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Adjust and publish grades in Buddycheck - Staff Guide

Once the end date of the evaluation is reached, Buddycheck calculates an adjustment factor for each student, based on all the responses given to the peer evaluation. Responses are scored and the adjustment factor is then calculated by dividing the peer average score by the group average score.

You can then choose to use the Buddycheck adjustment factor to change the existing grades of a group assessment in the Minerva Grade Centre.

This means you can grade a group assessment via Minerva as normal, and then use the adjustment factor created by Buddycheck to adjust individual students' grades. For example, this means if a student is judged by their peers to have given a greater than average contribution to a group assessment, the adjustment factor will raise their grade.

Adjust grades

You can either adjust the grade of an existing Grade Centre column (not recommended - the original grades are overwritten) or create a new Grade Centre column for the adjusted grade (recommended - the original grades are preserved).

You have the opportunity to review and adjust manually any changes to grades before publishing back to Minerva.

When you click on the Buddycheck link in Minerva, you will see a list of all existing evaluations. Click on the evaluation you wish to publish grades for. The end date of the peer evaluation must have passed for you to publish grades.

1. Enter the Publish Grades Menu

Select More in the top right and then Publish Grades.

Screenshot showing publish grades option

2. Select the relevant assessment column

You will see a list of all the assessment columns in the Grade Centre for the module.

Click on the column you wish to create an adjusted grade for.

Screenshot showing selection of a grade centre column to base adjusted grade on

Then click Continue.

3. Review the adjustment factor and grade changes

Buddycheck will at this point present you with a summary of how grades for the assessment you selected will be updated. You can change how the adjustment factor will impact grades here.

You could :

  • choose to include/not include self scores in adjustment factor calculations
  • decide what weight the adjustment factor should have on final scores (a different weight can be applied for a positive/negative adjustment factor)
  • decide if the original adjustment factor calculations should be used or if it should be rounded

Make any changes as necessary, this will not impact student grades until you proceed to the next step. When you are ready to update grades in Minerva, select Accept & continue.

See, Adjustment Factor Calculations (Restricted to staff only. Please LOGIN to the IT site to get access) for further guidance on calculations.

4. Create New Grade

You have the option to update an existing grade (the default) or create a new grade.

We recommend that you create a new grade to ensure historic marks are not lost and in case of any issue. Select Create new grade.

Screenshot of grade centre column options

Change the name for the Grade Centre column as required (students will see this name).

If you don’t want students to see the grade straight away, toggle on Hide grade for students (this will hide the Grade Centre column from students).

Then select Create new grade. This will now create a new Grade Centre column.

You will see a confirmation message when this is complete.

5. Review Grade Centre

Return to Minerva and review the Grade Centre to check the column has been created successfully. If you selected Hide grade for students, it should have a no entry sign at the top.

When you are ready for students to see the grades via Grade Centre,  select the drop down menu next to the name of the relevant assessment in Grade Centre. Then select Hide from students (on/off). You should see the no entry sign disappear.

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