University of Southern California
GRS – For Instructors
Submitting Final Grades
About GRS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Accessing GRS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Getting Help ........................................................................................................................................................................ 1 THE GRS MAIN MENU ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 OVERVIEW OF THE GRS GRADING PROCESS ........................................................................................................................... 3 Overview of the Grade Submission Process ....................................................................................................................... 3 Roles .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Phase 1 – Grade Input ............................................................................................................................................................. 4 Phase 2: Instructor Submits Grades (All Schools) ............................................................................................................. 6 Phase 3: Schools with Approvers Only ‐ Submitting to the Grade Department .................................................................... 7 If the Approver Rejects Your Submission ............................................................................................................................ 7 If the Approver Accepts your Submission ........................................................................................................................... 8 About GRS The online Grading and Roster System (GRS) allows instructions to input mid‐term and final course grades electronically, eliminating the need for paper submissions. Final grades will be routed into the USC Grade Department. GRS also incorporates the old Roster system which allows instructors to email students in a class individually or in mass, view student information, download student information into Excel, and learn student names using flash cards. Accessing GRS GRS is web based. You can access it at the following address: https://grs.usc.edu or though the MyUSC portal (http://my.usc.edu) within the Faculty and Staff Links area. Your login is your USC username and password (i.e. same as Blackboard). Getting Help For assistance, please contact onlinerostersupport@usc.edu . © Marshall School of Business GRS_Complete_Instructions.docx 4/28/09 Page 1 of 8 THE GRS MAIN MENU Once logged into GRS, you will see a window similar to the one shown below listing the courses you are teaching in the current semester. You can access the different components as shown below. b. Click the function you wish to use adjacent to the course you wish to affect. a. Click the semester you wish to access. Class Roster Use this area to view such student data (name, image, degree objective, major, class level, and USC ID) tabular format, learn student names using Flash Cards, or send an individual student an email. © Marshall School of Business Email Students Use this area to send an email to all students in the selected course using your default email program. Grade Students Use this area to submit midterm and final student grades. GRS_Complete_Instructions.docx 4/28/09 Page 2 of 8 OVERVIEW OF THE GRS GRADING PROCESS The grade submission process is shown below. Because some schools allow instructors to submit grades directly to the Grade Department while others require an intermediary “Approver”, there are two separate process flows. Overview of the Grade Submission Process The process of inputting, submitting, and approving student grades flows as shown below. Grade Input: Instructors (or their designated Grader) input the midterm or final grades into GRS during the designated grading period. Submit for Approval Instructors submit their grades to the Approver. No changes can be made to the gradesheet while the approver has it. Approved
Rejected
Submit To Grade Department: Instructor submits the gradesheet. Final Grades are sent to the Grade Department. Midterm grades are routed to the appropriate department. After submission, the GRS status indicator will change. Approved
If the gradesheet is approved, the instructor will get an email and they can now submit grades to the Grade Dept. Rejected
If the gradesheet is rejected, the instructor gets an email and they must make the requested changes then resubmit to the approver. Make Requested Changes
Approver Submission: This process is present only if a school uses “Approvers”. Grades for schools without Approvers are sent directly to the Grade Department.
As you progress through GRS, the status indicator and progress bar will indicate where you are in the process. The progress menu for each process type is shown to the right. School Does Not Use Approvers School Uses Approvers Roles The features a user can access in GRS depend upon their assigned role. To assign or change rolls in GRS, contact your department coordinator. Instructor – Instructors can view all information in GRS, input final grades, submit them to the approver, and once approved, submit them to the Grade Department. Grader ‐ Graders can view all information in GRS and input grades for the courses they have been given access to but not submit them to the approver or to the Grade Department. TA – Teaching Assistants can view all information in GRS but not input or submit grades. Approver ‐ If a school uses approvers, it will be this person’s responsibility to approve or reject a course’s grades before the instructor can submit them to the Grade Department. The instructor first submits the grades to the approver; once approved, the instructor can submit the grades to the Grade Dept. © Marshall School of Business GRS_Complete_Instructions.docx 4/28/09 Page 3 of 8 Phase 1 – Grade Input The steps in this phase cover how the instructor or their designated grader will use GRS to assign grades to students. Note that this phase must be completed regardless of whether or not your school uses Approvers. Steps to Assigning Grades in GRS: 1. Click the semester you wish to input grades for. 2. Click the “Grade Students” link in the same row as the section you wish to input grades for. A screen similar to the one shown below and on the next page appears. Progress Bar The progress bar indicates where you currently are in the overall process. Note that this is a progress bar for schools that don’t use approvers. If your school uses approvers then it will contain more sections. This area contains general course and grading information. Status Indicator This indicates the current GRS grading stage. For example, “Grading”, “Sent to Approver”, “Rejected”, “Approved”, etc.
Save Saves input for the current page. Save and Continue Saves input for the current page and then displays the next page. Cancel Goes to the main menu without saving. Print View Formats the screen for printing. You cannot enter grades in Print View. Submit Grades Sends the grades to the Grade Department. If your school uses approvers, you will have the button below.
