Web Grading Frequently Asked Questions

 

Choose a question from a category below to view the answer:

If you have questions not listed here or if you experience problems using the Banner grading system, please contact the Office of the Registrar at 417-836-5520 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

Faculty Grade Entry Questions:
General Questions:
Technical Questions:
Assigning/Submitting Grades:
Midterm Grading:
Final Grading:

What is the Faculty Grade Entry (FGE) system and what are the benefits to using it?

FGE offers a user-friendly and mobile-friendly interface. Some of its features and benefits are the ability to:

  • see all of your instructed courses at once
  • import a grade roster from Excel
  • easily identify which grades saved successfully and which should be corrected for errors
  • view a student's photo and email them from your grade roster
  • override the default incomplete final grade and extension date before the incomplete grade is rolled

How do I grade in the Faculty Grade Entry system?

Refer to the following documentation:

When is my grade roster available for grading and when are grades due?

My Missouri State is available 24 hours a day for grading purposes during the grading period. See the Academic Calendar for the specific dates of when grade rosters become available and the deadline for submitting grades. Grade rosters for first block classes are made available at the same time as mid-term grade rosters, but the deadline is the same as full semester classes.

Why are grades due so soon after the end of the term?

Students are always anxious to find out their final grades. In addition, a number of important processes depend on final grades. The impact of late grades can be very serious. Students can:

  • face probation or suspension by their college
  • face probation or suspension of financial aid
  • lose athletic eligibility
  • lose scholarships
  • face delay of graduation
  • face delay of tuition reimbursement
  • risk termination of Veteran's Administration benefits
  • risk loss of honors status
  • have their admission to a graduate program postponed
  • lose their good-student insurance discount
  • lose job opportunities or promotions

Can I view a completed grade roster?

Yes. The Class List option in the Class Dashboard, available on the Faculty Schedule & Assignments card in My Missouri State, will display the final grades.

Will students be able to see their grades immediately?

Students will be able to see their grades once they are rolled to academic history on the day grades are due. However, it may be the next day before the GPA calculations reflect the new grades.

Do I have to give hours attended for each student?

No. Enter a 0 (zero) value in the Hours Attended field when a student earns an "F" grade and they never attended or participated in a class or an assignment. Leave the Hours Attended field blank for all other scenarios.

What if a student does not appear on the grade roster?

If a student has been attending your class but does not appear on the grade roster, then the student is not officially registered for the class. In this situation, the student must contact the Office of the Registrar. A final grade cannot be submitted until the student is officially registered for the class.

What if a student on the grade roster never attended the class or turned in any class assignments?

If a student on your roster never attended class or turned in any class assignments you must do the following for final grading:

  • Enter an "F" grade in the Final Grade field (you may not leave the student's grade blank).
  • Enter the first date of the class in the Last Attend Date field.
  • Enter a 0 (zero) value in the Hours Attended field.

What should I do if the Faculty "Active Assignment" option on My Missouri State doesn't show the classes I'm teaching?

Contact the administrative assistant for your department and verify that you have been properly assigned as the instructor of record for the class.

Why am I timed out after 29 minutes?

When you are grading, you are in two systems at the same time. You are in Faculty Grade Entry (FGE) and FGE is in My Missouri State. For security reasons both systems will "time out" after 30 minutes of inactivity. To maintain activity in FGE, be sure to submit your grades (click the submit button) at least every 29 minutes. To maintain activity in My Missouri State, you need to return from the grading page to the portal at least every 29 minutes. Therefore, the best way to maintain activity in both systems is to submit grades and then return to the browser tab in which My Missouri State is open and refresh the page. Then you can continue in FGE with the grading process.

When I try to submit my grades a log-in box appears and it will not take my information?

This problem is most often caused by a password with certain unique characters (most often the ampersand (&)). If your login account password contains the ampersand, try resetting the password to a word that does not contain the ampersand (&). If you continue to experience difficulties, contact the Computer Services Help Desk at 417-836-5891.

What if a grade roster is showing for a class that should not be graded?

When the section record was built in Banner, it was marked as gradable. The administrative assistant for your department can verify if the setting is correct in Admin Banner.

My grade roster is not showing up for a class that I am teaching?

Most likely this is either because you have not been assigned as faculty within Banner or you are not assigned as the instructor of record for the class. The administrative assistant for your department can verify if you have been properly assigned as the instructor of record.

I get a system response error while trying to import grades in Faculty Grade Entry?

