Table of Contents

Using Gradescope with Moodle as an Instructor

Getting started

Gradescope integrations with Learning Management Systems (LMSs), such as Moodle, are available with an institutional Gradescope license. When you access Gradescope through Moodle, you and your students won't need to create or use a separate Gradescope password, because you will be authenticated via your Moodle credentials. If you already have a Gradescope account under the email address that's associated with your Moodle account (e.g., your school email), when you access Gradescope in Moodle you will be taken to your existing account. If you do end up with multiple accounts under multiple emails, you can merge accounts.

Below is the general process you should follow to be able to use Gradescope with Moodle. In this guide, you'll find specific details for completing each of these steps and links to other pertinent Gradescope Help Center articles.

  • Step 1. Link your courses.
  • Step 2. Sync your roster.
  • Step 3. Create and link your assignment.
  • Step 4. Grade submissions.
  • Step 5. Post grades.

 

Linking your courses

Students are automatically added to the Gradescope roster once they select a Gradescope course or assignment link within Moodle.
  1. Log in to Moodle. Click the course where you'd like to create links to Gradescope. Click the Turn editing on button (top right corner).
  2. On your Moodle course page, click + Add an activity or resource. When the dialog box appears, select Gradescope (or your institution's name for Gradescope). Name your activity and click Save and return to course. It's recommended that you include "Gradescope" in the activity name. If Gradescope wasn't listed as an activity, contact your Moodle administrator.
    To embed or launch your Gradescope course in a new window: Go to the course settings page in Moodle > Under General, click Show more > Under Launch container, choose to have your Gradescope course launch embedded in Moodle or in a new window for you and your students.
  3. Back on your Moodle course page, click the Gradescope activity link you just created. This will launch Gradescope. When it launches, you'll see a dialog box with course-linking options. Choose to link to a new or existing Gradescope course. Then click Link Course.
    New Gradescope users: At this point, a new Gradescope account will be created for you if you do not already have one associated with the email address (e.g., your school email) that you use in Moodle.

    Existing Gradescope users: If you already have a Gradescope account under the email address that's associated with your Moodle account (e.g., your school email), a new Gradescope account will not be created for you, and clicking the Gradescope activity link in Moodle will take you to your existing account.
  4. For this step, follow the instructions below based on what you're seeing on screen.
    1. Course Settings: If you see Course Settings, your institution is using the older version of the Gradescope tool (LTI 1.0 +API). In the Gradescope Course Settings, update the course title, description, rubric types, and score bounds if needed. Remember, changes made here will only appear in Gradescope, not in Moodle. Click Update Course when you're finished.
      Linking one Moodle course to multiple Gradescope courses: LTI 1.0 + API users, it is not recommended that you link one Moodle course to multiple Gradescope courses. Linking courses, in this case, would allow students to enroll in any of the Gradescope courses that are associated with the single Moodle course
    2. "Link to an Assignment" dialog box: If you're prompted to link an assignment, your institution is using the latest version of the Gradescope tool (LTI 1.3). With this version, your courses are now linked, but a direct link to your Gradescope course will not appear in Moodle for you or your students. However, you can create direct links to Gradescope assignments. To do that now, in the dialog box, choose to link to an existing Gradescope assignment or create a new one. Then see our Help Center article on creating an assignment to learn about settings and assignment types. To create and link assignments later, click Close. Then follow the steps in the Creating and Linking Assignments section of this guide when you're ready.

 

