Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

by Matthew Sauvage -
Number of replies: 9

2.5. We have a "parent" role set up which is applied on their childrens's user context so that they (the parents) are able to see their childrens' grades. This worked fine in our 1.9 version but is causing issues in the upgraded 2.5 version. There seems to be a conflict when group mode is set in the course settings. There are two closely related issues arising with this role and groups (in 2.5 or because of the upgrade?).

1. When "Force group mode" in a course's settings is set to "yes", this produces an error when the parent attempts to click on that course in their child's profile page (in order to see their grades for that course).

If the "Force group mode" is set to "No" this error does not occur and the click through works.

2. If the "Group mode" is set to either "Separate groups" or "Visible groups" the option for the parent to view the student's gradebook is not made available (the "Profile settings for 'student'" - "Activity report" - "grade" path is not available). However, if this is changed back to "No groups" then the parent is able to see the gradebook for the student.

Example. The images below show that the gradebook is available for one subject but not for another, in the same student's profile as accessed by a "parent" account.

We have to use group mode for courses. Is this a bug? Is there a workaround for this so that we can use group mode and also continue to offer the ability for parents to see their children's gradebook using their own accounts (i.e. not sitting down with their child and consulting the gradebook with them)?

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In reply to Matthew Sauvage

Re: Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

by Guillermo Madero -

Hi Matthew,

At the child's profile page, the course needs to be selected first and then the grade option.

https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=176195#p775417

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In reply to Guillermo Madero

Re: Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

by Mary Cooch -
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Matthew- I can confirm that when you have groups and you access your child's grade using the parent role, I get the same results as you. There is a very old tracker issue on this MDL-14908. However, even when no groups are set I still only see the course total and not individual assignment grades - can you tell me what parents see when there are no groups? MDL-43197

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

by Matthew Sauvage -

Thanks for the response Mary. If I change the group settings on a course to "Do not force", but still have group mode set to either visible or separate groups, then the first error shown in my post is resolved. However, the second problem is not resolved - parents cannot see the option to consult the grade of their child for that course. If I then remove group mode "Group Mode" "None" then everything works fine and it is possible to see the grades for each course that that student is enrolled on. It allows us to see the "User report gradebook". Two screenshots below show the process. Go to the student's profile page from the "Mentees" block, click on a course that that student is enrolled in, click on Profile settings for "student x", select "Activity reports -grade".

1. With group mode set to "None" the option to see the grade for a mentee is made available (otherwise, if group mode is set to separate or visible groups, this is not made available).

2. Mentors/parents are able to see the "User report" from the gradebook (but they will not, of course, be able to see columns that have been "hidden" by the grader in the gradebook configuration).

The case is that in version 1.9 the group mode setting in courses did not interfere with the possiblity for parents to see childrens' grades. We cannot work in courses without groups so, unfortunately, it is not an option for us to remove group mode from courses (we have over 200 courses). At the moment we are sacrificing the ability for parents to see their childrens' grades using their own account (they can of course sit down with their children and look at their gradebook with them, but this is not always what parents want and the students do not react well to it.

It strikes me that this must be a bug, or is there some other config setting that will prevent the error?

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In reply to Matthew Sauvage

Re: Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

by Mary Cooch -
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Thanks Matthew. I wonder if your problem is related to MDL-14908 in that case? (I'm also interested on a secondary level how your parents are able to see all grades in the user report where in my tests they can only see the total; I wonder if you have extra settings from mine, (assuming the parent isn't enrolled in the course) but that's an asidesmile)

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

by Matthew Sauvage -

Mmm.... that is odd. I wonder what it is you see exactly. Could you send a screenshot or explain? Perhaps we could compare relevant settings to isolate how this might be configured one way or another.

Parents are not enrolled in the courses.

As you say, it seems to be related to MDL-14908, which unfortunately also seems to have been considered unimportant (there since 1.9 and not resolved). I do not have a tracker account so cannot contribute there. Is there any way of getting the issue "elevated" or does it depend on "votes"?

The ability to see the "User report" is certainly good. I attach another screenshot which shows the behaviour when certain categories and items have been hidden by the grader in the gradebook configuration. As you can see, what is returned is half of the gradebook with the sections to the right hidden from view since the grader has hidden them in the gradebook.

Would very much like to get the bug fixed. It strikes me that it may not be that difficult to resolve. It must be related to how permissions behave (misbehave) with groups. I think there is also related issue regarding how students themselves can see grades when group mode is set.

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In reply to Matthew Sauvage

Re: contributing to a tracker issue

by Helen Foster -
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Matthew, regarding contributing to the issue, you are welcome to create a tracker account and log in, and then you can comment, watch and vote for the issue to be fixed. Please see the tracker introduction for further information.

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In reply to Guillermo Madero

Re: Possible bug - parents consulting students' grades

by Matthew Sauvage -

Hi Guillermo,

Thanks for the response but that is not the issue. It is explained in the original post. Even if we click on a course in the profile the option to see the gradebook user report is not made available. This appears to be a conflict with the group mode settings in courses.

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