Why can't my students see their grades?

If your students have reported that they are unable to see their grades, there could be several possible reasons. Gradebook and grade items such as assignments, quizzes can be configured to hide/display grades in a number of different ways. We have provided information below that will guide you to identify the problem.

Visibility of the gradebook

If your students are reporting that they do not see the link in the left navigation to open their gradebook at all, you might have changed the course settings to hide the gradebook from your students. You can control whether your students can access their gradebook at all. By default, this is set to be visible, meaning your students can access the gradebook and see any marks that not hidden from them. To show/hide the gradebook from your students, follow the steps below:

1. From the course home page, click on the cog wheel and select Edit Settings from the drop down menu
   
   
   
2. In the course settings page, under Appearance, from the Show gradebook to students drop-down menu, select Yes or No.
   
   
   
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save and display.

Finding the gradebook

If your students do not know where to click to access their grades, it would be helpful to give them information on where they can find the link to access the gradebook. This is particularly true if some can access the gradebook while others cannot. For your students to view grades:

1. In the left navigation menu, click on Grades. This opens the User report page which shows all activities that are currently visible to your students. Some activities may not be visible to them as you can control when they see grades for specific activities. For those that have been graded, your students will be able to see their marks and general feedback you may have provided.
   
   In addition to the user report, students can also click on the Overview report tab. This tab show students overall grades for each class they are enrolled in. If the instruction has hidden the Course total grade, then the students will only see a dash ( - ) in the overview report tab.

Are the graded activities hidden?

If the students are able to see some grades but not a particular graded activity, check to see if the activity is hidden from students. Hiding a graded activity on your course home page will hide its grade from student. To unhide a graded activity:

1. Go to your course homepage and click on Turn editing on button in the top right part of the course home page.
   
   
   
2. Find the graded activity on your course page.
   
   
3. If the graded activity is hidden from your student, the link to the graded activity will appear in grey. When the activity and the section it is located in are both visible, the link appears in red. Click Edit to open the drop-down menu of the hidden activity and select Show from the menu. This will unhide the activity.
   
   

Are activities restricted using Restrict Access?

Activities can be restricted to one or more students using Restrict Access settings. When the graded activity is restricted and also hidden, students cannot see the grade for the activity. Making the activity visible and unrestricted, therefore making it widely available will allow students to see the grade for the activity.

Grades from a Turnitin assignment

Turnitin assignment grades are controlled by Post date. This determines when a student can access their grades and/or feedback. Before the Post date, students cannot see the grades or feedback you have provided either within the assignment or in the gradebook. If you want your students to see the grades immediately, change the Post date to set the date and time to today's date.

Grades from a Quiz

Visibility of quiz grades are controlled by the options available under the Review options in the quiz settings. Under the review options section, in the column Later, while the quiz is still open or After the quiz is closed, enabling checkbox next to Marks will display the quiz grades to your students. Options under Later, while the quiz is still open is relevant if there is no end date for the quiz, meaning the quiz never closes, otherwise you should enable checkbox for under After the quiz is closed column to make the quiz marks visible to your students.

Are grade items visible in the gradebook?

If the students can see grades for some grade items and not others, some of them may have been hidden in the gradebook. Marks in a hidden item, typically appear light grey. To unhide them:

1. In the left navigation menu, click on Grades.
   
   
2. Click on Turn editing on button in the gradebook.
   
   
3. Click on the eye in the Controls row to open the closed eye for the grade item. If the eye is already open but and you find some students the eye is closed for one or more student, you can open them all by clicking on the open eye in the Controls row to close it and click once more to open the eye.