The educational technology team recently changed a setting in Moodle that eliminates a former gradebook frustration. In the past, when students dropped a class, they remained visible in both the Moodle gradebook and on the “enrolled users” page. By changing a universal setting, suspended users no longer appear in the gradebook (although they are still listed as “suspended” on the “enrolled users” page).

So, what does this mean for your class?

Firstly, it means that your gradebook will now only reflect students currently enrolled in your class. You no longer need to submit a help desk ticket to clean up your gradebook; Moodle takes care of it automatically.

Secondly, it means once a student drops your class, their grades are no longer visible in your gradebook. While this function may seem to complicate  the rare reporting responsibility (like financial aid reporting), there is an easy solution. If you need to view grades recorded for a student who later dropped your class, simply navigate to “Grades” > “View” > “Grade History” and select the suspended student. It will display all grades recorded before the student dropped your class.

Finally, the Ed Tech team no longer recommends submitting help desk tickets to remove suspended users from your class. While we will certainly oblige these requests, we believe the best practice (especially for reporting purposes) is to keep suspended users listed on the “enrolled users” page. That is the only page they will appear on, and there will be no impact to your gradebook, course activities, or student course access (suspended users cannot access Moodle class shells).

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact Ben Post in the Educational Technology office at 231.995.1405