How do I use the ‘Grade Reason’ column in a Coursework activity?

The ‘Grade Reason’ column is where you can add comments for a submission that has received a 0 (zero) mark. In some cases it is important to add information into this column. When you are uploading marks if a student receives a 0 (zero) mark for an assessment for any reason other than failing the assessment a comment is required to be added.

Three comments you can add into the ‘Grade Reason’ column

• Use the Not Attempted comment for students who have not submitted work.
  • Once the submission deadline has passed, all students who have not submitted will automatically have their ‘Grade Reason’ column changed to ‘Not Attempted’ unless they have an extension applied.
  • If a student has not submitted work by their extension date, their ‘Grade Reason’ column will also be changed to ‘Not Attempted’.
  • For all students that do not submit any work and have a ‘Not Attempted’ comment added their mark is automatically calculated as a zero when the marks are uploaded.
• Use the Deferred Disciplinary comment when the submission is undergoing a SIRT review.
  • Once the review has been completed, there are several possible outcomes which include, but are not limited to, reducing the mark by a percentage or marking the work with the normal range of grades.
  • If the marks have been uploaded before the review has been completed, the mark will need to be manually changed in Banner.
• Use the Exceptional Circumstances comment when the student has had a successful exceptional circumstances application for a capped or uncapped resit.
  • In some circumstances, when a student fails an assessment or does not attempt a submission and then fails the module, they may have submitted an Exceptional Circumstances application.
  • If their application is successful they may be offered a capped resit (where the highest mark they can achieve is 40 for UG courses or 50 for PG courses) or uncapped resit (where they can have the full range of marks) for all coursework they have failed (including any not attempted work).

Please note, if the student has not submitted any work, the Feedback and Grading column will not allow you to input any feedback or mark. Instead, the marks are automatically considered a zero.

Adding a comment in the ‘Grade Reason’ column

If a student has not submitted any work:

1. Find the Coursework activity in the Assessment section of your module.
2. Find the submission in the dropbox and click the button ‘Add Grade Reason‘ under the ‘Grade Reason’ column.
3. Select ‘Not attempted’ from the drop-down menu and click ‘Save’.
4. Once you click ‘Save’ an Information pop-up will show ‘Grade reason saved’, click OK to dismiss the pop-up and then click ‘Close‘ (to the right of the Save button).
5. No further action is needed. The mark will be automatically calculated as a zero and there will be no way to ‘add’ a zero to the Feedback and Grading column as the student has not submitted anything.

The ‘Not Attempted’ comment in the ‘Grade Reason’ column should be applied automatically for all students who do not submit by their relevant deadline.

If you have referred the student’s submission to SIRT for an academic conduct review and have not yet been informed of the outcome:

1. Find the Coursework activity in the Assessment section of your module.
2. Find the submission in the dropbox and put 0 (zero) as the mark in the Feedback and Grading column.
3. Click the button ‘Add Grade Reason‘ under the ‘Grade Reason’ column.
4. Select ‘Deferred Disciplinary’ from the drop-down and click ‘Save’.
5. Once you click ‘Save‘ an Information pop-up will show ‘Grade reason saved’, click OK to dismiss the pop-up and then click ‘Close‘ (to the right of the Save button).

If the student has had a successful Exceptional Circumstances application for a capped or uncapped resit:

1. Find the Coursework activity in the Assessment section of your module.
2. Find the submission in the dropbox and put 0 (zero) as the mark in the Feedback and Grading column.
3. Click the button ‘Add Grade Reason‘ under the ‘Grade Reason’ column.
4. Select ‘Exceptional Circumstances’ from the drop-down menu and click ‘Save’.
5. Once you click ‘Save‘ an Information pop-up will show ‘Grade reason saved’, click OK to dismiss the pop-up and then click ‘Close‘ (to the right of the Save button).

All Exceptional Circumstances extensions that fall into the normal submission window will be applied automatically and will allow the student to submit until the final deadline for all submissions. The only time a comment needs to be added to the ‘Grade Reason’ column is if the Exceptional Circumstances application grants the student a resit (usually a Type C application) or if the student’s extension goes beyond the final deadline for all submissions.

Further information about the ‘Grade Reason’ column

If a student has failed the assessment with a 0, please put 0 (zero) as their mark and do not add any comments.

1. Find the Coursework activity in the Assessment section of your module.
2. Find the submission in the dropbox and put 0 (zero) as the mark in the Feedback and Grading column and add any feedback as normal.

If you need to adjust or change a comment in the ‘Grade Reason’ column:

To delete a comment:

• Click on the X icon next to the pencil and the comment will be deleted.
• Note, the button ‘Add Grade Reason’ will appear to indicate that there is no comment in the ‘Grade Reason’ column.

To edit a comment:

1. Click on the pencil icon to reopen the settings for ‘Add Grade Reason’.
2. Make any changes necessary, i.e. changing a ‘Not Attempted’ comment to ‘Exceptional Circumstances’ if the student has a successful application.
3. Click ‘Save‘.
4. Once you click ‘Save‘ an Information pop-up will show ‘Grade reason saved’, click OK to dismiss the pop-up and then click ‘Close‘ (to the right of the Save button).