How To: Work with Letter Grades in Moodle

Moodle only supports inputting letter grades into manual grade items that have been set to the Letter grade type. However, it is also possible to enter numerical scores and set them to display as letter grades.

This page explains how to adjust the numerical values that correspond to the letters in your grading scale (A, B, C, etc.), how to add a letter grade column, and how to configure the Moodle gradebook to display letter grades for numeric columns.

If you need help with assistance with Moodle grading or the Moodle gradebook, contact the Office of Instructional Design (InstructionalDesign@northcentral.edu).

Edit Grade Letter Boundaries

If you are entering numeric values, you can customize the numeric-to-letter conversion scheme in your course.

Important: Once a Letter Grade item is added to a gradebook, you cannot adjust Grade Letter Boundaries (unless you delete all letter grade items). Be sure to set the grading scheme before adding any Letter Grade items.

1. In the Administration block, under Course Administration click Grades. The gradebook will open to the Grader report or the last page you viewed.
2. In the navigation tabs (at top), click Letters. The Grade letters page will open showing the values currently being used to convert scores to letter grades.
3. Click Edit grade letters at the top of the scores summary. The Edit grade letters page will open.
4. To edit the grade boundary values, check Override site defaults. The fields for Grade letters and Letter grade boundaries will unlock and become editable.
   Note: Letters A and F must correspond to maximum and minimum, respectively. 
5. Enter new grade letters and/or boundary values as required.
   Note: Numerical values will display as rounded to the second decimal place but letter grade boundaries can have up to 5 decimal places.
6. At the bottom of the page, click Save changes.

Display Letter Grades for Numerical Scores

Setting a numeric grade item to display a letter grade will not "lock" your Grade Letter Boundary scheme (as happens if you add a manual Letter grade item). However, since there is only one grading scheme allowed for the entire course, adjusting the scheme will affect the letter grades displayed for all grade items.

Note: Even if a numerical column is set to display letter grades, when editing is turned on in the Grader report, you must read and input numerical values.

To have numerical grade items and category totals display letter grades:

1. In the Administration block, under Course Administration click Gradebook setup. The gradebook will open to the Gradebook setup page.
2. Under the Actions column, in the row for a grade item or category title, click Edit. The Edit drop-down menu will open. From the Edit drop-down menu, click Edit settings. The Edit page for this item will open.
3. Depending on which item you selected, click the either Grade item or Category total heading to expand the page.
4. Below the list of settings click Show more....
5. In the Grade display type drop-down menu, select Letter.
   Note: This setting allows up to two grade display types. For example, by selecting Letter (percentage), the grade will display as "B (85%)".
6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page. This will change how the grade displays on the User report and the Grader report when editing is turned off.

Add a Manual Letter Grade Item

When you add a graded Activity to a course (such as an assignment or quiz), Moodle automatically adds a column (grade item) to the gradebook for the activity. You can also create grade items not linked to Moodle activities by adding them manually on the Gradebook setup page of the gradebook, then set the grade item to allow you to enter or upload letter grades rather than numeric scores.

Note: You cannot edit grade letter boundaries while Letter grade items exist in your gradebook.

To add a grade item that lets you enter Letter grades:

1. In the Administration block, under Course Administration, click Gradebook setup. The gradebook will open to the Gradebook setup tab.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add grade item. The New grade item page will open.
3. In the Item name field, enter a name for the column. Try to use short names, and do not use special characters, commas, ampersands, or quotes.
4. In the Grade type drop-down menu, select Letter. (If you do not see this option, click Show more... to view all options)
   Note: This option cannot be changed after the grade item is saved.
5. The Max grade option will no longer be available. The maximum grade will always be A, minimum grade will always be F.
6. When finished, click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page.

Use a Manual Letter Grade Item as the Course Total

If you have added a Letter grade column for the purpose of importing Course total grades you need to give the Course total column a formula to pull the grades from the Letter grade item into the Course total column:

1. After adding your Letter grade item to the gradebook as described above, navigate to Gradebook setup and, in the row for Course total, click Edit. The Edit drop-down menu will open. From the Edit drop-down menu click Edit calculation. The Edit calculation page opens.
2. Scroll down to ID numbers and locate the Letter grade column you wish to use for your course total.
3. In the text entry box for your Letter grade item, provide an ID name or number, for example, FinalLetterGrade.
4. Click Add ID numbers. The ID will show on the page after your Letter grade item surrounded by double-brackets, for example, [[FinalLetterGrade]].
5. Stay on the Edit Calculation page and scroll up to the top of the page. In the Calculation entry box enter the formula:  = [[ID Number]], for example, = [[FinalLetterGrade]].
6. Click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page.
7. Check to ensure that the grades from your Letter grade item are appearing in the Course total column.

Getting assistance with grades

If you need help with assistance with Moodle grading or the Moodle gradebook, contact the Office of Instructional Design (InstructionalDesign@northcentral.edu).