Gradescope integrations with Sakai are available with an Institutional Gradescope license.
Accessing Gradescope in Sakai
When you access Gradescope in Sakai and you don't already have a separate Gradescope account, you will be authenticated via your Sakai credentials, so you and your students won't need to create or use a separate Gradescope password.
When you access Gradescope in Sakai and you already have a separate Gradescope account under the email address that's associated with your Sakai account (e.g., your school email), you will be taken to your existing account. If you end up with multiple accounts under multiple emails, check out our Merging Accounts and Unmerging Accounts article.
Below is the general process you should follow for using Gradescope in Sakai.
Linking your courses
Linking one Sakai course to multiple Gradescope courses: If you have several courses on Gradescope that correspond to a single Sakai course, it is not recommended that you link your Sakai course to Gradescope. Linking courses, in this case, would allow students to enroll in any of the Gradescope courses that are associated with the single Sakai course.
Students are automatically added to the Gradescope roster once they select a Gradescope course or assignment link within Sakai.
- In Sakai, navigate to the course site where you will be using Gradescope (Click Sites > Type course name in Filter Sites search bar > Click the course name).
- Click Gradescope in the left sidebar. This will launch Gradescope in Sakai or in a new tab, depending on your settings or your institution's settings (see the note at the end of this section).
- If Gradescope isn't in the sidebar: Click Site Info > Click Manage Tools > Scroll down and expand the External Tools dropdown > Select Gradescope (or the name of the Gradescope tool at your institution) > Click Continue > Click Finish.
- Gradescope should now be listed in your left sidebar. If this didn't work, contact your Sakai administrator.
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Once Gradescope launches, you'll see a dialog box with course-linking options. Choose to link to a new or existing Gradescope course, and then click Link Course to go to the Course Settings page.
New Gradescope users: At this point, a new Gradescope account will be created for you if you do not already have one associated with the email address (e.g., your school email) that you use in Sakai.
Existing Gradescope users: If you already have a Gradescope account under the email address that's associated with your Sakai account (e.g., your school email), a new Gradescope account will not be created for you, and clicking the Gradescope link in Sakai will take you to your existing account.
- On the Gradescope Course Settings page, you can update the course title, description, rubric types, and score bounds. Keep in mind that course title and description changes made here will only appear in Gradescope, not in Sakai.
- When you're finished, click Update Course. Your Sakai and Gradescope courses are now linked. Now, it's recommended that you sync your roster.
Embedding or launching Gradescope in a new tab: In your Sakai course, click Gradescope in the left sidebar > Gradescope will launch as an embedded window in Sakai or in a new tab > Click Edit or the pencil icon above the embedded window or back on your open Sakai tab > Select or deselect Launch in popup > Click Update Options.
- Depending on your selection, Gradescope will now open as an embedded window or in a new tab when you or your students access it in Sakai. If you could not update your launch settings, contact your Sakai administrator.
Syncing your roster
Troubleshooting: If you encounter any issues while trying to sync your Sakai roster with Gradescope, please see our troubleshooting section on roster-syncing issues. If the solutions there don't work, please contact help@gradescope.com.
- Navigate to your Gradescope Course Dashboard. If you're continuing from the steps in the section above, you will already be there. If not, click the Gradescope link in the left sidebar of your Sakai course site.
- On your Course Dashboard, click Roster in Gradescope's left sidebar to take you to the Roster page. If the tool window is embedded in Sakai, you may need to expand Gradescope's left sidebar first. On the Gradescope Roster page, click the Sync Sakai Roster button at the bottom of your screen. A dialog box will appear explaining how accounts will be synced.
LTI 1.3 terminology differences: If your institution uses the Gradescope LTI 1.3 tool and uses a different name for Sakai, that customized name could appear on the button instead of the word "Sakai."
All names, student IDs, and emails will be auto-synced from Sakai. All user roles will be synced depending on how your institution initially configured your Gradescope integration. Existing Sakai group names/numbers will be synced as well, but Gradescope will call them "sections." Also, only one section (Sakai group number/name) per person will be displayed on your roster, but you can add or change groups/sections after you sync your roster. See the note after Step 5.
