THE GRADE CENTRE | ULTRA

The Grade Centre tabs in more detail:

Overview

An overview of any submissions under the headings Needs Marking and Needs Posting. 

Below is a screenshot showing a new assessment submission with a button that says Mark now (there is an indicator of how many with a number of submissions requiring to be marked in brackets). 

Selecting this button will open a submission for marking and feedback. 

View

Markable Items

Lists all the submitted assessments with information such as detailed information such as how many submissions received:

• Item (name of the assessment)
• Category (e.g. Form / Assignment / Discussion / Test)
• Due date (if applicable)
• Marking status (if applicable)
• Post (this relates to the release of marks/feedback)

a. Click to open any Item and it will take you to the submission area, with assessment content and settings / Submissions / Student Activity.

b. Each item can be edited by selecting three dots more.  Turnitin assignment will always have No Category, but can be set by selecting the three dots more. 

c. Note: the Form category has a blank space under Marking Status unless it is set to be marked.  

Marks

Displays a grid view of the columns and grid table showing each student, new submission, marks posted etc.

a. Click on a students name to see an overview of their submissions

b. Click a column name to access the drop down menu to view the following actions:

• Send Reminder
• View Submissions
• Download Results
• Statistics
• Delete

c. Selecting New Submission provides options to view, post (mark), add or edit exceptions.

d. Filters can be added to change how and what is presented: Student search, search by group, search by markable items (needs marking), search by Formative or Summative and/or by category

Students

This shows the list of students with the students listed down the side but the next two columns after the student name are Username and Last access (this shows the last time the user logged onto the module).

Contacting a student through the Grade Centre

The highlighted three dots menu above shows that you can set accommodations here (e.g. set a different due dates per student etc.) for the individual student and also message them.  NB: Please see our detailed guide below to setting accommodations, exceptions and exemptions..

Also within the Markable items tab you can send the student a reminder as below by clicking the three dots menu on the right-hand side of the item:

The next message will ask you to confirm whether you want to send a reminder depending on how many outstanding submissions by students there are (e.g. this example only shows one):

Then a brief message flashes up on screen:

A message will now paper in the student's Messages tab.  Please note that the circled figure 1 will disappear when the student clicks on the message: 

Student Performance

You can monitor student's performance by setting the criteria to alert you to any students who fall below or on a certain grade and who have missed submission due dates.  You can also set the number of days when students last accessed the module.

Caution on using automatic zero for overdue work there is a default setting which can be turned off (these can be updated / will not affect those with accommodations).

Marking and providing feedback

When an assignment has been submitted the marker can then select student assignment via any of the options in the Grade Centre. 

 To open up the Feedback area.

a. View the submission

b. To access the Overall Feedback area, select the arrow on the right-hand side to expand the panel.

c. Enter feedback using the text box and enter a mark in the pill box in the top level banner.

d. Navigate to the next submission using the arrows.

Example of marked submission and with feedback:

The mark has been entered as shown above plus a comment has been entered into the feedback box (accessed by a grey left pointing arrow when it is closed and clicking the grey rightward pointing arrow (as above) will return it to that state.

Below is the left hand side of the marking screen which has Post Marks button at the bottom.  If this is selected it will post all marks entered on other student's submissions:

The right hand side of the marking screen is below which shows the expanded three dots menu where there is an option to Post the mark as well but only for this student's submission:

Please note that the Post Marks button is also available in the assignment's Submission tab:

Post mark reminder button 

If the above screen is closed without selecting either Post Marks or Post mark a reminder button will appear in the assignment Submissions and also in Markable items in the Grade Centre:

 

Overriding the mark

It is possible to override the previously entered mark.  Go to the marking screen again and as seen above click the expanded three dots menu and Override final mark:

Then this will appear as below the original mark plus a space for the new one clearly headed OVERRIDE where you enter the new mark:

It is now marked as such also in Submissions:

Post mark and due date

NB Please note that unless you uncheck the default selected box in Assessment Mark settings when creating your assignment  the marks will be posted irrespective of the due date. 