3. Use the options on the Include bar to specify your viewing options then click “View”.* Submit Grades to Approver © Marshall School of Business GRS_Complete_Instructions.docx 4/28/09 Page 4 of 8 4. Click the “Final Grade” drop down to assign each student on the page their grade. Save Saves the current page and remains on the current page. 6. Click “Save and Continue” to save and go to the next page. 7. Once you have input all grades for the section, click “Save” and proceed to “Phase 2” on the next page. 5. Certain grades make the “Final comment” drop down appear. You must specify a Final Comment when this occurs. Note the list will update to correspond with the grade you have chosen.
Cancel Goes to the main menu without saving. Print View Formats the screen for printing. You cannot enter grades in Print Submit Grades Sends the grades to the Grade Department. If your school uses approvers, you will have the button below instead.
When present, these take you to another page without saving. © Marshall School of Business GRS_Complete_Instructions.docx 4/28/09 Page 5 of 8 Phase 2: Instructor Submits Grades (All Schools) Once ALL of the grades have been input, only the instructor can submit them. The instructor must complete the steps in this section regardless of whether or not your school uses Approvers. • Schools Not Using Approvers ‐ For schools that do not require Approvers, following the steps in this section will send the section’s grades directly to the Grade Department and will complete the grading process for this particular section. Do not go on to “Phase 3”. • Schools Using Approvers – If your school uses Approvers, following the steps in this section will submit the section’s grades to the Approver. Once the Approver approves your submission, you will go on to “Phase 3”. 1. If it isn’t already open, open up the gradesheet for the section you wish to submit. (See steps 1‐2 in the previous section if necessary.) 2. Click the “Submit Grades” or “Submit Grades to Approver” button depending upon your school’s process.
or 3. You will get a pop‐up message about saving your work. If you already saved, click “OK”; otherwise, click Cancel and then Save before proceeding with this step. IMPORTANT!!! For schools not using approvers, once you submit grades to the Grading Department, you cannot use GRS to go back and make changes! 4. GRS will display the grades you entered. Click “Confirm” to submit them or “Cancel” if you need to go back and make changes. 5. At the Confirm pop‐up message, click “OK” to confirm again. Schools Not Using Approvers – You’re Done! If your school does not use Approvers, you have completed the work required of you to submit your grades for the section. Your GRS grading indicator should resemble the image shown to the right. Schools Using Approvers – Continue to Phase 3 If your school does use Approvers, you must wait until the Approver accepts or rejects your grade submission to take further action. Your Status indicator and progress bar will resemble the image below. See Phase 3 for the steps will need to take next. © Marshall School of Business GRS_Final_Grade_Instructions_v3_NO_File_Upload.docx 4/28/09 Page 6 of 8 Phase 3: Schools with Approvers Only ­ Submitting to the Grade Department If your school utilizes Approvers, you must complete Phase 3. In this phase, the approver has either rejected or accepted your submission. If your school does not use approvers, then you were done in Phase 2 and can ignore this phase. If the Approver Rejects Your Submission If the Approver rejects your submission, complete the steps in this section. If your submission was approved, go to the next page for instructions on submitting the approved grades to the Grading Department. Should the Approver reject the grade sheet, the instructor will receive an email and the Status box and Progress bar for the section in GRS will resemble the image below. The Status box indicates why the grades were rejected. STATUS: Rejected by Approver GPA does not meet school requirements The instructor will need to make the required changes and then resubmit the grades to the Approver. Once re‐
approved, the instructor must then submit to the Grade Department. To resubmit grades to the Approver, follow the steps below. 1. Login to GRS and then click the semester containing the section to be affected. 2. Click the “Grade Students” link for the section you wish to edit. 3. Make the changes indicated by the Approver. 4. After making changes on a page, be sure to click the “Save” or “Save and Continue” button before going to another page or submitting the grades or you will lose your unsaved work. 5. When you are ready to resubmit for approval, click the “Submit Grades to Approver” button. 6. Click “OK”, then “Confirm”, then “OK” again to send the grades to the Approver. 7. You must now wait for the Approver to reexamine your grades and hopefully approve them. Once the Approver has approved your grades, follow the steps on the next page to submit them to the Grade Department. © Marshall School of Business GRS_Final_Grade_Instructions_v3_NO_File_Upload.docx 4/28/09 Page 7 of 8 If the Approver Accepts your Submission If your school utilizes an Approver and they have approved your gradesheet, you will receive an email. You may then go into GRS and submit your gradesheet to the Grade Department. Note that if you change any grades at this point, you will have to resubmit them to the Approver again. 1. Login to GRS and then click the semester containing the section to be affected. 2. Click the “Grade Students” link for the section you wish to edit. 3. To submit the grades to the Grade Department, click “Submit Grades”. Make Changes – Note that you can still change grades at this point but you will need to resubmit them to the Approver. 4. At the warning about saving your changes, click “OK”. (Unless of course you haven’t saved.) 5. Click the “Confirm” button to finalize the submission to the Grade Department. 6. Click “OK” to confirm again. The Section is Done! This completes the submission process for this section as indicated by the Status indicator and Progress bar. Note that after the system processes your submission, the indicator will change to resemble the lower image. © Marshall School of Business GRS_Final_Grade_Instructions_v3_NO_File_Upload.docx 4/28/09 Page 8 of 8