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Import Grades from Moodle or Blackboard Learn to SPIRE

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You can import grades from your Moodle or Blackboard Learn gradebook directly into your SPIRE grade rosters whenever you wish during the grade-entry period. You can find everything you need to import grades on the SPIRE Grade Roster page when it becomes available.

Essential Information

  • Grade conversion info for Moodle:  SPIRE imports only numeric scores (e.g., 94%) from Moodle. The import process converts the numeric score to the appropriate letter grade. If you have defined a custom grading scale in Moodle, the conversion will assign the letter grades according to your specifications rather than to the standard values.
  • Grade conversion info for Blackboard Learn:  SPIRE imports only letter grades from Blackboard Learn. You must have the external grade column in your Blackboard gradebook set to a letter grade. For more information on setting up your gradebook, go to UWW Grade Import instructions.
  • Status messages:  Be sure to review the Import Status Messages to check for exceptions every time you import grades. An exception means that a grade did not import properly. The status message tells you why the import failed. When you review the list of students, you can hide grades that imported successfully so that you can focus on any that you may need to troubleshoot.
  • Be careful about Incompletes!  You will need to enter incompletes ('INC') manually into the SPIRE grade roster when appropriate. SPIRE is not able to calculate incomplete grades and will successfully import a grade reflecting the student's course grade to date.
  • Saving grades and reimporting:  Grade imports do nothing more than enter grades into your SPIRE grade roster. You must Save the grades after you import them. If you reimport grades, they will not overwrite existing grades until you Save.
  • Defining the Course Total column: Moodle displays a Course total (or final grade) to students. The Course total can be based on calculated or aggregated grade items from the Moodle gradebook or instructors can manually enter numeric grades to the Course total column. At the end of the semester when grades are due, the letter grade associated with the Course total can be imported from Moodle into SPIRE on demand, in a single click. For more information, see Preparing your Final Course Grades in Moodle.

 

How to Import Grades into SPIRE

Read general information about how to Record Grades in SPIRE, if needed.

  1. From your Faculty Center, click the Grade Roster icon for the appropriate class.
  2. Click Import Grades from Moodle or Import Grades from Blackboard Learn button on the Grade Roster page.
  3. Review the pop-up message and click OK. Allow a couple of minutes for processing, particularly for large classes.
  4. Review the summary message that tells that processing is complete. Click OK.
  5. Save your grades. Do not change your roster's Approval Status until you have saved the grades.
  6. Click Status Messages link to open the Grade Import Status page to check for information about errors..
  7. Select Hide Success messages to see which students' grades require adjustment, if any. 
  8. Click Return to return to the Grade Roster.  Make any adjustments necessary, including changing your roster's Approval Status. Click Save.