Grading for Missing Assignments (Required)

Ensure Zeros are entered in the Gradebook 

During the semester and especially at the end of the semester it is important that you check your gradebook and ensure that you have zeros entered in for missing assignments (where students didn't turn in / submit an assignment). If you don't enter in a zero for these missing assignments then students will have an inflated grade that does not accurately represent their grade in your course.

 

Important Note: The option for "Treat ungraded assignments as zero  Links to an external site." option in the gradebook did not actually give the students a zero for missing work, and has been removed in the New Gradebook (which we are using) so you will not see that option.  It only showed up on the Instructor's side, but did not actually change the grade on the student side. Make sure you enter in zeros for all missing work!

 

TIP: You can quickly update all those dashes to zero's quickly by using the assign default grade.

  1. Open Grades from the course navigation
  2. Open the drop down menu for the desired activity/assignment
  3. Select the option to Set Default Grade
  4. Type the default grade value you wish to assign (don’t check the overwrite already-entered grades)
  5. Click Set Default Grade

If you have a lot of  dashes "-" in your gradebook, you might want to let students know you are finalizing the gradebook and their grade will change to reflect any missing assignments (now recorded with a zero). 

 

If you are excusing the student from the assignment and don't want the assignment to count against the student then enter in EX for excused in the gradebook (or Speedgrader) for that student's grade - How do I excuse an assignment for a student in the Gradebook? Links to an external site.  This will help keep your gradebook cleaned up and remind you (and the student) that they are not responsible for turning in that specific assignment.

You can use Late Policies for Missing Assignments that allow you to set up grading rules for late and missing submissions. These policies allow instructors to be more efficient and consistent in their grading of late and missing submissions.