The Gradebook is a very useful tool to manage the progress of students. It enables teachers to review and manage the grades awarded for each graded activity in the course. However, there are also some other functions within Moodle that enable the Gradebook to be further enhanced or to track progress outside it. In this chapter we will do the following:
- Set pass grades to visually show achievement and progression for individual pieces of work
- Turn on activity tracking to show progress through activities on the course
- Use course completion to track progress through required elements of the course
- Use course and activity completion reports
As we know, we can view the grades awarded in the Gradebook. However, we can also set pass levels for each graded activity to provide a visual view within the Gradebook. When pass grades are set, the Gradebook will not only show the grade but a text color will also be applied. If the grade awarded is below the pass grade, the text color will be red. If the grade awarded is at or above the pass grade, the text color will be green.
This option is set from within the Gradebook and needs to be set for each individual activity.
- Go into the Gradebook by clicking on Grades in the Administration block.
- Go into the Simple view option of the Categories and items section of the Gradebook.
- Click on the edit icon (a cog in the Actions column) next to the graded item for which you would like to set the pass grade.
- Click on Show more in the Grade item section.
- You will see the Maximum grade option that was set when the activity was first created, along with the Minimum grade option. Beneath these two options there is the Grade to pass setting. By default the grade to pass is 0 but in the following example the pass grade has been set as 95.00.
- Click on Save changes at the bottom of the screen.
Once you have saved the grade to pass, return to the Grader report option. You will now notice that the text color changes for any grades that have been awarded for this assignment.
On the following screenshot, the grade for Task 1 for Madeline W is shown in green which indicates that it is at or above the required pass grade. However, the grade for Bayley W is below the pass grade so the grade is shown in red.
Adding pass grades, where relevant, can help the teacher to quickly see how learners are progressing while viewing the Gradebook. Setting pass grades can also be useful in other areas of Moodle to show a quick summary of whether students have passed or not. For example, setting a pass grade can show whether a task is complete or not when using the activity completion functions.