Once a submission has been reviewed and feedback, annotations and/or rubrics completed, the next step for the assessor is to award a final mark or grade.
It is of course possible to make a completely holistic grading decision and, provided the flow is configured to permit this approach (i.e. the manager has not stipulated that a rubric must be used), a final grade can simply be entered directly against the submission.
To do so, open the right-hand student menu from inside the marking tool and choose the grade you wish to award.
Note that the above example shows a categorical grading scale. Where a numerical scale is used a number entry box will be used instead.
If made available by the manager, you can also decide to release feedback instantly to individual participants (including shared annotations, comments and rubrics).
However, it is also possible to use a more structured approach by taking any credit or points accrued through the marking process and scaling those points to fit the final grading scale. WISEflow's grade scaler tool can help with this process.
Where a flow has not been preconfigured with a grade scaler, it is possible for individual assessors to add their own. To do so, access the left-hand flow menu from inside the marking tool and click the Convert marks to grades button.
The grade scaler can be used to handle various situations where marks or credit generated during the marking process need to be transformed into final grades. It may be the case that a very simple conversion is appropriate. For example, a test is scored out of 100 marks and the final grading scale is set to be a percentage, the score /100 would simply become the final grade. However, say for example that the test was scored out of 70 and the final outcome needed to be reported as a percentage, or if the final grading scale is categorical in nature, then a slightly more complex conversion is necessary.
The following example shows a categorical grading scale where students are graded from A to F. Points generated using either annotation or rubric marking methods must be transformed to a letter grade. Opening the grade scaler shows the following screen with default settings:
- The lower boundary of the marks range. This defaults as the lowest number of points currently attributed to the students in the list, but can be changed as appropriate.
- The upper boundary of the marks range. This defaults as the highest number of points currently attributed to the students in the list, but can be changed as appropriate.
- The marks value at which each grade boundary sits. This defaults as equal increments between the lower and upper boundaries of the marks range, but can be changed either by dragging the vertical lines or overwriting the numerical values.
- The number of students currently that, based on the number of marks accrued during marking, sit within that grading band.
- The correspoonding letter value for each grading band.
- Button to save any changes made to the grade scaler (either by changing the marks range or adjusting the grade boundaries)
- Button to confirm and enter the calculated grading outcomes against each student.
- The list of students assigned to the assessor.
- The score, or the number of marks attributed to each student during the marking process.
- The final grade calculated based on the parameters set in the grade scaler.
- The entered final grade once confirmed using the Set final grade button (7)
The image below shows the same grade scaler after the following changes have been made:
- Setting the upper and lower point boundaries to 0 and 100 respectively
- Setting the grade boundaries to 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 / 70
- Confirming the grades using the Set final grade button
