How To: Work with Letter Grades in the BFCA Education Portal

The BFCA Education Portal only supports inputting letter grades into manual grade items that have been set to the Letter grade type. However, it is also possible to enter numerical scores and set them to display as letter grades.

This page explains how to adjust the numerical values that correspond to the letters in your grading scale (A, B, C, etc.), how to add a letter grade column, and how to configure the BFCA Education Portal gradebook to display letter grades for numeric columns.

Edit Grade Letter Boundaries

If you are entering numeric values, you can customize the numeric-to-letter conversion scheme in your course.

Important: Once a Letter Grade item is added to a gradebook, you cannot adjust Grade Letter Boundaries (unless you delete all letter grade items). Be sure to set the grading scheme before adding any Letter Grade items.

  1. In the Administration block, under Course Administration click Grades. The gradebook will open to the Grader report or the last page you viewed.
  2. In the navigation tabs (at top), click Letters. The Grade letters page will open showing the values currently being used to convert scores to letter grades.
  3. Click Edit grade letters at the top of the scores summary. The Edit grade letters page will open.
  4. To edit the grade boundary values, check Override site defaults. The fields for Grade letters and Letter grade boundaries will unlock and become editable.
    Note: Letters A and F must correspond to maximum and minimum, respectively. 
  5. Enter new grade letters and/or boundary values as required.
    Note: Numerical values will display as rounded to the second decimal place but letter grade boundaries can have up to 5 decimal places.
  6. At the bottom of the page, click Save changes.

Display Letter Grades for Numerical Scores

Setting a numeric grade item to display a letter grade will not “lock” your Grade Letter Boundary scheme (as happens if you add a manual Letter grade item). However, since there is only one grading scheme allowed for the entire course, adjusting the scheme will affect the letter grades displayed for all grade items.

Note: Even if a numerical column is set to display letter grades, when editing is turned on in the Grader report, you must read and input numerical values.

To have numerical grade items and category totals display letter grades:

  1. In the Administration block, under Course Administration click Gradebook setup. The gradebook will open to the Gradebook setup page.
  2. Under the Actions column, in the row for a grade item or category title, click Edit. The Edit drop-down menu will open. From the Edit drop-down menu, click Edit settings. The Edit page for this item will open.
  3. Depending on which item you selected, click the either Grade item or Category total heading to expand the page.
  4. Below the list of settings click Show more….
  5. In the Grade display type drop-down menu, select Letter.
    Note: This setting allows up to two grade display types. For example, by selecting Letter (percentage), the grade will display as “B (85%)”.
  6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page. This will change how the grade displays on the User report and the Grader report when editing is turned off.

Add a Manual Letter Grade Item

When you add a graded Activity to a course (such as an assignment or quiz), the BFCA Education Portal automatically adds a column (grade item) to the gradebook for the activity. You can also create grade items not linked to the BFCA Education Portal activities by adding them manually on the Gradebook setup page of the gradebook, then set the grade item to allow you to enter or upload letter grades rather than numeric scores.

Note: You cannot edit grade letter boundaries while Letter grade items exist in your gradebook.

To add a grade item that lets you enter Letter grades:

  1. In the Administration block, under Course Administration, click Gradebook setup. The gradebook will open to the Gradebook setup tab.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Add grade item. The New grade item page will open.
  3. In the Item name field, enter a name for the column. Try to use short names, and do not use special characters, commas, ampersands, or quotes.
  4. In the Grade type drop-down menu, select Letter. (If you do not see this option, click Show more… to view all options)
    Note: This option cannot be changed after the grade item is saved.
  5. The Max grade option will no longer be available. The maximum grade will always be A, minimum grade will always be F.
  6. When finished, click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page.

Use a Manual Letter Grade Item as the Course Total

If you have added a Letter grade column for the purpose of importing Course total grades you need to give the Course total column a formula to pull the grades from the Letter grade item into the Course total column:

  1. After adding your Letter grade item to the gradebook as described above, navigate to Gradebook setup and, in the row for Course total, click Edit. The Edit drop-down menu will open. From the Edit drop-down menu click Edit calculation.The Edit calculation page opens.
  2. Scroll down to ID numbers and locate the Letter grade column you wish to use for your course total.
  3. In the text entry box for your Letter grade item, provide an ID name or number, for example, FinalLetterGrade.
  4. Click Add ID numbers. The ID will show on the page after your Letter grade item surrounded by double-brackets, for example, [[FinalLetterGrade]].
  5. Stay on the Edit Calculation page and scroll up to the top of the page. In the Calculation entry box enter the formula:  = [[ID Number]], for example, = [[FinalLetterGrade]].
  6. Click Save changes. You will be returned to the Gradebook setup page.
  7. Check to ensure that the grades from your Letter grade item are appearing in the Course total column.

