Overview

Paradigm supports the use of concurrent grading systems to give providers flexibility on how academic outcomes are awarded to course enrolments, unit enrolments, and assessments. The grading system within Paradigm is also equipped to handle changes to grading schemas that are necessary to make over time. This knowledge article will provide a detailed workflow on how you can search, add, and edit grade type items according to the business requirements of your institution.

Complexity:

Weighted GPA)

This value represents the weighted grade points for all unit enrolments that contain a grade point value. ie The grade points is not blank. The formula for this field is as follows
 sum(Grade Points * Credit Point) / sum(Credit Points)

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Weighted Average Mark (WAM)

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title Key Terms and Concepts
Anchor topkey topkey Anchor KeyTermsAndConcepts KeyTermsAndConcepts Key Terms and Concepts Select the links below for a detailed explanation on of some of the key terms and concepts in relation to this Paradigm feature.: Table of Contents minLevel 4 maxLevel 4 Grade Types Note BE ADVISED:  The choice of grade schema at a unit enrolment or assessment level can be defined against each unique base course record. If the grade schema is not defined then the system will default to using Assessment Grade and Unit Grade. The default configuration of Paradigm includes a set of generic grade types that reflect common grading systems used by Australian-based education providers. Status colour Blue title 1 Assessment Grade = default grading system used when marking assessments within Paradigm Status colour Blue title 2 Competency Grade = a Competent / Not Yet Competent grading system intended for use by VET providers Status colour Blue title 3 Course Grade = defines the set of progression statuses that can be assigned to a student course enrolment Status colour Blue title 4 ELICOS = basic grading system intended for Providers offering language studies Status colour Blue title 5 Unit Grade = default grading system used within Paradigm for assigning academic outcomes to student unit enrolments back to top Grade Type Item Fields Status colour Green title 1 Grade Id – System generated A unique ID Code that you choose for your institution, that identifies the this specific grade within this grade type. Status colour Green title 2 Grade Type Id – System-generated code that identifies the grade type, and is common across all grade items of that same grade type id. Status colour Green title 3 Grade – Abbreviated code for the grade item e.g. HD, DN CR Status colour Green title 4 Grade Points – The number of points contributed to the Grade Point Average and the calculation of the Weighted Average Mark. Status colour Green title 5 Order – The order or sequence number for the grade item to appear in the drop boxdropbox. Status colour Green title 6 Visibility – This will let you set allows you to choose whether the grade item appears in relevant dropdowns, by setting the visibility status to Hidden or Visible. Status colour Green title 7 Description – Full name of the grade item e.g. High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, etc. Status colour Green title 8 Descriptor – [Optional] It is an An alternative description used for a system-generated report. Note BE ADVISED: Setting the Minimum and Maximum Mark should not overlap with other grade items within the same grade type id, otherwise, Paradigm won’t know which grade to choose to make the conditions true. Status colour Green title 9 Minimum Mark – The minimum percentage grade required to achieve this grade. Status colour Green title 10 Maximum Mark – The maximum percentage grade required to achieve this grade. Status colour Green title 11 Result Status – The unit status that is paired with this grade item e.g. when setting a pass equivalent the status should be "Completed", and when setting a fail equivalent the status should be "Fail". Status colour Green title 12 Contributes to Credit Points – Indicates whether this result contributes to a Grade Point Average. Info INFO: This field is not required and should be left blank for Higher Education Grading System. Status colour Green title 13 Outcome Identifier - National – The AVETMISS compliant national code for this grade that identifies this result. Status colour Green title 14 Allowed to Recalculate – If set to NO, this will not change the final unit outcome. Status colour Green title 15 Final Mark Result – This field is only to be used at the Assessment Level. If a student obtains enough marks or less to pass a unit but still fail fails on the hurdle condition. back to top Grade Point Average (GPA) Grade Point Average (GPA) is a summary statistic that represents a student’s average performance in their studies over a stated period of time, such as one semester or over the entire course. GPAs are numbers that are often calculated to two decimal places. They are used as indicators of average grade (numerically) to provide a less ambiguous and more concrete measure of student performance than a lettered grade. GPA is also used for sorting groups of students into rank order for awards and merits. GPA requires the allocation of grade points to each unit enrolment outcome. Specifically, this involves allocating a grade point value (e.g. 5) to a specific letter score (e.g. credit). Australian providers differ on the exact grade point scale to use, but the process is always the same. We implemented GPA in a way that reflects industry practice. You may define your own GPA scale by adding the relevant information to the grade grading schema defined in the user interface, Go to SYSTEM > Search Grade Type > search for UNIT_GRADE >, and then Edit Grade Points against each Grade Type. back to top Weighted Grade Point Average Mark ( WAM)
Note

Weighted Average Mark (WAM) is calculated based on a student’s actual marks (e.g. 58, 65, and so on) and the year level and weighting level defined at each base unit. If no weighting level is defined at the base unit then the system will assume a weighting of one.

Here is the detailed calculation method the system follows:

• Multiply the unit mark (Final Grade Percentage) by the unit credit point value (Credit Points) and then by the weighting level

• Sum the resulting values (Weighted Marks)

• Multiply the unit credit point value (Credit Points) by the weighting level

• Sum the resulting values (Weighted Credit Points)

• Divide the sum of the Weighted Marks by the sum of the Weighted Credit Points

• Calculate to three decimal places.

You can find the Calculated WAM button on the student’s course enrolment page.

Using the above the table the WAM is calculated as follows: 5480 / 76 = 72.10

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Grades and Enrolment Status Code

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Multiple Grade Schema

Multiple grades schema can be used in Paradigm at the same time for different Courses. For example, a VET level course uses Competency Achieved / Competency not Achieved as opposed to a Higher Education Course that uses the HD, DN, CR, P, F system. When a Course of Study is established, the grade grading schema to be used for it can be selected as part of the set upsetup. This is achieved by setting the Unit Grade type and the Assessment Grade type options within the Course record. When this option has not been set or selected (the field is left blank) the system will default to using the unit_grade for the grading system.

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Percentages and Grades

For example, if a CR requires a minimum grade of 60.0 and the student achieves a 59.99 the grade will be recorded as the lower grade of a Pass. 

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Implications

Workflow

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Choose your action with a Grade Type:

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title C. Edit an existing Existing Grade TypeItem
Status colour Blue title c. Edit an existing Existing Grade Type Item Status colour Green title 1 , Status colour Green title 2 , Status colour Green title 3 Choose System > Search Grade Type > Click the SEARCH GRADE TYPES button. Status colour Green title 4 A list of all Grade Types in the system will appear, as shown below. Select the Grade Type that you want to edit. Status colour Green title 5 After selecting a Grade Type to edit, a screen the same as below will display all the possible grades a student can achieve on within that specific Grade Type. Select Locate the Grade item that you want to edit and click the PENCIL📝 button icon to edit. Info NOTE: In the example below, the D grade under the UNIT_GRADE Type has been chosen. Status colour Green title 6 A form to edit the details and conditions of the chosen possible grade under a Grade Type will appear. Edit/ Update the required fieldsfields as necessary, while ensuring that any fields that must be unique, are not changed to overwrite an existing record with that value. Refer to the “Grade Type Fields”section above under the“Key Terms and Concepts” heading for the description of each field. Status colour Green title 7 After editing the fields, click the SAVE GRADE button to apply the changes. back to top

Related Pages

_{Overview | Assumptions | Key Terms and Concepts | Implications | Workflow | Video | Related Pages | Further Reading}

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