See the next section for more detail on this.

This guide will show how to set up Marking Schemas; for instance a Pass / Fail to display rather than points or percentage.  Marking schemas map percentages to letter marks or some other notation for reporting performance.

a. In Grade Centre, select the cog.

b. In the side panel, select the link Manage Mark Schemas.

c. Select the Plus icon to create a new Schema

d. Edit the name, in this example it will be 'Pass/Fail' 

e. Change the default Letter A to represent P (Pass) and change the Mark Range from 50% to 51% - 100% (see image below)

f.  This will automatically change the Mark Range for Fail to be less than 51% 

h. Click on Save.

Applying Marking Schema to Grade Centre Column

a. Create a new column or edit existing and change Marking Use.

b. Edit a column either under Markable Items tab (three dots more) or Marks tab and select the Column header and Edit (see example below) and change the Marking Use to Pass/Fail.

Posting marks control

When creating an assignment you can set to control the posting of marks by unticking the default selected 'Post assessment marks automatically' box under Assessment Mark:

Once an assignment has been marked it will appear in the Submissions section as the screen below shows.   The second example in the list is where no submission has been received and the mark of zero was entered manually in this section and doing this has resulted in the Post 1 mark button:

This button will also appear in the Markable items section where there is an exclamation mark after the Grade Centre tab heading:

When the mark is posted in either section (i.e. Submissions or Markable items it will appear in the Marks grid view in green as below:

If you click the Marks tab in the Grade Centre you will be able to search for items, students etc. in the Search grade centre box:

As the no results message states below you can search under the categories named:

It will also provide suggestions for you as you begin typing in your search term:

Filter

As per the first screen shot in this section the Filter button will allow you to a more detailed search as shown below:

If you click the downward arrow on the available pull down lists it will show a list of existing items:

The bottom part of the Filter settings box shows a choice to search by category and assessment type:

Once your term search has been entered click Apply which will return the results.

Search by submission number

You will be able to search for a student's submission by their submission receipt number when you click the page and magnifying glass icon next to the Filter button:

The student needs to supply you with this as they will have received it in their University's email and also when they have submitted their assignment as it is available to download.

To Show or Hide a column to students:

a. Open Grade Centre, Marks tab.

b. Select the heading of the column to be hidden to access the menu.

c. Choose Edit choose the option either Visible to students or Hidden from students.

d. Click Save. 

e. In the grid view under Marks tab a hidden column header will have a strike line through it. 

Exceptions

You can give a student an exception on a specific assignment if the student is having problems submitting their assignment (perhaps due to external factors e.g. medical reasons etc.) An exception includes extending their submission time window or letting them have additional attempts.

In the Marks tab click on the Student's item square (i.e. the assessment column header) which will bring up the menu see as below.  From this, choose Add or edit exceptions.

In the dialogue box that appears, you can alter the due date for the student and set the window of the item's availability for the student.

You can also change the number of attempts allowed.  Click Save.   You will notice in the student's item square a small grey clock signifies the exception.  As seen in the first screen shot you can edit this to remove the exception.

Exceptions and automatic zeros
If the assignment etc. is set to posting an automatic zero, setting a due date exception will override this and only show if the student doesn’t make a submission by the extended due date.

Exceptions or accommodations
An accommodation applies to all due dates in the module for the individual student as exceptions, as above, are set for the individual assignment/test etc. (and individual student)

Exemptions

There may also be a need to go further than exceptions and exempt a student from an assessment etc. due to circumstances where they would be unable to complete it.

The exemption will not affect a student’s overall mark calculation or marked late or awarded an automatic zero.

Also as seen in the first screen shot in the menu (that appears when you click the student's item square) but this time you click Add or edit Exemptions.  The simply tick the Exempt mark box as shown and click Save.

The Exempt message now appears in the square:

Deleting attempts

 If a student submits the wrong file for an assessment you may want to delete it and let them resubmit (although you could let the student resubmit the assignment etc.) 

To delete the submission you go into the marking screen of the submitted assignment and choose the three dots menu and Delete attempt.

