Overview

Based on the grade a student attains while enrolled into one of their courses, we need to determine if they have passed the course and how many points they have earnt towards their GPA.

For instance, A and C grades might both result in a pass, but an A results in a higher GPA. However, a D is a Fail, and so the student should retake the course.

We map these using Grade Settings. Take a look at an example mapping below:

When a Course Connection record receives a grade (this could be via the faculty portal, or through an integration from an LMS system), there will be an input value on either the Course Connection's 'Grade' or 'Grade Value' field.

For example, the student gets a grade of 85. When the grade is released, this will automatically update the Course Connection with:

• Grade Value = HD - High Distinction
• Grade Points = 7
• Grade Result = Pass

Now let's assume some other student has not met the required attendance % for this Course. Regardless of the earned grade, when the grade is released the Course Connection will reflect the following:

• Grade Value = FA - Fail Absent
• Grade Points = 0
• Grade Result = Fail

For more details on releasing grades, see: Releasing student results‍.

How Grade Settings Work

Grade Settings live under the Educational Institution record. There should be a tab for it where you can see the related list.

 Before you add any Grade Settings, you should make sure your account hierarchy is as follows:

• Educational Institution
  • Department
    • Course

This means that all Course records should have a populated Department field (which looks up to a University Department Account), and this Department Account in turns looks up to the Educational Institution account via its Parent Account field.

This is because, when we release the grades on a Course Connection, RIO will look for the Grade Settings based on the parent account of the Course's department. If it can't find any corresponding Grade Settings, you will get an error and you won't be able to release the grades. Consult the following diagram:

You should also consider the different Grade Setting Types you will need. Perhaps not all of your Courses are marked the same. Some Courses might have a pass mark of 50%, while other be 70%. Some might just be pass/fail. These are all different types of Grade Settings.

By default, RIO comes with two types of Grade Setting Types: Percentage/Letter and Pass/Fail. Keep reading for how to create your own custom types.

For example, this Grade Setting is part of the Percentage/Letter type. If a student scores somewhere between an 85 and a 100, then they will be awarded a High Distinction for that course, and earn 7 points towards their GPA.

Then when you creates your Courses, you can choose the Grade Setting Type that should be used for marking.

When you create a Course Offering for that Course, by default it inherits the same Grade Setting Type, but this can be overwritten. This can be useful for certain cohorts that need to be held to a higher standard.

Then, after students have been enrolled and marked, and when it is time to release the grades, RIO will find the Grade Setting that you have created earlier belonging to the same Grade Setting Type, and automatically update the Course Connection with other details tied to that Grade Setting.

So in this example, the student will get a "HD - High Distinction", because this Course Connection is referring to the Grade Setting that was created earlier which defined a grade between 85 and 100 should result in a High Distinction.

Creating Different Grade Setting Types

If you need types outside of Percentage/Letter or Pass/Fail, this is supported, but you or your admin will need to do some setup first.

Namely, they will need to add new picklist values to the 'Grade Setting Type' field.

Navigate to Setup > Object Manager > Grade Setting. Then, under the 'Grade Setting Type' field, click on 'View Grade Setting Scope Value Set'.

You can then add new values to the set, with each new value going on its own line

These values will be added to the same picklist field on these objects, unless they have Record Types (but you can check the checkbox in the image above to add them).

Then, your new option(s) will be available for selection on both Grade Setting records and on Course/Course Offering.

Grade Setting for Mandatory Attendance

If students are required to achieve a certain level of attendance for a Course, a Grade Setting must be created for this requirement, and the 'Fail Absent' checkbox must be checked.

If students fail to meet the required attendance %, releasing the grades on their Course Connection will produce a 'Fail Absent' grade, regardless of the grades they achieved (since the Grade Range defined for Fail Absent is from 0 - 100).

See here for more details.

Ignoring Earned Credits and GPA Contributions

Depending on your business requirements, a withdrawn Course Connection might not be considered in GPA calculations.

You can create a Grade Setting for 'Withdrawn' scenarios, that has these 2 checkboxes checked (TRUE):

• Ignore Credits Earned: This will set the Course Connection's "Credits Earned" to 0)
• Ignore for GPA calculation: This will tell the Completion Engine to ignore the Course Connection during GPA calculation).

You will also need to enable/check the following in RIO Education Settings (Setup > Custom Settings > RIO Education Settings > Manage Records):

• Respect Grade Setting "Ignore" Setting = TRUE

When the Course Connection is given that particular grade, the Course Connection will automatically have its 'Ignore Credits Earned' and 'Ignore for GPA calculation' checkboxes checked (TRUE) as well.

Important Fields

Field	Description
Educational Institution	The Educational Institution Account that this Grade Setting belongs to. By default, Courses from this Institution will refer to this Grade Setting.
Grade Setting Type	This picklist appears here on the Grade Setting, as well as on the Course, Course Offering, and Course Connection. Pass/Fail. Percentage/Letter. If the picklist value on the Grade Setting and the Course matches, the Course Connection will inherit it (unless overridden). When inputting and releasing the grades on the Course Connection, the grade results will refer the matching Grade Settings.   See also: Releasing student results‍
Grade Range	Grading range, e.g. 80 - 89.9. Note there is no validation to ensure you have not overlapped ranges or left gaps, so make sure to check this manually. Note: It is important to include decimals for the range, such as 80 - 89.9. This is to cover cases where a student's grade (i.e. 89.3) might be between 2 Grade Ranges (80 - 89 and 90 - 100).
Grade Value	Determines the level of achievement, i.e. ‘Distinction’
Grade Value Scoring Range	Value from Grade Range to be used when grading by Grade Value. e.g. if an A corresponds to a range 85-100, setting this field as “Higher Ranger” will mean A = 100, while “Lower Range” will result in an 85.
Grade Points	Determines the credits earned upon achievement
Grade Result	Determines the ultimate achievement outcome, i.e. pass or fail
Grade Setting Unique Key	A unique key to prevent duplicates Grade Setting with the same grade value. This will be updated by trigger, so no need to set it manually.
For Fail Absent	Indicates the particular Grade Setting record is meant for Fail Absent
Auto Suggest	If checked, any auto suggested Grade Settings will show in a popup list when grading a score-based Course. Rather than remembering unique score numbers for special grade types, this allows faculty to see the suggestions and select the matching grade (if applicable). See also: Grading students' Sessions‍
Ignore Credits Earned	If a Course Connection is given a Grade which has this checkbox = TRUE, then, that Course Connection's 'Credits Earned' will become 0
Ignore for GPA calculation	If a Course Connection is given a Grade which has this checkbox = TRUE, then, that Course Connection's 'Ignore for GPA calculation' will be checked (TRUE) as well. The completion engine will ignore the Course Connection during GPA calculation.