How To: Submit an Assignment

The BFCA Education Portal lets instructors set up an Assignment with a variety of settings. For example:

  • Your instructor can control whether you can make only one submission or upload files after deadlines have passed and if you can re-submit files or not.
  • Some assignment types let your instructor return a submission with comments for revisions. You can then upload your revisions by returning to the link for the assignment.
  • Assignments can be for “offline” activities such as a classroom presentation or printed paper, in which case you will not submit anything on the BFCA Education Portal, but your instructor may use the the BFCA Education Portal assignment for grading and feedback.

Submit an Assignment

You may be asked to attach files or enter text directly into a text box. Note: If your instructor is asking you to upload a file, they should inform you what file format you should submit (eg., .pdf, .doc, .pptx or .docx). 

  1. Select the link to the assignment. The Assignment page will open, showing instructions and your submission status (due date, grading status, time remaining, grade, etc.) for this assignment.
  2. Select Add submission. The Assignment submission page will open. Depending on how your instructor set up the assignment, you may have the option to submit file(s), enter text in a text entry box or both.
  3. To enter online text, type directly into the Online text box. Alternately, you can compose your submission in a word processing program and then cut and paste the text into the BFCA Education Portal text box.
    • When pasting text into the BFCA Education Portal, for best results, paste the content as unformatted text.
    • For spell checking to work, it must be enabled in your browser. Once enabled, to see spelling suggestions press and hold the Control key on your keyboard and click OR right-click on your mouse (whether you are using a Mac or PC system will determine which operation will work).
  4. To submit a file using drag-and-drop:
    1. Arrange your computer desktop windows so that you can view both your browser window and your files on your computer (e.g., in an open folder or on your desktop).
    2. Drag files from your computer and release them on top of the big blue arrow in the Files area.
    3.  DO NOT drag-and-drop a .gdoc file from a Drive App desktop window into the BFCA Education Portal. Your instructor will not have permission to view the file. Instead, use browse for the file (for details, see the next step), or save the file as a PDF before submitting.
  5. To browse for a file:
    1. Under File submissions, at the top-left of the file area, click the Add… icon. The File picker window will open.
    2. Select a file from your computer, or from Google Drive:
      • To upload a file from your computer, click Upload a file (at left), then, below Attachment, select Choose file. Browse your computer and select a file, then click Open. The file name will appear next to the Choose file button.
      • To upload a file from Google Drive, click Google Drive (at left). You may need to log in. Click the File to upload. 
        Note: When you browse to Google Drive, the BFCA Education Portal will convert Google docs (.gdoc files) that were composed directly in Google to a sharable file type (.rtf,  .ppt, .xls, etc.)
    3. (Optional) If you want to rename your file in the File Picker, enter the new name in the Save as field, and make sure to include the correct file extension (.pdf, .doc, etc.) in the name so the file can open correctly for your instructor.
    4. Click Upload this file. The File Picker will close and an icon for your uploaded file will appear in the Files area.
  6. Once your file(s) appear(s) in the Files submission area, click Save changes.
  7. If your instructor allows you to revise your submission, you’ll see an Edit submission button on the Assignment page. Select Edit submission to add or replace files, or edit a text submission. When you finish making changes, click Save changes.
  8. For some assignment types, you will see a Submit assignment button. To finalize your submission, click Submit assignment, then Continue. Note: Once finalized, you will not be able to make any more changes.
  9. You can check under Submission status on the Assignment page to ensure your file is listed. You can also view feedback and grades from your instructor there.

Multiple submissions

For some assignment types, you may have the option to submit several or an unlimited amount of attempts (or drafts) for a single assignment. Because each course is different, you will need to communicate with your instructors on how submission attempts and feedback are configured for each the BFCA Education Portal assignment.

Troubleshooting: Can’t See My Assignments

  1. Are you looking at the correct course?
  2. Are you looking at the correct dates?
  3. If you don’t find the assignment listed, your instructor may not have made the course visible to students.
  4. Contact your instructor to see if he or she has made the course visible.

