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Grading Student Work in Buzz

This article details how to grade student work via the Homepage.

TIP: Click here for written directions.

Click the Play button below to view Grading Student Work Video.

Run Time: 04:45

NEEDS GRADING

On your Homepage, you will notice an icon, NEEDS GRADING, that will notify you of how many student submissions are waiting for your attention.

Once you click on NEEDS GRADING, you will navigate to the Needs Grading page. On the left, you will see a list of all student submissions that need to be graded. The center panel shows the assignments you are grading, while the panel on the right provides your grading tools. The top toolbar also has a variety of tools that help you stay organized while grading.

GRADING TOOLBAR

When you are using the toolbar, hover over each icon to see the title.

	Filter by course will allow you to view all assignments from a single course. Once you click on the Filter by course icon, a list of all your courses will populate. Click the name of the course on which you would like to focus.
	Refresh list populates all new student submissions.
	Activity Grader takes you to a new page that shows a focused list of all students in the class for the assignment you are grading.
	You can add a student to your Clipboard while you are grading the student’s work by clicking Add selected student to the clipboard.
	If you add a student to the clipboard, the notification number will change. Click on Go to clipboard to navigate to the Clipboard area. Read the Clipboard Overview article to learn more about the Clipboard.

SUBMISSIONS LIST

On the left side of Needs Grading, you will see a list of all the assignments your students have submitted. You need to grade each item. Notice that the oldest item is listed first. Any like assignments are then grouped together in order of submission date.

You will also notice icons next to each item that needs to be graded. The following is a quick list of what each icon will represent.

	Dropbox Assessments	Students will submit their assignment through an uploaded document.
	Online Assessments	This is typically an essay reply and may be graded with the support of a rubric. Remember, all questions that require teacher grading are brought to the top.
	Discussion Board	This makes grading Discussion Boards easy if you determine to add this feature to your course for a grade.

The Filter option is located above the submission list. Use the Filter to narrow down the submissions by searching for a specific assignment, student, course, or date.

SUBMISSION PREVIEW

When you are ready to begin grading student work, use the submission preview to see the work the student has submitted. At the top, you will see the student’s name, the Activity title, and the Submission date. The student’s work will be visible under Student Attachments.

After clicking on the Activity title, you are taken to the instructions for the activity so that you may review them before grading the student’s work.

TIP: Please read the Viewing Teacher Support Material article for additional support options while grading.

Under the general student and activity information, tabs will give you detailed information about the submission.

CONTENT allows you to view the student’s work.
SCORE/ACTIVITY HISTORY gives you specific details on how long the student spent on the assignment, how many points the student has earned, if the student received a retry, and when the student resubmitted work.
SUBMISSION HISTORY tells you when the assignment was submitted.
CLASS STATISTICS provides a summary of how the student is performing in comparison to the class.

Under Student Attachments, you can download the student’s work by clicking the down arrow beside the submission filename.
Depending on the file type, you may also open the student work in a new tab by clicking the white arrow.

FEEDBACK TEMPLATES

When you are ready to provide the student with a grade and feedback, move to the far-right area of the screen.

You can leave feedback for the student in the Feedback box using the Text Editor.

You can also insert a template as feedback. A template might include a tip that you give to students frequently. Simply click on the name of the template to insert it into Feedback automatically.

To add a new template, click EDIT TEMPLATES.

Click CREATE TEMPLATE.

A text editor box opens. Give your new template a meaningful title and type your message into the text editor. When you are done, select DONE.

TIP: To learn more about the Text Editor, read the Buzz Text Editor Options article.

To edit an existing template, click EDIT TEMPLATES.

In the popup window, click on the template you would like to edit or delete.

You can now edit the text in the text editor. Be sure to click DONE when you are finished.

To delete the template, click DELETE THIS TEMPLATE.

Be sure to click OK to verify that you would like to delete this template.

RETURNED ATTACHMENTS

When you add comments and feedback to a student's document, you can return it to the student from Returned Attachments. Click the drop-down arrow to expand the box.

Next, you have the option to CHOOSE FILE from your computer or CHOOSE GOOGLE DOCUMENT from your drive.

PRIVATE NOTE

A Private Note is a space for you to make notes for future reference. The student will not see these notes.

SCORE

After you have completed all feedback for the student, go to the top of the screen and enter a grade for the assignment.

You can also click FULL CREDIT or NO CREDIT to assign points to the student quickly. If you need to change the grade, you have the option to CLEAR what has been entered in the Score box.

If you need to finish grading later, select SAVE DRAFT. If you are done grading, click SUBMIT SCORE.

Other options available when providing a student score include EXCUSE, ALLOW RETRY, and OVERRIDE COMPLETE.

EXCUSE will not count the assignment in the gradebook for the student.
ALLOW RETRY allows a student to redo the assignment.
OVERRIDE COMPLETE allows a student to continue through the course if he or she did not meet a specified threshold to continue. This action is not taken unless a specific completion threshold has been identified.

IMPORTANT: Take these actions after a score is submitted so the item does not get stuck in the Needs Grading list.

ACTIVITY GRADER

The Activity Grader gives you a list of one assignment with all students enrolled in your course.

To access the Activity Grader, click the Activity Grader icon in the top toolbar.

From the Activity Grader, you will see a paper icon beside the name of any student who has submitted the assignment.

A green checkmark and comment bubble denote that an item has been graded and feedback has been provided to the student.

If you allowed a retry for the assignment, a circle arrow is visible.

To grade a student submission, click the student’s name. You will then be taken directly to the student’s submission within the Student Grader.

You have the same tools available to leave feedback for the student as those discussed in Needs Grading.

To quickly enter grades for your list of students, use the Enable quick-edit grading (Quick Edit) feature. This feature is located in the top toolbar.

Once Quick Edit is enabled, you can enter a grade for each student. This feature is especially useful if a student submits a hard copy of an assignment.

Once you are finished entering grades, click SAVE.

IMPORTANT: You must disable Quick Edit when you are finished entering grades.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Check out the following Help Center articles and videos for tips on grading student work.

Using the Gradebook	This article is designed to help you use and navigate the Buzz gradebook.
Viewing Teacher Support Material	This article details how to access teacher support materials for grading in Buzz.
Finalizing Grades	This article walks you through grade finalization steps and processes.
Adjusting Visibility and Gradebook Settings	This video shows you how to control the visibility of content and activities in your Buzz courses.

Please note, the images that may be found in this resource may not match your screen.

This is a Lincoln Learning Solutions product. Access/features may vary based on client contract.