RIO Challenge v4 - C07.12 - Grading Period Setup

When managing courses, RIO University uses Grading Periods to control the timeframe in which faculty members can enter grades for students. Each grading period specifies a start date, end date, and weight to ensure that grades are entered in an organized and timely manner.

In this challenge, you will explore how grading periods restrict grade entry and how overrides can be used to allow instructors to enter or update grades outside the default timeframe.

Learning outcomes

1. Understand how Grading Periods control the timeframe for grade entry.
2. Learn how to update a Grading Period’s Locking Mode to allow or restrict grade entry.
3. Record Mid-term and Final grades for a student and verify the correct weighting.

What does success look like?

1. The instructor can enter both Mid-term and Final grades for a student in the study session.
2. Grades are recorded correctly in the system and reflect the weighting defined in the Grading Period Settings.
3. The Locking Mode of Grading Periods is properly updated to allow grade entry.

Related challenges

1. C07.01 - Percentage/Letter Grading

Estimated time to complete

20 minutes

Steps to complete the challenge

Fred Smith and John Doe are enrolled in AC104 for the current term. As part of the grading process, the university has set up two grading periods: Mid-term Grade and Final Grade. Each period controls when grades can be entered.

You will define the grading period and the weightage of each grading item as an admin. At the same time, you will also stimulate how a faculty member may grade the student.

1. Click on the 'RIO Challenge v4' tab at the bottom left of the page. Click on 'Initiate Challenge' to generate the data required for this challenge.
   
    
2. From the App Launcher at the top left of the page, search for ‘Study Term’.
   
   Select the list view ‘C07.12 - Grading Period Setup’. Click to open the ‘C07.12 - Current Term’ record created for this challenge.
   
    
3. Observe the Study Grade Period Settings.
   
   Notice that the Start and End dates for mid-term grading and final term grading are both out of bounds.
   
   This means that faculty members will not be able to grade students this week.
   
    
4. Click into the Mid Term Grade.
   
   If we update the End date to a week later, it indicates that all Study Session that falls under the same Study Term will be able to grade students mid-term.
   
   Let's update the Mid Term Grade End Date to ‘one week after today’.
   
   Notice that the Locking Mode is updated from ‘Locked’ to ‘Unlocked’. This indicates the faculty members may now grade students' mid-term.
   
    
5. Now, log into the Faculty portal as Albedo Ford.
   
    
6. Navigate to the Student Grading tab.
   
    
7. Look for the Study Session ‘C07.12 - AC104’.
   
   Since we have yet to grade the students, a warning icon is shown. Click the ‘Grading’ button for C07.12 - AC104.
   
    
8. Navigate to the Mid Term Grade.
   Enter the numerical grades for Fred Smith as below:
    

9. Although John Doe submitted his assignment, she was absent for the mid term exam.
   So, let's give John his assignment grade ‘57’.
   However, since she was absent for his mid term, we should mark it as such.
   
   Click on the drop down button and select ‘Missing’.
   
   We do not have to enter any grades for John's exam.
   
    
10. Now, let's click ‘Save’.
    
    Notice that the grading fields are still editable. This option is good if the grades are not final, and the faculty members are leaving room for future grade edits.
    If the faculty close the grading wizard before saving, all their progress will be lost.
    
     
11. Click ‘Save and Submit’.
    
    Notice that the fields can't be edited anymore. This means that the entered grades are finalized, and can't be edited by faculty members anymore.
    However, the admin may still make changes to them in the console.
    
     
12. Log out of the Faculty portal.
    
     
13. From the App Launcher at the top left of the page, search for ‘Study Session’.
    
    Select the list view ‘C07.12 - Grading Period Setup’. Click to open the record created for this challenge.
    
     
14. Navigate to the ‘Student’ tab. Click into Fred Smith's Individual Enrollment record.
    
    
    In the ‘Grading’ tab, observe his Individual Enrollment Grade.
    
    
    If we click into the record, we will see 2 Individual Grade Items: Assignment, and Exam.
    
    
    Pay close attention to the Individual Enrollment Grade's Numerical Grade. Notice that it is a rollup of both Individual Grade Items based on their weighted grades.
    
    This grade will later be calculated into their weighted grade before being combined with the Final Grade.
    
     
15. Repeat Step 14 for John Doe.
    Click into John's Individual Grade Item - Exam record. Notice that the status is set to ‘Missing’, and there are no grades.
    
    Since John failed to sit for his mid-term exam, he will only have his assignment's grade populated.
     
16. Congratulations, you have completed the challenge! Click on the 'RIO Challenge v4' tab at the bottom left of the page, and click on 'Complete Challenge'.