Using Grading Guides for Assignments in Moodle

Grading guides are a feature in Moodle that enables instructions to provide quantitative and qualitative feedback on an Assignment using a set of defined criteria.

This article provides instructions on creating and using grading guides in Moodle.

Grading with Grading Guides in Moodle

Grading guides are referred to as an "advanced grading method" in Moodle, which is any grading method that is not "simple direct grading".

First, grading guides need to be enabled as the grading method for the Assignment in the activity settings. Following that, the grading guide can be created and used in that Assignment, and reused in other Assignments.

Enabling Grading Guides

To enable Grading guides on an Assignment:

1. Navigate to the Assignment's activity page.
2. In the activity menu at the top of the Assignment main page, select the "Settings" tab.
3. In the settings page, find and expand the "Grade" section.
4. Set "Grading method" to "Grading guide".
5. At the bottom of the page, click the "Save and display" button.

This will open the "Advanced grading" page, where a grading guide can be created.

Creating Grading Guides

To create a grading guide:

1. In the "Advanced grading" tab of the activity, click "Define new grading form from scratch".
2. Name the grading guide.
3. In the "Grading guide" section, click "Click to edit criterion name" to name the first criterion.
4. Set "Description for students" to a descriptive explanation of what that criterion is used to evaluate.
5. Set "Description for Graders" to a descriptive explanation of how the criterion should be evaluated.
6. Set "Maximum score" to the most points a student could earn on that criterion.
7. Click "Add criterion" to add any additional criteria.
8. To finish creating the grading guide, at the bottom of the page, click the "Save grading guide and make it ready" button.

This will create the grading guide and link it to the Assignment activity to be used when grading.

Grading using a Grading Guide

To use the Grading guide when grading, follow the instructions in the "Grading Assignments in Moodle" article.

The grading guide will appear in the right-hand menu in the individual grading page.  Set the criteria's "remark" field to the comment provided for that criterion, and the points out of the maximum score defined in the accompanying grade field.

Reusing a Grading Guide

After the grading guide's been created, follow these instructions to reuse it in another assignment.

1. Enable the Grading guide for the activity using the instructions in the "Enabling Grading Guides" section of this article. 
2. In the "Advanced grading" tab of the activity, click "Create new grading form from template".
3. In the "Grading forms search" section, check the box next to "include my own forms".
4. Click the "Search" button.
5. In the list of grading forms that appear, find the grading guide to use.
6. At the bottom of that grading guide, click the "Use this form as a template" link.
7. In the "Confirm" page, click the "Continue" button.

The grading guide has been applied to the activity and can now be used for grading.

Additional Resources

Grading Assignments in Moodle (DELTA Knowledge Base)

Marking guide (MoodleDocs)

For additional assistance, please contact the LearnTech Help Desk at learntech@ncsu.edu or (919) 513-7094, or via the Get Help form on the DELTA Knowledge Base.