You may be trying to import a very large grade file. Click the 'Continue' button, then click 'Import' again. Your file should finish importing.

How can I delete the last attend date I saved in Faculty Grade Entry?

If you already entered and saved the date and you need it removed, you can contact the Office of the Registrar. They can remove the date within the Banner student information system.

When I paged forward to my next set of students, the grades I entered for the previous set are now gone in Faculty Grade Entry?

You must click "Save" to save the grades you just entered before paging to the next set of students in Faculty Grade Entry. Otherwise, the grades you entered on the previous page will be lost. It is recommended that you increase the number of students listed from the default to as large as you can for your class size so that you may see all students in the class.

Do I have to export my grades from Brightspace in order to import my grades into FGE?

No, you may use your own Excel file (in .xlsx format) to import your grades. Please refer to the answer to the question What data are required to import grades from an Excel file? in order to do this properly.

My grades are not importing from my Excel spreadsheet?

Make sure you have:

  • selected the correct tab (Midterm or Final) to grade,
  • selected the correct course to grade,
  • entered appropriate grades in the Excel file - a blank in the grades column will NOT overwrite a letter grade previously given,
  • not accidentally entered a space at the end of a grade in the Excel file,
  • not mistyped a student's BearPass (M-Number) in the ID column,
  • provided a column for term code and a column for Course Reference Number (CRN), the five-digit code for the section,
  • mapped your columns correctly during the import process,
  • saved your Excel file as .xlsx type.

You may download the validation report on the last step of the import process to review the grades that had errors. Please refer to the answer to the question What data are required to import grades from an Excel file? in order to properly perform the import.

When I open Faculty Grade Entry, I get a blank page and cannot enter grades?

It could be the browser and version you are using. The following are the current browsers for FGE. You may refer to the Help Desk for assistance in updating your browser:

  • Internet Explorer 10 or 11 (Windows 7)
  • Internet Explorer 11 (Windows 8)
  • Chrome
  • Firefox
  • Safari 5.x (Mac OSX)

Supported tablets:

  • iPad, iPad Mini, iOS 6.x, and iOS 7.x
  • Android OS 4.x
  • Microsoft Surface 1.0, RT, and PRO

How do I assign an "F" grade?

For midterm grading, enter an "F" grade and Save. The Last Attend Date and Hours Attended fields are not required.

For final grading:

How do I assign an incomplete grade?

When an instructor assigns an incomplete (“I” or “Z”) grade, Faculty Grade Entry automatically opens the Incomplete Grades tab and displays students with incomplete grades. There, the instructor will see the:

  • default incomplete final grade, which is an “F” if an “I” is assigned and a “W” if a “Z” is assigned
  • default extension date, which is one year after the end of the final grading period for the term

The instructor may:

  • override the default incomplete final grade to a grade allowed for the student’s or course’s grade mode
  • override the extension date by shortening or lengthening the time the student has to complete the coursework

What data are required to import grades from an Excel file into Faculty Grade Entry?

Your Excel file must contain:

  • term code - term code follows a 4 digit year and 2 digit term format; fall=40; spring=20; summer=30. Example: fall 2015 is 201540
  • CRN - the five digit code for the class
  • student's BearPass (M-Number)
  • letter grade for the course. If assigning an "F" grade, you must also include the last attend date in mm/dd/yyyy format

All other data columns can be ignored during the import process.

What if a "W" grade is not available to select?

A "W" grade is only available when the student has officially dropped the class by the published deadline. The instructor will not need to enter the "W" grade, as it will be assigned automatically.

Who is authorized to enter grades?

The primary instructor is authorized to enter grades. In addition, deans, dean's administrative assistants, department heads, and department administrative assistants have proxy rights and may enter grades in Admin Banner on behalf of instructors when extenuating circumstances arise.

Can Graduate Assistants assign grades?

Yes, if they are assigned as the primary instructor of record.

How do I assign an "XF" (failure due to academic dishonesty) grade?

XF grades are assigned through the Office of the Provost. If an academic integrity matter is pending at the end of a semester, the instructor must assign an Incomplete (I) grade in the course until the matter is resolved. For additional information, please see the Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures or contact the Office of the Provost.

How do I change a grade after I have finalized and saved my grade roster?

You may make changes to grades through the Faculty Grade Entry system until the grading deadline has passed. After the grading deadline has passed you must do one of the following:

  • For final grades, you must submit a Grade Change Authorization form (found on the Grading card in My Missouri State) to the Office of the Registrar. 
  • For midterm grades, you will need to notify the student individually of their correct grade, as no changes can be made to midterm grades in the grading system.

