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Letter Grades in Moodle

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Moodle does not support input of letter grades. However, it is 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 (e.g., A, B, C, etc.), and how to configure the Moodle gradebook to display letter grades for numeric columns.

Please note:

  • The ability to enter letter grades directly into Moodle as manual grade items is no longer available for Moodle in the Cloud. Instructors must enter or import grades as points, but letter grades can be displayed to students based on percentages. For more information, see Display Letter Grades for Numerical Scores. If you have questions about using letter grades in Moodle, contact the Instructional Media Lab at instruct@umass.edu.
  • Numeric grades calculated outside of Moodle will appear as letters if imported into a grade item set to display letters.
  • There can only be one points-to-letter grade scheme in a Moodle course. Individual grade items cannot have different conversion schemes. Once a scheme is set, it will be used for all items set to display as letter grades.
  • If you Import Grades from Moodle to SPIRE at the end of the semester, the points-to-letter grade conversion scheme set up in your course is used to convert the values in the Course Total column to a letter grade in SPIRE. For more information, see Import Grades from Moodle or Blackboard Learn to SPIRE.

For more on how to manage grades in Moodle, see Configure the Gradebook in Moodle
For more on entering grades in Moodle, see Manually Edit Grades and Grade Overrides in Moodle.
To learn how to import grades to Moodle from a spreadsheet, see Import Student Data to the Moodle Gradebook.

Edit Grade Letter Boundaries

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

  1. On the Course page, in the navigation tray toggle (hamburger menu Hamburger menu icon, top left) select Grades. The Grader report page will open. 
    Note: You can also get to the Grader report page by selecting the Course Management button (gear icon Course Management button looks like 3 gears, top). The Course Management panel will open. Under the User Links heading, select Gradebook. The Grader report page will open. 
  2. In the navigation tabs (at top), select Letters. The Grade letters page will open showing the values currently being used to convert scores to letter grades.
  3. Select Edit grade letters at the top of the scores summary. The Edit grade letters page will open.
    Note: You can also open the Edit grade letters page by selecting the Edit tab (second row, at top). 
  4. To edit the grade boundary values, select the check box for 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, select Save changes.

Display Letter Grades for Numerical Scores

You can set a numeric grade item to display as a letter grade. 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. On the course page, in the Navigation tray toggle (hamburger menu Hamburger menu icon, top left) select Grades. The Grader report will open.
  2. On the Grader report page, in the navigation tabs (at top), select Setup. The Gradebook setup page will open. 
    Note: You can also get to the Gradebook setup page by selecting the Course Management button (gear icon Course Management button looks like 3 gears, top). In the Course Management panel, under Course Settings, select Gradebook setup. The Gradebook setup page will open. 
  3. On the Gradebook setup page, under the Actions column, in the row for a grade item or category title, select Edit. The Edit drop-down menu will open. Select Edit settings (Edit Grade Item Icon). The Edit grade item page for the item will open.
  4. Depending on which item you selected, select either the Grade item or Grade category or Category total heading to expand the page.
  5. Below the list of settings, select Show more....
  6. In the Grade display type drop-down menu, select Letter.
    Note: This setting also allows up to two grade display types (e.g., by selecting Letter (percentage), the grade will display as "B (85%)"). Screenshot of grade display type in Moodle gradebook
  7. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page. The new settings will change how the grade displays on the User report and the Grader report.

Please note that the ability to enter letter grades directly into Moodle as manual grade items is no longer available for Moodle in the Cloud. Instructors must enter or import grades as points, but letter grades can be displayed to students based on percentage. For more information, see Display Letter Grades for Numerical Scores. If you have questions about using letter grades in Moodle, contact the Instructional Media Lab at instruct@umass.edu.