Just created a moodle bug tracker (MDL-15052), about possibly improving the current "quick grade" GUI in assignment module. We would really appreciate some thoughts, comments, or feedback/input. Thanks!
Sorry to bump this one up a little bit. Is there any institution that did something similar (to change the assignment grading interface from 0-100 pull-down menu to use a "text field" instead), and is working with Moodle 1.9? Thanks!