Exporting to, or Importing from, Excel

ICON 8.3 allows you to do many of the same things you can do in Excel. The speadsheet view makes it easier to enter grades, and the Forumula system setting allows you to enter your own forumula for the final grade. Moreover, you can use ICON's built-in functions to drop the highest or lowest grade in a category (e.g., Quizzes or Homework).

Note: If you plan to do most of your work in Excel, ICON's vendor (D2L) recommends that you set up your gradebook in ICON and export it as a CSV file; then open this file in Excel, enter your grades, save your file in CSV (Mac: CSV Windows) format, and import it back into ICON. DELETE REST NOW????However, our testing shows that in order for this to work you need to make several changes in the column headings before saving your Excel file:

• Delete all brackets and all bracketed words and phrases in the column headings; use only those headings listed above.
• Replace item name with the actual grade item name, as displayed on the grade item Properties page (not the short name).
• Delete all other columns you may have created in Excel for calculating, etc.
• D2L says you can import columns titled Adjusted Final Grade Numerator and Adjusted Final Grade Denominator, but we haven't yet been able to import a file that has these column names

It may be easier to create your gradebook from scratch in Excel using only the acceptable column names listed under Importing Grades from Excel (below).

 

Exporting Grades to Excel

1. Click Grades in the NavBar.
2. Click Export Grades (top).
3. Under Export Options select Username (this is the HawkID).
4. Select the grade values—points, weighted, or grade scheme (A+ thru F, etc.).
5. Select any user details you wish to export (optional).
6. Select the grade items you want to export.
7. Click Export to CSV.
8. Open your downloaded file from within Excel.

Importing Grades from Excel

You can add grade items in Excel, and ICON will automatically create new items in the grades list.

1. Create your grade item(s) in Excel, using only the following item names (column headings):

• Username - This is the student's Hawk ID and must appear in the leftmost column (unless you are using the student number instead).
• Org Defined ID - This is the student number and should appear in the leftmost column (an alternative to the Hawk ID).
• item name Points Grade - Use this for all numeric items. Replace item name with actual name (not the short name).
• item name Text Grade - Replace item name with actual name (not the short name). Items labelled as text will be imported but will not be included in ICON's grade calculations.
• Adjusted Final Grade Numerator - This is the total number of points the student achieved (e.g., 230 if you're entering points or 93 if you're entering percentages). If you're entering percentages, do not include the percent sign.
• Adjusted Final Grade Denominator - The total number of points possible (e.g., 285 if you're entering points and 100 if you're entering percentages).
• End-of-Line Indicator - This is the right-most column and must be included. Enter a pound key (#) in each row so ICON will know where the data for the next user begins.

2. Save your file in CSV format (Mac users save in CSV Windows format).
3. From within your ICON course, click Grades in the NavBar.
4. Click Import Grades (top).
5. If you are uploading any items that have not yet been created, click the checkbox for Create new grade item when an unrecognized item is referenced.
6. Click Browse and find the Windows CSV file on your computer. Click Next.
7. ICON will report any errors encountered during the import process. Note that fields containing errors will not be imported. You can also identify any problems yourself by looking for failing scores in the Grades List after the upload is complete.
8. Manually enter any grades that did not import properly.

ICON will carry out the grade calculations for you in accordance with the grade system you are using (Points, Weighted, or Formula) and your settings. To see the results, you may need to tell ICON to recalculate the final grades (click Manage Grades > Final Grade Calucations (bottom) > Re-Calculate Final Grade).

26 May 2008