Grade Approver - For Instructors

Course end - Email notification

When a course that you've taught ends, you'll receive an email with a link to log into Moodle so that you can finalize grading and submit grades for approval. RRU has modified Moodle with a customized software plugin called Grade Approver, to facilitate the process of submitting grades to our student system (Agresso).

1. Click on the link provided in the email and log in when prompted (if you are not already logged in) OR
2. Log in to Moodle and locate the course in the left navigation, on the 'My Home' page or using the 'search' box on the 'Site Home' page.

Who Receives Grade Reminders and When?

If there are multiple instructors in a course, the following logic is used to determine which instructor receives grade reminder notifications. Of the instructors currently in the Instructor role, the instructor who was enrolled in the course first will receive notifications. If no instructors are in the Instructor role, the first instructor enrolled in the course who is currently in the Course Instructor role will receive notifications. If no instructors are in the Course Instructor role, the first instructor enrolled in the course who is currently in the Non-editing Instructor role will receive notifications. If there are no instructors in these three roles nobody will receive grade reminder notifications. Instructors in the NO-Grade-or-editing instructor role will not receive notifications.

Email notifications are sent out based on the course end date in Agresso, and when sent they are sent at 11am. The first notification is on the official end date of the course and then follow-up emails are sent at 14, 16, and 21 days after the end date of the course, unless grades have been submitted in Moodle.

Submitting Grades For Approval

Finalize the grades for each student and then submit them for approval:

  1. In the secondary navigation, click on the 'Grades' tab and select 'Grader report' from the drop down menu:

  2. Click on 'Edit Mode' in the top right of the screen (if it's not already on):

  3. On the Grader report screen, a ‘Finished Grading’ button will appear at the top of the gradebook. The 'Finished Grading' button will only appear the day after the course end date. Check Agresso for the course end date.

*Note! - If you see a 'Send to Agresso' button instead, this means that the course is likely a major project or thesis (600-6xx) course and allows multiple grade submissions to Agresso (you can click the button multiple times but a grade will only get sent once for a student). The steps below do not apply in this situation. Using the 'Send to Agresso' button will immediately send completed grades to Agresso without a grade approval process. INC does not need to be entered into the gradebook; it can be left empty until the student is finished.

  4. Clicking on the Finished Grading button triggers an email to the approver to let them know you have completed your part of the process. Be sure all grades are entered before clicking the button or a warning message about some students missing grades could show up. Then check that the final letter grade in the Course total column is correct before submitting it to the approver.

•  You will be prompted to confirm that you have finished.

•  Select 'ok' and then you will see that the grades are pending approval.

Grading Exceptions

For information on how to manage student withdrawals and extensions please see Grading Exceptions.

Multiple section courses:

• Instructors from all sections must submit all final grades for approval before the approver is notified and can begin approving grades.
• All grades in all sections must be approved before grades can be finalized and sent to Agresso.

Grades Denied

• If the grades are ‘Denied’, you will receive an email notification along with an explanation of the denial from the approver.  Often there is a conversation in person or on the phone between the approver and instructor as well.

• Once the grades have been denied, a 'Re-submit Grading' button is enabled so you can adjust the grades and re-submit them.

• Once you've made the necessary changes, click the ‘Re-submit Grading’ button and it will trigger another email to the approver to let them know the grades are again ready for approval.