Grade Comment Definitions

Important

Information and features vary according to the roles to which you belong and the permissions associated with those roles. For more information, contact your module manager or your campus support team.

Grade comments are preset notes that instructors can select when they enter grades on the J1 Web Grade Entry page. (In addition to selecting these preset notes, instructors can compose remarks and narratives.)

For each grading period, your school decides whether comments are available to instructors, and whether they're required. These selections are made on the Grading Period Definitions page.

Desktop Location

You can manage grade comment definitions in Desktop, too, on the J1 Web Grade Comments Definition window. (Yes, it's a window in Desktop called "J1 Web . . .".) Grade comments defined in Desktop are available in J1 Web.

Database Location

Grade comments are stored on the Grade Comment Definition table (gradecommentdef.comment).

Where Grade Comments Are Used

Instructors select grade comments in J1 Web on the Grade Entry page for a course section. (These comments are not available in J1 Desktop Grade Entry or in the Campus Portal Grade Entry feature.)

Fields

Short Comment: Required. Up to 20 characters. This does not appear on Grade Entry.
Comment: Required. Up to 255 characters. This appears as a selectable comment on Grade Entry and in a student's grade report.
Active: Default is Yes. You can set to No if you don't want the comment to be available for selecting.

Permissions

Permission to manage grade comment definitions is available in these roles:

Registrar
Registration Module Manager

The permission required is "Can manage grade comment definitions".

How To

View Grade Comments

From the Registration Administration hub, click Hub options.
Click Manage Definitions, and select Grade comment definitions. The Grade Comment Definitions page opens.
To filter the definitions, enter a phrase in the Quick Filters field. To remove a filter, click its Remove icon .
To temporarily sort the definitions, click the heading of the column you want to sort on. Click once for ascending order and again for descending order. The definitions are sorted for this viewing of the page, but the next time you view or refresh the page, it will return to its default sorting.

Edit Order

Click Edit order. The Edit Order window opens.
You can use the Sort By and Order fields or drag and drop individual definitions.
1. Sort By and Order:
  1. In Sort By, select a column to sort on.
  2. From the Order drop-down, select Ascending or Descending.
2. Drag and Drop:
  1. Hover your cursor over the vertical arrow icon until the cursor changes to a Hand icon .
  2. Click and hold while dragging the definition to the desired location.
  3. Release the mouse button.
Click Update.

Create Grade Comments

Click the Create definitions button. The Create Grade Comment Definitions pop-up appears.
In Short Comment, enter up to 20 characters. Required.
In Comment, enter up to 255 characters. Required. This is the comment that appears in Grade Entry and in a student's grade report.
In Active, leave the value as Yes if you want the comment to be available to assign to student grades. Otherwise, select No.
Click Create and close or Save and create another.

Edit Grade Comments

Click the Edit icon on the row of a definition. The Edit Grade Comment Definition pop-up opens.
You can edit the Comment field. Up to 255 characters. This is the comment as it appears in Grade Entry and in a student's grade report.
You can change the Active selection to make the comment available (Yes) or not (No).
Click Update.

Delete Grade Comments

Select the checkbox next to each definition you want to delete.
Select Delete from the Options drop-down. The Delete Definitions? pop-up opens.
The Delete Definitions? pop-up lists the selected definitions in two categories:
- Ready to Delete: Definitions that can be deleted.
- Unable to Delete: Definitions that can't be deleted, either because they're in use or are protected by the system.
If you decide not to delete one or more of the definitions listed under Ready to Delete, click the Remove icon to remove them from the list.
When you're sure you want to delete all the rows listed under Ready to Delete, click Yes, delete.

Download Grade Comment Definitions

Download to Excel

Select the checkboxes next to the rows you want to export.
From the Options drop-down, select Download to Excel. The Download to Excel pop-up opens.
Select options for the Excel format and data columns.
sidebar. Download to Excel Options
Workbook Creation Options: This option lets you choose how you want the data to be organized when it's exported. If you are exporting a large number of rows, you may want to separate the data into different worksheets or even workbooks. Once you select this option, the Separate (Sheets or Workbooks) By drop-down becomes available so you can choose the groupings for each worksheet or workbook.
Separate (Sheets or Workbooks) By: This field becomes available when you choose to organize your export into multiple worksheets or workbooks. In general, you'll have the option to separate the data based on the columns. You will only see options for the visible columns.
Notice
For example, if you are exporting a set of definitions, you might choose to organize the data into two workbooks: one for active definitions, and one for inactive definitions. Do this by selecting the "Active" column in this drop-down. All of your rows designated as active will be in one workbook, and the inactive ones in a separate workbook.
Workbook Format: This section lets you set some Excel display options for your data. For more information about each of these features, consult Microsoft Excel help.
Autofit columns: Fits column width to the data so that fields are not truncated.
Turn on filtering: Turns on the AutoFilter feature, which allows you to show only rows that meet your selected criteria.
Freeze Top Row: Your worksheet displays the column title in the first row by default. Selecting this option keeps the top row at the top so that as you scroll down through your data, the column headings remain displayed.
Show totals for numeric columns: This option will include the sum of a column of numbers at the bottom of that column.
Columns to Include: These options are specific to the page you are viewing, so they will vary. You will only see options for columns that you can see on the page. All of the columns are selected by default, but you can deselect any of the columns you don't want to include.
Click Download. Your .xlsx or .zip file is saved in the file location that you have set in your browser settings.

FAQ

Are these comments available for J1 Desktop Grade Entry and Campus Portal Grade Entry?

No. They're for J1 Web Grade Entry only. (And if your school is using J1 Web Grade Entry, then Campus Portal Grade Entry isn't available.)

Why are comments missing on the J1 Web Grade Entry page?

Two settings must be set to "Yes" to make a comment available:

Active
On the Edit Grade Comment Definitions page, change the comment's Active value from No to Yes.
Display on Grade Entry
On the Grading Period Definitions page, click the Edit icon on the row of the appropriate grading period (such as Final). The Editing Grading Period Definition pop-up opens. For Display on Grade Entry, select Yes. Click Update.