or one user” drop down menu on the right, choose all users or a particular student, and then for "View Report as" to User. It will then show you exactly what the student(s) can see.
- The students can't see one or more grades in the gradebook.
There are several different reasons why students might not be able to see their grades in the gradebook. Please see the section Grade Item Not Visible on the help guide End of Semester Gradebook Tasks to see the reasons and their solutions.
- My students say the gradebook shows a Turnitin Assignment or Quiz as Dropped. Why
is that and how do I fix it?
If you didn't set up the gradebook to drop the lowest score(s) then the grade is likely dropped because the grade item is hidden. By default hidden items are dropped from students' category and course totals.
Turnitin: Turnitin Assignment scores are hidden until the Post Date and time has been reached. Before this date and time the scores are hidden, so the gradebook will show Dropped for that activity for students. After the Post Date and time is reached, scores will be visible and it should no longer say Dropped.
Quiz: Quiz results are hidden until the point in time designated in the Review Options section of the Quiz settings. You can choose to show the Points (grade) once a student submits or after the quiz is closed for everyone. Until that point the grade item is hidden, so the gradebook will show Dropped for that activity for students. After that point, scores will be visible and it should no longer say Dropped.
- Why is the course total students see different than what I see?
By default if graded items are hidden they will not be counted in course total students see, though they are counted in the total you see on the Grader Report page. So if you have hidden items that have been graded, the course total students see will be different than what you see. You will want to make sure all graded items are visible (see above).
- How can I show the course total for only the items that have been graded so far?By default the system counts ungraded items as zeros. So students start out with a course total of 0 and work their way up as items are graded. If you only want the course total to include the items that have been graded, and exclude the ungraded items, you will need to go into the settings of each category and set it to exclude empty grades. To do so, go to the gradebook Setup page and for each category (find the folder icon) go to the right and click Edit then Edit Settings. Click Show More underneath the Aggregation setting. Check the box for "Exclude empty grades." Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes. Repeat for each category (folder icon) you have in your course. Totals will then only include items that have been graded so far. If a student did not do an activity, you will want to go in and manually give them a 0 for that activity, otherwise the system will ignore it.
- What are Scales? How can I use them when grading?
Scales are a way to evaluate student work that is not tied to a point value. Scales are useful when providing feedback on ungraded items like rough drafts or reflections. As scales are not tied to point values, they are not included in category or course totals. Also, as scales are not tied to point values, they cannot be accurately displayed as Percentages or Letter grades. Keep these two factors in mind when using scales in your course and when choosing display options for your gradebook.
Click on the Scales tab in the gradebook to view the sitewide scales available. The first line is the name of the scale and below that are the options that would be available when grading with that scale. For example, for the scale "P/NP" when grading you can assign Pass or NotPassed.
The current Standard Scales cannot be edited or deleted. However, you can create your own for your course. At the bottom of the Scales page click "Add a new scale. " Give your scale a name. In the Scale box, create your scale. Each item in the scale should be separated by a comma. You can use as many options here as you need, but they should be ordered by increasing value. For example, an A,B,C,D scale would be entered as D,C,B,A. When finished, click "Save changes." You can now use the scale to grade in your course.