Technology Tips & Tutorials

WebCT GOLD: How to Import Grades from Excel
March 24, 2008

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You must have "Instructor" access rights to import grades into a WebCT course.

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Before you begin, it is critical that you properly format the grade file that will be imported.

1. Save your grade file in CSV format (comma separated).
2. The grade file must have a column labeled "User ID" containing the students' netIDs.
3. Every column should have a unique column header -- no duplicate column titles, only one cell of header text per column, and every column must have a title.
   
   

Once your file is properly formatted, import the grades as follows:

1. Go into your course, click the "Teach" tab
2. Click "Grade Book" link (lower left hand menu)
3. Click "Import from Spreadsheet"
4. On the "Import file" screen,
   1. click the "Browse" button and find the grade file on your computer.
   2. Separator = Comma  [this is/should be the default]
   3. Character Set = Unicode (UTF-8)  [this is/should be the default]
   4. Click "Upload"

WebCT will try and match every column header in the imported grade file with an existing column header in the course grade book.

• WebCT will display a green checkmark by matched column names and a red exclamation mark alert by ones it either can't match or won't change (i.e., it won't change student names or role).
  
  
• If you have introduced a new column in the Excel CSV file, pull down the "Grade Book Column" menu for the item and indicate that either a new column should be added to the course grade book ("- Add as new column -") or that the new column should be ignored ("- Do no import -"). These are the last two choices on the grade book column pull down menus, appearing after all the existing WebCt gradebook column names.
  
  
• If there are any duplicate column headers in the file being imported, a small asterisk *, will appear next to the header text in the first "import" column. Do not try to import same-named columns. Use the "Grade Book Column" menu to indicate one or more of the same-named column should not be imported. (You should also repair this in your original Excel file).
  
  
• Scroll down and click "Import"

The next screen shows a list of import errors. It should indicate that Last Name, First Name and Role data were not imported along with any other columns that you told it not to import. Any other issues will need to be dealt with before data can be imported properly. Click "Ok" to continue.

Remember that any new columns created by the import process are hidden from student view. Instructions for releasing columns to student view are at:  http://www.hs.iastate.edu/online/tips/WebCT/releasegrades.php

Additional grade book management tips are at: http://www.hs.iastate.edu/online/tips/WebCT/gradebookmngt.php