Apply Hurdles in Gradebook
A hurdle is a compulsory requirement that students must meet to be able to pass the unit. Moodle allows you to set up two types of hurdles for units with a Standard schema in Moodle Gradebook: Threshold or Competency. An assessment can only support one hurdle type at a time, either threshold or competency but not both.
Note: If using hurdles, you will not be able to apply calculations to the unit total as this causes conflicting calculations within the Gradebook.
Setting up Hurdles in the Gradebook
- Click on Grades in the top banner menu.
- Click Grader report and then select Gradebook setup from the dropdown list.
- To set up hurdles your Unit Gradebook settings must be:
- Unit grading schema: Standard
- Unit aggregation: Weighted mean of grades
- Grade type: Value
- Maximum grade: 100
- To adjust your unit settings, click on the settings cog in the top right corner of the Unit Settings panel and adjust your unit settings as needed, then click Save changes.
- Select an item or category with the checkbox.
- Click on the plus to expand the Hurdles panel.
- Select the Hurdle type from the dropdown list. Depending on the hurdle type you have selected, the hurdles panel will provide guidelines to help you set up your hurdle correctly and in accordance with Monash policy.
- If the Apply Hurdle button is:
- Grey: A hurdle cannot be applied.
- Orange: A hurdle can only be applied once all compulsory conditions have been met. Clicking on the orange apply hurdle button will prompt you on which condition must be met in order to apply a hurdle.
- Green: All conditions have been met and a hurdle can be applied.
- Once all conditions have been met, click the Green Apply Hurdle button to apply the hurdle.
- You will receive a confirmation message and you will be able to see the Hurdle icon in the status column.
Note: If you do not see options for Aggregation, you may have a calculation applied to the unit total. You will need to remove the calculation to make changes to your Gradebook settings and apply hurdles.
Setting restrictions
To ensure that the hurdle remains compliant with Monash procedure, when at least one hurdle exists in the Gradebook Setup, the following restrictions to changes in the Gradebook setting are applied.
Cannot be modified
- The Unit grading schema, aggregation and grade type
- The Assessment item or category grade to pass, maximum grade and grade type
- Moving an item or category(and the items inside)
- Deleting an item or category(and the items inside)
Can be modified (not recommended)
Weightings can be modified, however if changes to the Hurdle are non-compliant with Monash procedure, you will receive a warning message. For example if the weighting is changed to:
- Below 20% for items or categories with the threshold hurdle applied
- Less than or equal to zero for items with competency hurdles applied and grade type of value
- A number other than zero for items with competency hurdles applied and grade type of scale
If you need to adjust your Gradebook settings, you will need to delete the hurdle before making changes.
Delete a Hurdle
- Select an item that has a hurdle applied with the checkbox.
- Click Delete Hurdle in the hurdles panel.
- You will receive a confirmation message and the hurdle icon will no longer be displayed in the status column.
Note: Hurdle can only be removed from one assessment item or category at a time.
A hurdle is a compulsory requirement that students must meet to be able to pass the unit. Moodle allows you to set up two types of hurdles for units with a Standard schema in Moodle Gradebook: Threshold or Competency. An assessment can only support one hurdle type at a time, either threshold or competency but not both.
Note: If using hurdles, you will not be able to apply calculations to the unit total as this causes conflicting calculations within the Gradebook.
Setting up Hurdles in the Gradebook
- Open the navigation menu and select Grades.
- Select the Setup tab and then select Gradebook setup.
- To set up hurdles your Unit Gradebook settings must be:
- Unit grading schema: Standard
- Unit aggregation: Weighted mean of grades
- Grade type: Value
- Maximum grade: 100
- To adjust your unit settings, click on the settings cog in the top right corner of the Unit Settings panel and adjust your unit settings as needed, then click Save changes.
- Select an item or category with the checkbox.
- Click on the plus to expand the Hurdles panel.
- Select the Hurdle type from the dropdown list. Depending on the hurdle type you have selected, the hurdles panel will provide guidelines to help you set up your hurdle correctly and in accordance with Monash policy.
- If the Apply Hurdle button is:
- Grey: A hurdle cannot be applied.
- Orange: A hurdle can only be applied once all compulsory conditions have been met. Clicking on the orange apply hurdle button will prompt you on which condition must be met in order to apply a hurdle.
- Green: All conditions have been met and a hurdle can be applied.
- Once all conditions have been met, click the Green Apply Hurdle button to apply the hurdle.
- You will receive a confirmation message and you will be able to see the Hurdle icon in the status column.
Note: If you do not see options for Aggregation, you may have a calculation applied to the unit total. You will need to remove the calculation to make changes to your Gradebook settings and apply hurdles.
Setting restrictions
To ensure that the hurdle remains compliant with Monash procedure, when at least one hurdle exists in the Gradebook Setup, the following restrictions to changes in the Gradebook setting are applied.
Cannot be modified
- The Unit grading schema, aggregation and grade type
- The Assessment item or category grade to pass, maximum grade and grade type
- Moving an item or category(and the items inside)
- Deleting an item or category(and the items inside)
Can be modified (not recommended)
Weightings can be modified, however if changes to the Hurdle are non-compliant with Monash procedure, you will receive a warning message. For example if the weighting is changed to:
- Below 20% for items or categories with the threshold hurdle applied
- Less than or equal to zero for items with competency hurdles applied and grade type of value
- A number other than zero for items with competency hurdles applied and grade type of scale
If you need to adjust your Gradebook settings, you will need to delete the hurdle before making changes.
Delete a Hurdle
- Select an item that has a hurdle applied with the checkbox.
- Click Delete Hurdle in the hurdles panel.
- You will receive a confirmation message and the hurdle icon will no longer be displayed in the status column.
Note: Hurdle can only be removed from one assessment item or category at a time.