Moodle Resources for Faculty

A grading guide is a flexible grading tool in Moodle that allows instructors to set specific criteria for evaluating student assignments. While it shares some similarities with a rubric, a marking guide offers unique features that give instructors more control over grading and feedback.

Unlike rubrics, which use fixed performance levels with set point values, marking guides let instructor assign select a max point value for a criteria, and then select from a range of scores.  This can give you more control over assessment of nuanced aspects of student work, without being limited to a predefined set score. 

Using a marking guide can benefit both instructors and students by:

• Ensuring consistency: With clear grading criteria and flexible point assignments, marking guides support consistent grading across assignments. 
• Streamlining Feedback: Marking Guides allow you to efficiently enter points and personalized comments, saving time while providing students with constructive feedback.
• Clarifying Expectations: Marking Guides offer students a transparent view of grading criteria, making it clear how their work will be evaluated and where they can improve. 

There are two ways:

The first is at the point of setting up the Assignment.

1. In your assignment's Settings, expand the Grade section.
2. From the Grading method menu, choose Marking Guide.
   • Note the Maximum grade setting - whatever numeric grade you assign to your criteria levels, the ultimate grade for the assignment will be recalculated as the proportion of that maximum grade.
3. Save the settings; Marking Guide is now enabled for that particular Assignment.

The other is via the Assignment's Settings block:

1. From the Assignment's summary page, in its Settings block, click Advanced grading; a new page displays a menu.
2. From the Change active grading method to menu, choose Marking Guide; this initiates the Marking Guide process.

1. To access the submissions, click a link to the Assignment and view the summary page. 
2.  Select View all submissions; the Submissions page displays the work of the first student listed in the Grading Table. Select Grade to open the assignment in the grading display. 
3.  The Marking Guide you have set up will display as a table on one side of the screen - you can display it larger by clicking its Expand / arrowheads icon (to dock the rubric, click the icon again).
4. For each criterion, enter feedback and a score.
5. Save changes.