Syncing your roster

  1. Navigate to your Course Dashboard in Gradescope. If you're not already there, log in to Moodle > Click your course > Click the Gradescope activity link in your course > If you're taken to the assignment page in Gradescope, click the course name in the top left corner of Gradescope.
  2. On your Gradescope Course Dashboard, click Roster in the left sidebar to get to your Roster page. On your Roster page in Gradescope, click the Sync Moodle Roster button in the footer or the middle of your page.
    Terminology differences: If your institution is using the latest version of the Gradescope tool (LTI 1.3), your roster sync button may display a customized name your institution has chosen instead of the word "Moodle."
  3. A dialog box will appear explaining how accounts will be synced. All names, emails, and student IDs will be auto-synced from Moodle. All user roles will be synced depending on how your institution configured your Gradescope integration. If you're using the latest version of the Gradescope tool, sections will not auto-sync. However, you can manually add the sections to your Gradescope roster if needed.
  4. By default, Gradescope will email users to say that they've been added to the course. If you don't want users to be notified, uncheck "Let new users know that they were added to the course" in the dialog box.
    Instructor syncing a Moodle roster in Gradescope
  5. Click Sync Roster. If students add/drop in Moodle, be sure to re-sync the roster. Existing submissions/grades for dropped students will be preserved. See the Adding Students and Staff article for more tips. If you have any roster-syncing issues, see the Troubleshooting section or contact help@gradescope.com.
    To change section names: After syncing, click Download Roster (bottom of Gradescope Roster page) > Update section values on the CSV file > Click Add Students or Staff > Upload the CSV back to Gradescope. Moodle linking and any existing submissions and grades will be preserved as long as emails stay the same. Please note that if you are using the older version of the integration (LTI 1.0+API) and re-sync your roster, you will lose any customized section names you added.

 

Creating and linking assignments

  1. Go to the Moodle course that you linked to Gradescope. Turn on editing. Then click the + Add an activity or resource. When the dialog box appears, select Gradescope (or your institution's name for Gradescope). If Gradescope isn't listed as an activity, contact your Moodle administrator.
    Can I link a different type of Moodle activity to Gradescope? Yes, but it's not recommended and only possible if you use the older Gradescope tool (LTI 1.0+API). Users with LTI 1.0+API can link a Moodle assignment or quiz to a Gradescope assignment for grade-posting purposes. However, the direct link to the Gradescope assignment will not appear on the course page in Moodle for you or your students.
  2. Next, name the activity. It's recommended that the word "Gradescope" and the assignment title are in the activity name. Then under Grades, either choose "Points" or "None" as the grading type. If you're using the older version of the Gradescope tool (LTI 1.0 + API) It is not recommended that you choose "Scale," because grades will not post correctly from Gradescope to Moodle.
  3. Please skip the Activity completion dropdown, and do not enable "Expect completed on." The date set there will not sync with Gradescope. You will be able to set the due date in Gradescope while you pick the assignment's settings.
  4. Click Save and return to course. Back on your Moodle course page, click the Gradescope assignment activity link you just made. This will launch Gradescope.
  5. For this step, follow the instructions below based on what you're seeing on screen.
    1. Gradescope Course Dashboard (LTI 1.0 + API): If you see this, select an existing Gradescope assignment or click Create Assignment to make a new one. If you're creating a new assignment, next choose the assignment type and settings. See our Help Center article on creating an assignment to learn more. Then click Create Assignment. Then click Settings in Gradescope's left sidebar. Scroll down to the Moodle Assignment section and click Link. When the dialog box appears, select the Moodle activity you want to link to.
      When should I link my assignment? If submissions will be student-uploaded, it's highly recommended that you link your Gradescope assignment to Moodle before releasing it to students so they can find it more easily in Moodle. If submissions will be instructor-uploaded, it's recommended that you only link your assignment when you're ready to publish grades.
    2. "Link to an Assignment" dialog box (LTI 1.3): If you see this, in the dialog box, choose to link to an existing Gradescope assignment or create a new one. Then see our Help Center article on creating an assignment.
    Once the assignment is linked via LTI 1.3, the Gradescope assignment name is synced from Moodle and can only be edited in Moodle, not in Gradescope.
 

Grading submissions

  1. Launch your Gradescope assignment. To do that, log in to Moodle, navigate to your course, click your Gradescope activity link. This will launch Gradescope. Once you're in Gradescope, you may still need to click your assignment to open it.
  2. With your assignment open in Gradescope, expand the left sidebar (if it isn't already) and click Grade Submissions to start grading.
  3. Once you do that, the process for grading is the same for Moodle and non-Moodle Gradescope users, so check out the detailed article on Grading Submissions. Once you've finished grading, see the next section for posting grades so students can see how they did.
    Instructor grading a submission in Moodle
 

