Grade write-back is a one-way, real-time transfer from itslearning to Skyward. It is only possible to write back grades from courses created in itslearning via the integration from Skyward and with grade pass back enabled. Also, only items that are tagged to a term in itslearning (equivalent to a Grading Period in Skyward) and assessed with the Score scale can be sent to Skyward. The following gradebook items can be exported from itslearning into Skyward:
- Assignments
- Tests
- Tasks
For each item in itslearning, an assignment is created in Skyward and the following information is passed over:
- AssignmentID
- SectionID
- Assignment Title (The title as displayed in the itslearning Gradebook)
- Due Date (The deadline displayed in the item settings in itslearning)
- Grading Category (The categories displayed in the dropdown and chosen by the Teacher when sending grades to Skyward)
- Max Points
For each student, itslearning will send the student’s score for the particular item (Assignment, Test, Task etc.).
To send grades to Skyward, the assessment settings within the activity in itslearning must be correctly set. Below is an example of a task with proper assessment scale settings:
To send an assignment and its scores to Skyward:
- Access the itslearning Gradebook within the course
- Click the Transfer to Skyward Button in the upper right of the Gradebook:
- Once the window loads, you may select which groups you would like to send the assignment for. If you have multiple sections within your course (or if your course has been merged using the Course Merge application), the assignment will be created in every Skyward section in the Skyward gradebook.
- Before you press Transfer, you must select a Skyward category to map the itslearning assignment/task/test to. The categories are automatically filtered based on the categories that were setup in Skyward for each respective section. All calculations are done within Skyward.
- Click "Transfer"
- Close the window.
The process from itslearning to Skyward takes several minutes.
Please note that:
- itslearning is currently unable to update a manually created assignment in Skyward.
- New submissions in itslearning are not kept in sync with Skyward. You must hit Transfer again in itslearning for the new scores to be available in Skyward.
- Updated scores from itslearning will be sent to Skyward, after the Transfer button is pressed again.
- If a score is changed for a student in Skyward, it will no longer be updated from itslearning and will not be in sync going forward, as Skyward is the gradebook of record.
- It is not possible to change a grading category from itslearning once an assignment has been pushed to Skyward. This should be done in Skyward.
- If no due date is provided, the due date will be set to the last day of the Skyward grading period.
Limitations:
Below is a list of known limitations for Skyward grade write-back:
- Grade write-back is only available in courses created by integration from Skyward. It is not possible to post assignments and grades in teacher-created courses.
- Assignments created in Skyward gradebook will not be displayed in the itslearning gradebook.
- Only Score scales are currently supported. Assignments can be weighted in Skyward.
- Late submissions in itslearning are not flagged as late in Skyward. This must be done manually by the Teacher in Skyward.