Do I have to enter all grades for a class at one time?

No. You can select the "Save" button at the bottom of the grade roster page at any time. All grades entered up to that point will be saved. (Note: You must submit information every 29 minutes so that new data is not lost.)

What if there was a change of instructor that was not recorded before grading began?

If a section has the incorrect instructor assigned as the primary instructor, or if there is no primary instructor, academic departments must enter the instructor's name/M-Number in Admin Banner. Once the update is completed, the grade roster will be immediately available to the instructor.

I have completed grading my first class. How do I start grading my next one?

All of your instructed classes for the current term will appear in the top portion of Faculty Grade Entry. You may toggle between classes at any time to see your grade rosters.

How do I know when all of my grades have been submitted?

Faculty Grade Entry provides visual and textual cues to let you know your progress in grading a course. The grading progress indicator to the left of your classes will display in green "Completed" when a course is fully graded. A yellow indicator means partially graded. A gray indicator shows no grades have been submitted. Also, the Course Details tab on the right side of screen (click carrot to display tab) will display the number of students eligible for grades, number of total grades entered and number of grades remaining.

I received “Another user has updated this Student Course Registration while you were editing” message?

This means the student’s registration status in the course changed before you could submit their grade. Click the Reset button in the lower right corner of the page to refresh the student’s status in your grade roster.

Do all students receive midterm grades?

All students enrolled in 100 and 200 level courses are required to have midterm grades. However, instructors will have the option to assign midterm grades for students in courses numbered 300 and above.

How will I know if I have students to grade at midterm?

All instructors teaching a 100 or 200 level course are required to submit midterm grades. However, all instructors will have the option to submit midterm grades.

What if I don't have a grade to assign by the time midterm grades are due?

You must assign a letter grade (A-F) or an Incomplete grade (I) for midterm. The system will not allow a blank grade.

What date do I enter in the Last Attend Date field for students I am assigning an "F" midterm grade?

A last attend date is not required at midterm grading.

What date do I enter in the Last Attend Date field for students I am assigning an "F" final grade?

  • For a student who has never attended your class, enter the first day of class in the Last Attend Date field.
  • For a student who stopped attending your class sometime between the first day of class and the current date, enter the last date that they attended class into the Last Attend Date field.
  • For a student who has not stopped attending class, enter the current date into the Last Attend Date field.
Spring 2020 Pass/Not Pass

How do I know which students should be assigned a P/NP grade?

You can view your class roster from the Class Dashboard to see the grade mode for all of your students. Additionally, when you go to enter final grades, for students who have elected P/NP for your course, the only grades that will be available for you to assign will be P - Pass, NP - Not Pass, and I - Incomplete.

What is the deadline for students to change to the P/NP grade mode?

The deadline for students to request P/NP for their spring 2020 courses was Friday, May 1, 2020. The Office of the Registrar heard appeals for late P/NP requests through Thursday, May 7, 2020. At this point, your grade roster should be up-to-date with all students who have switched to P/NP. If there are any late changes, the Office of the Registrar will find and fix any errors with previously reported grades.

What grade equals a P? What equals a NP?

Any student who has elected the P/NP grade mode and has earned a D grade or higher on your grading scale should be given a P grade. Any student who has earned an F grade on your grading scale should be given a NP.

How do I handle P/NP grading when importing my grades from a spreadsheet?

If you know which students have elected P/NP because you have viewed this information on your class roster, you can enter the P or NP grade on your excel file before uploading. If you do not know which students have elected P/NP, you can import your roster as is, and you will get an error for each student when the grade you attempted to upload does not match the grading mode they have selected. You can then assign the grade individually for each of these students in Faculty Grade Entry. If you have a large number of errors, you can instead fix the grades on your spreadsheet and re-import the file with the corrected grades.

Do I have to do anything special when assigning a NP grade to a student?

Yes - you will be required to submit a last attend date for each student who earns an NP in your course. If the student never attended your course, please also enter 000 in the attended hours field as you would when assigning an F grade.

Can I assign an incomplete grade to a student who has elected the P/NP grade mode for my course?

Yes - when you go to assign grades, incomplete will be one of the options for these students as they would for any other. The only difference is that when you assign the final grade when the student has completed your course, you will only be able to assign a P or NP grade.