Posting grades

  1. Make sure you synced your roster and linked your assignment to Moodle. LTI 1.0 +API users, you need to do both of these things manually. LTI 1.3 users, you need to manually sync your roster, but your Gradescope assignments will be linked to Moodle when you create them.
  2. Open your graded assignment in Gradescope. Expand the left sidebar (if it isn't already) and click Review Grades. When the Review Grades page opens, click the Post Grades to Moodle button.
    Terminology differences: If you're using the latest version of the Gradescope tool (LTI 1.3), your post grades button may display a customized name your institution chose instead of "Moodle."
  3. A dialog box will appear explaining how grades will be pushed from Gradescope to Moodle. In the dialog box, click Post Grades. Only each student's final score will be posted in Moodle. Scores will be displayed as a numerator (points the student earned) and a denominator (max possible score). If you give students extra credit on the assignment in Gradescope, the extra points will not carry over to Moodle. Only grades for fully graded submissions (which have a teal checkmark in the Graded column on the Review Grades page) will be posted.
    If grades aren't posting: Re-sync the roster > Click Post Grades to Moodle again. If that doesn't work, email help@gradescope.com.
    Instructor posting Gradescope grades to Moodle
  4. If you want students to also see their graded, annotated submissions, question-by-question scores, rubrics, and feedback on Gradescope, click the Publish Grades button.
  5. If you'd like to, click the Compose Email to Students button at the bottom of the Review Grades page in Gradescope to alert students via email that their grades are now visible. To see what your students will see when they view their grades, check out the article on Using Gradescope with Moodle as a Student.
 

Troubleshooting

Roster-syncing issues

Issues

Solutions

I can only sync part of my roster.

If some members of your course can’t be synced along with the rest of your roster, most likely, these members do not have an email address associated with their account in Moodle. To fix the issue, either ask the course members or your Moodle admin to add the email addresses to the accounts in Moodle. Then re-sync the roster.

I can't sync my roster at all.

Please contact help@gradescope.com.

After I unlink a Moodle course from Gradescope, the initially synced roster will remain on the Roster page even after I link a new course.

Please contact help@gradescope.com to have the excess students removed. Alternatively, if there are no assignments within the course, you can delete it and create a new one to link with Gradescope.

Assignment-setup issues

Issues

Solutions

The Moodle activity/grade item I need isn't listed as an option when I try to link it to my Gradescope assignment.

Occasionally, certain Moodle activities or grade items do not show up in the dropdown list when you're trying to link your Gradescope assignment to Moodle. If this is happening to you, use the list below to check that your Moodle activity or grade item is configured properly to link to Gradescope. Then if you're still having problems, please contact help@gradescope.com.

  • Make sure the Moodle activity/grade item is an assignment, quiz, or a Gradescope external tool activity.
  • If the Moodle activity/grade item is a quiz, make sure it's configured to show points after the quiz is closed.
  • Make sure the Moodle activity/grade item is not in a hidden grade category in your gradebook.
  • Make sure the Moodle grade item was not created manually in your Moodle gradebook.

Embedded window issues

Issues

Solutions

Gradescope doesn’t appear in the embedded window when I use the Safari browser. 

To use Gradescope in an embedded window within Moodle, select Preferences from Safari’s settings and then ensure Prevent cross-site tracking is unchecked. 

Gradescope doesn’t appear in the embedded window when I use Chrome in incognito mode.

Third-party cookies may be blocked which will prevent this functionality.

To temporarily enable third party cookies, select the eye icon on the right of the URL address bar when you attempt to launch Gradescope LTI. A modal will appear where you can select "Site not working?" and then Allow cookies. This setting will reset when you restart your browser.

To permanently allow third-party cookies, go to https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647.  Select Privacy and security and then Cookies and other site data. Here you will be able to Allow all cookies. This setting will remain unless you return to the settings and disable it.

I want (or don't want) Gradescope to appear in an embedded window in Moodle.

To change the settings that cause Gradescope to launch as an embedded window in Moodle or in a new window outside of Moodle...

  1. Go to the course settings page in Moodle.
  2. Under General, click Show more.
  3. Under Launch container, choose to have your Gradescope course launch embedded in Moodle or in a new window for you and your students.

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