Gradebook

Each of my classes are made up of combined courses with students working through a sequence of modules in a self-directed format. Students can be on different modules and can start a new semester on a module different than other students registered in that course. This makes working the gradebook a bit frustrating. Is there a way to download the gradebook to Excel for all of the enrolled students (or also possibly by group) with data about all the assignments including info like whether a student has completed a quiz/submitted an assignment and any grade for the assignment? One of my biggest frustrations with Moodle is the rather clumsy way in which movement about the gradebook is structured. We are running 1.8