- By default, Gradescope will email users to say that they've been added to the course. If you don't want users to be notified, uncheck "Let new users know that they were added to the course" in the dialog box.
- Click Sync Roster. Sakai may alert you that Gradescope is trying to access your information. If you see this alert, log in (if prompted), click Continue, and then click the Sync Roster button again. If students add/drop in Sakai, be sure to re-sync the roster. Existing submissions/grades for dropped students will be preserved. See the Adding Students and Staff article for more tips.
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To change or add group names: After syncing, click Download Roster (bottom of Gradescope Roster page) > Add a new column of group values or update existing group values on the CSV file > Click Add Students or Staff+ > Upload the CSV back to Gradescope. Sakai linking and any existing submissions and grades will be preserved as long as emails stay the same.
Please note that if you re-sync your roster, you will lose any group names you previously added or changed.
Setting up your assignments
- Navigate to your Course Dashboard in Gradescope. To do that, go to your course site in Sakai, and then click Gradescope in the left sidebar.
- On your Gradescope Course Dashboard, click an existing Gradescope assignment or click Create Assignment to make a new one.
- If you're updating an existing assignment, click Settings in the left sidebar, make your changes, and then click Save.
- If you're creating a new Gradescope assignment, next choose the assignment type and settings
- When you've chosen your settings, click Create Assignment.
For more information, see our Assignment Settings Overview article.
- Your assignment is now updated/created. For student-uploaded assignments, once your release date passes in Gradescope, students will be able to submit work when they access Gradescope via the link in their left sidebar in Sakai.
Do I need to connect my Gradescope assignment back to Sakai? Yes, but not until you're ready to post Gradescope grades to your Sakai Gradebook page. See Steps 1-3 of Posting grades if you'd like to do this now.
Grading submissions
- Launch the Gradescope assignment you'd like to grade by logging in to Sakai, click your course, and then click Gradescope in the left sidebar.
- Once Gradescope launches, select your assignment.
- When your assignment is open, expand Gradescope's left sidebar (if it isn't already), and click Grade Submissions to start grading.
- The process for grading is the same for Sakai and non-Sakai Gradescope users, so check out the detailed article on Grading Submissions.
Posting grades
Troubleshooting: If you encounter any issues while trying to post grades from Gradescope to Sakai, please see our troubleshooting section on grade-posting issues at the end of this article. If the solutions there don't work or the problem you're trying to solve isn't listed, please contact help@gradescope.com.
- First, make sure you've already synced your roster. Next, make sure you see Gradebook listed in the left sidebar of your Sakai course. If you don't see Gradebook in the sidebar, click Site Info > click Manage Tools > Select Gradebook.
- Next, you will need to create a Sakai gradebook item from Gradescope. To do that, launch your Gradescope Course Dashboard by clicking the Gradescope link in the left sidebar of your Sakai course.
- Once Gradescope launches, click the Gradescope assignment you'd like to link to Sakai, expand Gradescope's left sidebar (if it isn't already), and click Settings.
- Scroll down to the Sakai Gradebook Item section and click Link.
- When the dialog box appears, click Create New Gradebook Item or select the name of an existing Sakai gradebook item from the dropdown. Only the Sakai gradebook items that you created from Gradescope will appear in the list.
- Scroll down and click Save when you're finished.
- With your assignment open, expand Gradescope's left sidebar (if it isn't already) and click Review Grades.
- On the Review Grades page in Gradescope, click the Post Grades to Sakai button.
- When the dialog box appears, click Post Grades.
Posting grades to Sakai will only post the students' final assignment scores from Gradescope to the linked gradebook item in Sakai. Only grades for fully graded submissions (which have a highlighted, teal checkmark in the Graded column on the Review Grades page) will be posted.
- If you want students to also see their graded, annotated submissions, question-by-question scores, rubrics, and feedback on Gradescope, click the Publish Grades button.
- To alert students via email that their grades are now visible, select the Compose Email to Students button at the bottom of the Review Grades page in Gradescope.
- To see what your students will see when they view their grade submission, check out the Using Gradescope with Sakai as a Student article.