When students do not complete an assesment in Quercus, you will see a "-" for that student in the gradebook. Quercus does not treat this as a zero - if you want to assign them a 0, you must follow the instructions below. This is particularly important if you are using Quercus to calculate students' final grades.
There are several different ways of assigning a 0 for missing assessments, some of which only work under specific conditions.
We always recommend downloading a copy of your gradebook regularly, and we strongly encourage you to do so before following any of the options below.
The options available are:
- Manually Adding 0 to cells in the Gradebook
- Works for all types of assessments, at any point in the semester.
- Adding 0 using an imported spreadsheet
- Works for all types of assessments, at any point in the semester.
- Applying a Missing Submission Policy in the Gradebook
- Works for Online Submissions assignments, should be done at the beginning of the semester before grading begins.
- Setting a Default Grade for a particular assessment
- Works for all types of assessments, should be done after grading of submissions for that assessment is complete.
Manually Adding 0 to cells in the Gradebook
Grades can be added or changed directly in gradebook cells, including adding 0's for missing assignments.
Adding 0 Using an Imported Spreadsheet
Grades can also be imported using a spreadsheet. In the case of adding 0's for missing assignments, we recommend the following steps:
- Export a copy of the gradebook to work with
- On the resulting spreadsheet, remove any assessment columns that you will not be editing to avoid adding or overriding marks by mistake. Retain all personal information columns (to the left of the spreadsheet).
- Use the Find and Replace option in excel to replace all instances of - with 0
- Import the spreadsheet back in to Quercus.
Applying a Missing Submission Policy in the Gradebook
The Missing Submission policy lets you automatically apply a grade for all missing Online submission type assignments. The Missing Submission policy is set per course. Applying a missing submission policy does not affect previously graded missing submissions. The Missing Submission policy should be set up when a course is created prior to creating assignments. It is necessary for the due date for an assignment to have passed for the missing submission policy to take affect in an assignment's grading.
To set your course's missing submission policy:
- Navigate to the Gradebook: In your course, select the Grades link in the course navigation menu.
- Open Gradebook settings: Click on the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the page.
- Apply Missing Policy Percentage: Select the "Automatically apply grade for missing submissions" checkbox.
- Set Missing Submission Percentage: Set a percentage in the Grade percentage for missing submissions field. For a mark of 0%, enter 0.
- Apply Settings: Click on the Apply Settings button
Setting a Default Grade for an Assessment
This option allows you to set a default grade for a single assessment of any type - assignment, quiz, or graded discussion. This option should be used after you have completed the grading of the submissions/attempts that were actually completed by students for that assessment.
Step-by-Step Instructions to Set a Default Grade
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Navigate to the Gradebook: In your course, select the Grades link in the course navigation menu.
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Find the Assignment Column: Locate the column for the assignment where you want to set a default grade.
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Open the Options Menu: Hover your mouse over the assignment column header, and select the three vertical dots icon (options icon) that appears.
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Select "Set Default Grade": From the dropdown menu, choose the Set Default Grade option.
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Enter the Default Grade: In the "Set Default Grade for..." window that appears, type the desired score (e.g., 0) in the Grade Value field.
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Do Not Overwrite: Ensure that the checkbox for "Overwrite already-entered grades" is not checked.
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Apply the Grade: Select the Set Default Grade button.
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Confirm: Click OK to close the window and apply the default grade to all students who haven't received a grade for that assignment.
Important Considerations
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Overwriting Grades: The "Overwrite already-entered grades" option should not be checked when setting a default for missing work, as it will replace all existing grades.
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Missing vs. Entered Grades: Setting a default grade only affects students who currently have a blank or missing grade for that assignment.