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University Technology Services

• Online Grade Collection Home
• Creating a .csv File
• Login
• Profile
• Uploading and Submitting Grades
• Returned Grade Sheets
• Reviewing Outstanding Grade sheets
• Reviewing Submitted Grade sheets
• Submitting Grade Changes
• Approving Submitted Grade sheets
• Avenue to Learn Gradebook Pointers
• Appendix
• UTS Home

Uploading and Submitting Grades

1. Login, if you are not logged in already.
2. Click the Grade Sheets tab (if you are not already there).
3. Click the sub heading applicable to your Academic Group, Session, and Term.
4. Click the course or course section you want to upload grades for.

   
   Note: That the Course level selection allows you to upload & submit grades for all the Sections that you teach of the given Course.

    

5. Once a course or course section is selected an electronic grade sheet will appear. This grade sheet lists all the students which are registered in your selection.

   

6. Select the method you want to use to load grades and click GO.
7. 1. If you choose to load grades from Avenue to Learn then:
      1. Select the applicable A2L course\grade book(s).
      2. Press the 'Get A2L Grades' button.
      3. A message will appear reminding you that the online grades system requires an alpha or non-decimal grade (Calculated or Adjusted, whichever is released to the student) for each student.
         • If you are sure your grade book meets this requirement then press OK to Proceed.
         • If you are not sure your grade book will meet this criteria then you may press cancel, check your grade book then start the upload process over again
      4. If you need to make adjustments to you gradebook because you know you have decimals, or you are getting "Error <x> is unaccepatable" then refer to Section 10 for help on setting up your grade book to work optimally with the online grades system.
      5. Once the system has successfully loaded your grades from A2L then go to step #13.

   Note: The import from Avenue to Learn only imports grades. If you need to add notes, you may use the manually entry function (see step 7.ii) to do so, after the A2L grades are successfully imported.

   
   
   2. If you chose to enter grade directly on the screen then:
      1. Enter a grade for all records of the grade sheet.
      2. b. Enter any notes (i.e., DNW) applicable to each record by clicking the '+' icon in the 'Notes' column.

         Note: Avoid using apostrophes and quotation marks in the Notes field.

      3. Once complete press the 'Validate' button.
         • If you have not recorded an acceptable grade for ALL the students displayed on the electronic grade sheet an error message will be displayed beside each unacceptable grade and the following message will be displayed at the top of the grade sheet:

           All students muct have a valis grade before submitting for approval

           Note: The records which triggered this message will be listed at the top of the grade sheet with a 'NO GRADE' status.

           Fix these records by recording an acceptable grade for each then press the 'Validate' button again. Continue this process until there are no errors in the grade sheet.

      4. Once there are no errors in the grade sheet skip to step #14
   3. If you choose the load from file method then:
      1. Create a .csv file (if you have not done so already).
      2. Continue with the remaining steps
8. Click the 'Browse' button.

   

9. Locate the .csv file containg the grades for this grade sheet using the File Upload Box that appears.

   Tip: Typing *.csv into the File name box, and pressing <Enter>, will filter the list to only .csv files.  
   

10. Once located:
    1. Select the file by clicking it once.
    2. The file’s name appears in the File Name box. (Be sure you have the right one)
    3. Click the ‘Open’ button

    

11. The File Upload box will close automatically.
    1. The File Name (+path) will appear in the box beside the Browse button.
    2. And you may click the ‘Upload’ button.

    

12. The upload will be successful only if your .csv meets certain requirements.
    • If your upload does not meet the requirements you will see certain messages. When you do, address the issue(s) in your .csv, re-save it, and upload again.
    1. Your file must contain all of the required column headings, otherwise following message(s) will be displayed:

       

       • To address these errors, ensure ALL column headings match exactly to an acceptable name outlined in Appendix 1.

       Note: Sometimes hidden characters may be present in the field, so if the heading looks like it matches, but you are still getting an error, press the <delete> key on that field, and retype.

    2. A matching record must be found in your file with a populated Final Grade field, for ALL the students displayed on the electronic grade sheet, otherwise the following message will be displayed:

       

       Note: The records which triggered this message will be listed at the top of the grade sheet with a ‘NO GRADE’ status.
       
       Tips: EmailId is MacId, and doesn’t need ‘@mcmaster.ca’; and ’C’-oh-one”, is really ’C’-zero-one”

       • To address this error:
         1. Ensure all students in your file have a ‘Final Grade’.
         2. Verify your file’s ‘Student Number’ and ‘MacId', match EXACTLY to what the electronic grade sheet has displayed for Student Number, MacID, and Section respectively. 
         3. If you cannot find a particular student listed on the grades sheet within your file, they need to be added to the file, as the student is registered in the course and requires a grade.
    3. An acceptable ‘Final Grade’ for all students on the electronic grade sheet must be found in your file, otherwise those students will be listed at the top of the chart with an ‘Error <grade> is unacceptable’ message.

       

       • To address this error, ensure all students in the file have an appropriate ‘Final Grade’.  The acceptable grades for online grade collection are:
         1. Alpha (A+ through D-, and F)
         2. Numeric (0-125, no decimals)

            (Numeric grades are converted to Alpha grades when posted to the student record.)

         3. Certain Non-Grades (P, COM, NC, NMR)
            (Non-Grades are for specific courses, or student exception cases.  If used without consulting your Faculty Office the grade sheet may be returned to you)

13. When your file meets the required criteria you will have uploaded a grade for all students listed, but you may still the following "Warning" message.

    
    

    

    • Click the + to see the records of your file which triggered the message.

      

    • This message is informing you that there are records in your file which don't correspond to a Student on the electronic grade sheet:
    • To address this warning:
      1. Ensure that you have addressed all 'NO GRADE' errors where a grade was not found in your file, as a record mismatch could be responsible for both messages.
      2. If all 'NO GRADE' errors are resolved, you may forward this list on to the Faculty Office for further investigation. These students may; be registered in another section of the course, or have cancelled out of the course after your file was produced.
14. If all errors are addressed, and you have the authority to submit grades for approval, you will see an authorization message, checkbox, and ‘Approve’ button
    • If you are not ready to submit your grades, or don’t have the authority, you may return to the list of grade sheets by clicking the ‘Return’ button at the bottom of the grade sheet.
    • You may also view the grade distribution for the uploaded grades by clicking the ‘View Grade Distribution’ link.

      

      Notes:

      • - You may return to the grade sheet anytime to submit it for approval.
      • - Prior to submitting the grade sheet for approval, a new file may be reloaded as many times as you choose.
    • When you are ready to submit your grades:
      1. Click the check box.
      2. Press the ‘Submit for Approval’ button.

         

15. After the grade sheet is submitted the system will return you to the grade sheets tab.
    • All grade sheets you submit will move from the ‘Outstanding’ folder, to the ‘Submitted’ folder.  To view them throughout the approval process;
      1. Click the ‘Submitted’ folder.

         

      2. Click the sub heading applicable to the Academic Group, Session and Term, then click the grade sheet's link within the folder.

         

    • Once the grade sheet is submitted for approval you will not be able to reload grades, unless an approver returns the grade sheet back to you.

      (See Returned Grade Sheets)

16. Repeat the steps outlined in this section to upload and submit grades for any other courses you are responsible for, or refer to Section 4) if you have any grade sheets which have been returned and require resubmission.
    • If you would like to return to the system at a later time to upload grades for your other courses, or do not have any other grades to upload you may logout by clicking the ‘Logout’ tab.