Using Oncourse CL Gradebook, how do I import grades from a spreadsheet?

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Note: To complete these procedures, you must be assigned a role having the necessary permissions. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles. To view a list of permissions associated with a given role, see Permissions, roles, and tools. For a basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and roles: Overview.

In Gradebook, you can import grades in two different ways:

Import an entire spreadsheet. This method overwrites any existing grades in the Gradebook for columns with the same name as existing gradebook items, while creating new gradebook items for any columns that do not match existing gradebook items.
Import individual gradebook items. This method creates new gradebook items for each spreadsheet column you import. You cannot import any columns with the same name as existing gradebook items.

You can also use the Post'Em tool to upload a .csv spreadsheet of grades (and feedback, if desired) that students can view; see Using the Post'Em tool.

Note: You cannot import grades for gradebook items added from the Assignments tool; see In Assignments, which method should I use to link my assignment to the Gradebook?

Importing an entire spreadsheet

In your site's menubar, click Gradebook.
Near the top, click Import Grades.
Download the spreadsheet template by clicking Download Spreadsheet Template, choosing Save File, and clicking OK.
Edit the spreadsheet in a spreadsheet application, such as Excel, and save it as a .csv file.
Import the spreadsheet by clicking Browse... and choosing the .csv file.
After selecting the file, click Import Spreadsheet.
The following page should show the imported grades. When you are finished, click OK.

When using this option, it's best to download the spreadsheet template provided, as instructed in step 3 above. You can upload a different spreadsheet in .csv format instead, but if you do, format it as closely as possible to the template. The first column should contain individuals' usernames with the heading "Student ID". The first row should contain headings, with the title and point value for each gradebook item as in this example:

Essay 1 [100.0]

Note: For non-calculating gradebooks, you still need to enter something in the brackets (e.g., [NC] for "non-calculating"), or you will get an error when you try to import the spreadsheet.

Importing individual gradebook items

To import gradebook items, first create a .csv spreadsheet file containing columns of scores, and then upload it to the Gradebook Loading Dock. The first row of your spreadsheet must contain headings for the columns it contains. The first column must contain individuals' usernames, with the heading "Student ID". You can use the same spreadsheet for this process and for importing an entire spreadsheet; if desired, you can download the spreadsheet template according to steps 1-3 above.

Once you have your .csv file ready for upload:

Uploading a file to the Loading Dock

In your site's menubar, click Gradebook.
Near the top, click Import gradebook item from spreadsheet.
On the Import Gradebook Item screen, click Upload spreadsheet (csv format) to Loading Dock.
In the field next to "Title", type a unique name to be displayed in the Loading Dock.
To select a file for upload, click Browse. Find the file on your computer, click its name, and then click Open.
Click Save.
On the Verify Upload screen, review the number of items and students for your upload, and view a display of the file's contents. If the content is correct, click Ok. If you need to select another file, click Back.

Once a file is uploaded to the Loading Dock, its contents become available to import as a new gradebook item. To import an uploaded file's contents as a new gradebook item:

Importing a column from a file in the Loading Dock

On the Import Gradebook Item screen, find your newly uploaded file in the Loading Dock, and next to it, click Import.
On the Import Preview screen, click the radio button to select the column that represents the gradebook item and corresponding scores you want to import. (You can select only one at a time.) Then click Import Selected.
On the Import Gradebook Item and Scores screen, enter the following information:
- Title: The title you provided in the steps above is automatically filled in. If you didn't provide a title earlier, you need to provide one here. The maximum length is 255 characters.
- Gradebook Item Point Value/Relative Weight: For points gradebooks, enter a total point value for the gradebook item. This must be greater than zero. Decimal values are permitted to two decimal places.
  For percentage gradebooks, enter a relative weight for the item. This can be any value. For instance, an item with a relative weight of 2 will count twice as much as an item with a relative weight of 1.
  
  This field is not available for non-calculating gradebooks.
- Due Date: In mm/dd/yy format, indicate the item's due date, or click the calendar icon (
  ) to select a date using the pop-up calendar tool. This field is not required.
- Select a column to import comments: If a column in your file contains comments, use the drop-down list to select the appropriate column, and add the comments to the import. Comments will appear next to the grades in the Gradebook. This field is not required.
To make this item's scores available to students, select Release this Item to Students. You can deselect this later, if necessary.
To include this item when calculating the course grade, select Include this item in course grade calculations, if applicable. You can deselect this later, if necessary.
Note: Letter grades in Gradebook are referred to as non-calculating grades. Non-calculating grades may be any string of text up to eight characters. If you want your grades calculated automatically, you must enter them as either points or percentages. See Changing the grade entry, type, and scale in Gradebook.
When you're finished, click Submit. You'll return to the Import Preview screen, where you'll see confirmation that your item was added. You can now select another item for import, or click the up arrow icon (
) to return to the main screen; see The up arrow icon. You should see your imported assignment(s) listed under "Gradebook Items Summary".

For more information about teaching in Oncourse CL, contact your campus teaching and learning center.

Feature demonstrations

Import individual gradebook items from a spreadsheet
(with audio)

This is document aukf in domains all, oncoursecl, sakai-all, and sakaiht.
Last modified on January 08, 2010.