There can be several reasons that students are not seeing their grades. Typically there are settings in the gradebook that need a slight modification.
In this article:
How can I see what a student sees in grades?
The Preview function in Grades allows an instructor to see the gradebook as a particular student sees the gradebook. This is helpful when a student reaches out about not being able to see their grades.
Please note, this is different from the Role Switch (view as student) option, which shows the course as a generic student, not a specific student.
To preview the gradebook as a student sees it:
- From Assessments => Grades, choose Manage Grades.
- Find your particular student
- Click the drop-down arrow next their name in the list
- Click Preview
- A popup window will display the gradebook, as that particular student sees it.
Students Can't See Grades for an Item
Upon confirming that a student cannot see a grade for an item, there are several troubleshooting steps you can use.
Does the gradebook have "clock" icons?
One of the top reasons that student cannot see a grade item is due to date restrictions in the gradebook (clock icons). From the Manage Grades page, confirm that there are no clock icons in your gradebook.
Example of a grade item with a date restriction.
To remove the date restriction:
- Click the dropdown arrow next the grade item.Click Edit
- Choose the Restrictions tab
- Un-Check the Start and End Dates
- Click Save and Close
- Continue until you see no more clock icons in your gradebook.
Please note: Many instructors set start and end dates on items in the gradebook, in an attempt to prevent students from submitting after a certain date. However, start and end dates (clock icons) in the gradebook ONLY prevent students from seeing their scores, not from submitting.
This causes confusion for both students and instructors, since students cannot see their scores, but they still contribute to the final course grade.
To prevent students from submitting after an end date, please modify your Brightspace activity (assignment, quiz, discussion), and set the Start/End dates there. It is best practice to remove clock icons from your gradebook.
Does your item have scores?
Please confirm that you (the instructor) see grades for you students in the gradebook. From Assessments => Grades, choose "Enter Grades" and view the gradebook as a grid / spreadsheet to see if your students have scores.
Is your item linked with an activity?
For Brightspace activities (assignments, quizzes, discussions) you can associate a grade item to an activity. Grade items without an association will not auto-populate with scores. The associated activity of a grade item will display under the association column in the gradebook.
Clicking on the () icon will display info about what the associated activity is:
Is your grade item a quiz?
A quiz may not be set up to sync to the gradebook on publish. This can espically occur when a grade item was linked to a quiz after it was created.
To set up "Sync to the gradebook on publish":
- Go to Assessments => Quizzes
- Find your quiz, click the dropdown arrow, and choose Edit
- In the quiz edit screen, expand the Evaluation and Feedback panel on the right side.
- Check the box for Synchronize to grade book on publish
- Save and Close
Students Can't See Final or Course Grades
Is your course using Calculated or Adjusted Final Grades?
The default (and recommended) setting is to use a Calculated Final Grade in your course. A course grade for classes using Final Adjusted Grade will not be visible until filled in by the instructor.
Unless you need to adjust grades outside of using a grade item (i.e. curving final scores), we recommend that you use a Calculated Final Grade. You can change this setting in Calculation Options:
- Go to Assessments => Grades, Manage Grades.
- Choose the blue "Settings" link on the right hand side.
- Go to the Calculation Options tab
- Under "Final Grade Released" choose "Calculated Final Grade" and "Automatically release final grade".
- Click Save at the bottom, to apply settings.
Is your Final Grade released?
Final Grades need to be released to be seen by students. The default setting in Brightspace is to automatically release the final grade, but there may be times when this is not applied to a course.
To check if Final Grades are released:
- Access the grades tool, by Assessments => Grades, then click Enter Grades
- From the enter grades screen look at the Final Grades column. It is typically either the first, last, or both in the grid view of grades.
- Un-released Final grades have a "not released" icon
A un-released Calculated Final Grade.
To manually release final grades:
- Access the grades tool, by Assessments => Grades, then click Enter Grades
- Under the Final Grades column, choose the dropdown arrow for Final Calculated Grade or Final Adjusted Grade
- Click Enter Grades
- On the page for Final Grades, choose the dropdown arrow at the top,
- Then "Release All". You can optionally release final grades one-by-one on using the checkbox on the right-hand column.
- Confirm your action (Yes)
- Then Save and Close.
Your Final Grades are released and visible to students when the "visible" icon is displayed.
A released Final Grade