How To: Use Course Announcements in the BFCA Education Portal

Instructors can use the Announcements Forum in the BFCA Education Portal to send important notifications to students. All messages posted in the Announcements Forum are automatically sent to each student’s email, and students cannot unsubscribe from these notifications.

Students are unable to reply within the Announcements Forum, but can still read posted messages. Attachments to forum posts are not included in email notifications but can be accessed from the BFCA Education Portal course directly. 

Posting an announcement

  1. On your course page, click the Announcements link. The Announcements page will open, showing the description you provided when you set up the activity, and if any posts have been made, they will be listed here. If no topics or posts have been added, you’ll see a message “(No news has been posted yet.)”On the next page, click the Add a new topic button  
  2. Enter a Subject and a Message (both are required).
  3. If subscription is set to Optional in the forum’s settings, you can use the Subscription drop-down menu to choose whether or not to receive email copies of posts made to this forum. (This will affect you, not your students.)
  4. You may choose to add an attachment.
  5. Select the Mail now checkbox if you do not want the standard 30-minute delay before subscribers receive an email.
  6. Select the Pinned checkbox if you want to highlight your Post to be at the top of your Announcements list.
  7. Click Post to forum to post your message. A “success” message appears. Click Continue to return to the Announcements forum page. 

Edit announcements settings

  1. On your course page, click Turn editing on (at top right). Editing icons and links will appear next to editable items.
  2. Locate the Announcements forum, click Edit (at right), then select Edit Settings. The Updating Forum page will open.
  3. To rename the activity from Announcements, in the Forum name box, enter a new name.
  4. To add a description, enter text in the Description box, and to have the description display on the course page under the Announcements link, select the checkbox for Display description on course page.
  5. To change whether class members receive emails of posts, click to open Subscription and tracking, and from the Subscription mode drop-down, select a new option: 
    • Optional subscription – Participants can choose whether to be subscribed. 
    • Forced subscription (Default) – Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe. 
    • Auto subscription – Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time. 
    • Subscription disabled – Subscriptions are not allowed..
  6. Read tracking allows your course members to see a highlighted message next to the forum if they have unread posts. The default setting is Optional.
  7. The remaining settings are common to all forums but not useful for Announcements and can be ignored.
  8. To save your changes, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Save and return to course.

Delete Announcements

If you want to delete Announcements from your course, you must first remove the Latest news block, otherwise Announcements link will automatically regenerate after you delete it.

  1. On your course page, click Turn editing on. The page will refresh showing editing icons and links.
  2. On the Latest news block, click the Edit icon and select X Delete Latest news block. When asked if you are sure you want to delete this block, click Yes. The page will refresh and the block will no longer be in your course.
  3. To the right of Announcements, click Edit , then select X Delete. A Confirm pop-up will open asking if you are sure you want to delete the forum; click Yes. The page will refresh and the forum will no longer be in your course.

Replace a deleted announcements forum

If you ever want the Announcements forum back in your course, you’ll find out that Announcements is the only Edspora activity that does not appear in the Add an activity or resource menu! To recover your Announcements:

  1. You must first add the Latest news block back to your course
  2. In the Latest news block click Add a new topic… . The Announcements forum will automatically reappear in the top section of your course whether you click Post forum or click Cancel.

How To: Add The Activities Block in the BFCA Education Portal

The Activities block lists the various content by the types currently available to students in your course, such as Forums, Assignments, Quizzes, Resources, etc. 

Links are automatically added to the block

The list of types of Activities displayed in the Activities block will grow as you add activities and resources to your course. The first time you enter a new course, the only item in the Activities block is Forums because your course is created with only one forum in it, Announcements (previously called News forum).

When you add a new type of activity or a resource to your course, an icon and link will appear in the Activities block. Click a link for a list of all the instances of that type of activity that appear throughout the course. For example, clicking on Assignments will display a list of all the BFCA Education Portal assignments in your course, grouped by the course section they are in.

Add the activities block to your BFCA Education Portal course

The Activities block is added by default to new courses, but if it is not in your course you can add it:

  1. On your course page, click Turn editing on.
  2. At the bottom of the right sidebar, in the block titled Add a block, click Add…
  3. From the list of blocks that appears in the drop-down menu, select Activities. The Activities block will appear at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Move the Activities Block to the Top of the Sidebar

Since this block provides an easy and useful way for students to find items and activities in your course, we recommend placing it near the top of the sidebar containing your blocks.

  1. On your course page, click Turn editing on.
  2. To rearrange a block, place your cursor over the Move icon. 
  3. Drag and drop the block into a new position in the sidebar.