Gradebook automatically entering zeros

[patricia_lipsey]

Last semester our administrator told us that the function that automatically enters zeros in the gradebook was not working and we should not use it until further notice.  Has this been fixed?  Does the gradebook correctly enter zeros  when set up to do that?

[rmurchshafer · Accepted solution]

Patricia,

I'm not exactly sure what they were referring to but it might have to do with the change over to the New Gradebook.  In the old gradebook there was an option where instructors could set blank assignments to 0.  This was problematic to me because it really didn't set the grade to 0, it just change the instructor view to see the grades as if they were 0s.  I always thought this was a bad idea because a teacher might see a student's score at 75% (with missing grades as 0) and the student might see it as 90% (missing grades not hurting them).  So I would always advice teachers to enter a 0 when an assignment was missing so no one gets surprised later.  

The New Gradebook got rid of this option to let instructors set blank grades as 0s, but added a feature to automatically set "missing" grades to 0.  This is called the Missing Submission policy.  How do I apply a Missing Submission policy in the Gradebook?  As far as I know this works and pretty well in my opinion because favor the idea of not leaving grades blank.  However, in order for that policy to work you need to make sure that you have due dates on your assignments.  Also note that I don't think the policy is retroactive.  So if you turn it on now I think it will only affect assignments with due dates in the future.

Another thing to consider is any syncing that might happen at your school to a student information system and how those grades get pulled over.  It could be something with that integration process at your school which let to the suggestion of not using the feature.  So really it's probably best to check with them about the process in question to see how they feel about it.  I'm comfortable with all of the settings I describe above, but if it involves syncing to an SIS; every school might be set up differently.

Good luck,

Rick

[patricia_lipsey]

That is most helpful!! Thank you!!

Sent from my iPhone

Patricia Lipsey

NCVPS Instructor , Spanish IV

828-421-2747

patricia.lipsey@ncpublicschools.gov

919 -513-8550 (NCVPS main office)

[Chris_Davis]

If you have the problem where some students have 0s and others don't, you might have to re"Set Default Grades". This can be done by going into GRADES and then go into the settings (the 4 vertical dots in the right-hand corner) for each specific assignments. Once you click open the settings selection, scroll down to highlight "Set Default Grades". When the new window pops open, click the box next to "Overwrite already-entered grades". Don't enter any value, and just simply click the "Set Default Grade" button in the bottom right-hand corner. A notification will pop up that it changed however many students' grades you have for that assignment. Just click OK and the 0s should vanish.