A confirmation message asking you to confirm the delete will appear, click Delete.

The screen shot below shows the student view when they click the Grade Centre.  This is the left-hand side of the screen.

The purple circle against the essay title above signifies that it has been marked and the mark and feedback are now available.

The right-hand side of the screen is shown below with the Status as marked and the mark in the next column.

Clicking the View button (as above) will let the student see the feedback posted.

Downloading Grade Centre

If you would like to work on the marking offline then you can download items from the Grade Centre.  Click the Download Grade Centre icon.

This opens the dialogue box where you can choose the Full Grade centre or alternatively download the list (history) of marks that have been changed.

The next screen shot shows options to choose which assignment(s) you would like to download, including any feedback comments if required.

You will have a choice of downloading as a .CSV or .XLS file.  These types of file will open in the spreadsheet program on your device (which is typically Excel).  You can save the file on your device or in Content collection.  Click Download.

Below is the left-hand side of the downloaded file opened in Excel and the next screen shot shows the right-hand side:

You can then amend the file and save the results.  Please see the below section on Uploading to the Grade Centre for guidance on saving the file.

For example, the below screen shot shows that we have altered the marks in the column highlighted.

Uploading to the Grade Centre

Click the Upload Grade Centre icon which is to the left of the Download Grade Centre icon in the first screen shot above.  You can either drag and drop the file or browse and add the file from your device or content collection.

Then the next screen should show the items confirmed.  The example shows that we have added one assignment 'The Wrong Level'.  We then click Upload.

NB It is important that the file to be uploaded is in the correct format as Ultra will post error messages in this dialogue box including if nothing has been added and if the data is incorrect (e.g. the student id number).  The upload file below was saved as a .CSV file as this seemed to work better than saving as an .XLS file.

The next screen shot shows the successfully uploaded file in the Marks tab of the Grade centre.  As you can see, the new marks have been added to the assignment.

Weighted totals and the overall mark for the module

As in MyBeckett Original you can set up an overall mark by setting a number of assessments to add up to that overall mark for the module.  As before, you can weight the totals of each assessment proportionally or equally. 

For example, the module assignment could count for 60 per cent of the mark and the exam would count for 40 per cent.

In the Grade Centre we click as before the cog for the Settings dialogue box and scrolling down we click on the Set up overall mark button.

Click the Weighted option.  We have expanded the example text below which shows their weightings between the assessment.

Then click Next.

This brings you to the next screen which shows the instructions at the top expanded where you have the choices as described.  See the next screen shot which illustrates the symbols against the assignment category.

There is a choice to split the marks proportionally (e.g. as in the above examples 60/40) or equally (e.g. two assessments would have a 50/50 split).  Below shows the assessment category and the percentage allocated to the module's two assessments (assignment and journal) and the proportion each carries by marks.

The circle with a diagonal line icon has been selected to exclude the categories and has changed to display as purple. This example shows we have manually excluded Discussion, Exam and Form categories apart from the two assessments (i.e. assignment and journal).

NB This is purely to demonstrate the change in icon appearance as in the above example as there are no items within the Discussion, Exam and Form categories to affect the overall mark.

On the top right-hand side of the above screen is the choice of displaying the overall mark to students where you can deselect it if required and also choose the unit if you do want it shown.  Click Save when all is done.

The next screen shows the arrow at the top right-hand side which allows you to navigate back to the Marks tab.

Then close the window  by selecting the X icon in the top left corner and then you are returned to Grade Centre Settings.

The student will see now see the overall mark column in the percentage unit (from the two assessments).

In Ultra, you can add a calculated column to show the average overall mark that can be displayed to your students. 

a. In Grade Centre, navigate to the settings cog and set up the overall mark.

b. Add Overall Mark Calculation by selecting Points tab then select the Next button.

c. Overall Mark Settings requires the option to be selected Calculate marks based on points earned out of total marked points.

e. Choose Points (recommended) for how the overall mark is displayed.

f.  Choose if you would like the column to be displayed to students by selecting Show to Students. 

g.  Save and close the section to return to Grade Centre.