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Why Can’t My Students See Their Grades in Moodle?

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Are students reporting that they cannot see their grades in Moodle? Depending on the configuration of graded activities or grade columns, there are several possible reasons why a grade is not visible. This page details several troubleshooting steps to make sure that students can see their grades.

Do Students Know Where to Find the Gradebook?

If some of your students report being unable to see their grades while others report otherwise, your students may not realize where to find the link that takes them to the gradebook. If possible, give your class a brief orientation on how you have set up the gradebook and how they can find it from your course's main page in Moodle. Alternately, you can direct students to the following help page: View Grades and Track Your Progress in a Moodle Course.

Is the Gradebook Visible to Students?

If students are reporting that they cannot see grades for your course at all, then your course settings may be set to prevent students from viewing grades (see Control Gradebook Visibility for Students in Moodle).

Is the Graded Activity Hidden?

If students report they can see some grades for your course, but not a particular graded activity, check to see if the activity is hidden from students. Hiding a graded activity on your course page also hides its grade from students.

  1. On your course page, click Turn editing on (green pencil icon Turn editing on icon, top right). Editing links and icons appear on the page.
  2. Locate the graded activity on your course page by opening all sections and scrolling down the page.
  3. If the item is hidden from students, the text of the activity will be grayed and have a tag Hidden from students under it. Click to open the Edit drop-down menu: Hidden items will have the option to select Show from the menu (see example below).
    Screenshot of Assingment Edit and Show menu
  4. If the activity is hidden, click Show. The link to the activity will no longer be grayed out, indicating the item is visible. The grades for the activity should become visible to students in the gradebook. If not, check the other troubleshooting questions on this page.

Are Restrict Access Settings Used?

Restrict access settings allow you to control when an activity is available to students. When a graded activity is not only unavailable, but also hidden from students using Restrict access settings, students cannot see the grade for the activity.
Note: To set a due date or cut-off date, look for Due date, End date, or Cut-off date options on the activity's Settings page. This is a preferred method for ending access.

  1. On your course page, click Turn editing on (green pencil icon Turn editing on icon, top right). Editing icons appear next to each editable item on the page.
  2. Locate the graded activity on your course page and click the Edit link for the activity, then Edit settings. The Edit settings page opens.
  3. On the Edit settings page, scroll down and click the Restrict access heading to open the Restrict access options.
  4. If a date/time restriction is set and a crossed-out Eye icon (Moodle show icon) appears in front of the setting, students will not be able to see the activity on the course page (or its grades) at all. Click the Eye icon and it will change to show an eye without a line through it (Moodle hide icon) and students will see the activity and the specific restriction on the course page. 

Is the Grade from a Turnitin Assignment?

Turnitin assignments have a setting called Post Date that controls when grades and comments are released to students. Prior to the Post Date, students cannot see the grades you have entered, in either the Turnitin interface or in the Moodle gradebook.

  1. On your course home page, click on the Turnitin assignment link on your Moodle course page. The assignment opens in Turnitin.
  2. The Submission Inbox tab of the Turnitin assignment lists the Start date, Due date, and Post date. To edit dates, click the Pencil icon (turnitin Edit option) (at right). The page refreshes with editable dates.
  3. Change the Post Date to specify the date and time you want students to be able to see their grades and feedback.
    Note: If you want the grades to be immediately available, set the Post Date to today's date (however the Post date cannot be earlier than the Due date).
  4. Click outside the date options to save changes.

Are Grade Items Set to Be Visible?

Instructors can control the visibility of individual grade items by adjusting settings on the Categories and Items page of the gradebook. From here, you can also show or hide category totals and the course total. See Control Visibility of Grade Items in Moodle, or Grade Category Options in the Moodle Gradebook.

Are Category Totals or the Course Total Visible?

If students report that they can see individual grade items but cannot see a category total or the course total grade (and you have confirmed that the totals are set to visible on the Categories and Items page), then it is because the calculation for the totals involved certain grade items that are hidden from students. If you make the hidden items visible, then the total will display. However, if you want these items to remain hidden but still want students to see the totals, then you need to adjust the following gradebook preferences:

  1. Select Course Management (black gear icon Course management button (black background, white gear icon), top right), the Course Management panel will open.
  2. On the Course Management panel, under Grading, select Gradebook Setup. The Gradebook setup page will open. 
  3. On the Setup sub-tabs, click Course grade settings. The Course grade settings page will open.
  4. Scroll down the page, under the heading for User report, change the Hide totals if they contain hidden items drop-down menu to Show totals including hidden items to display the total grade including the values from the hidden grades. 
    Note: Do not select Show totals excluding hidden items as this may result in an inaccurate display to students (e.g., showing category totals out of 15340 points).
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.