Working with incomplete students

Incomplete students are those who have not finished the work for your course, but rather than failing or withdrawing, are given some sort of extension to complete the work after the course's end date. Here's how to handle incomplete students—from when they're first marked as incomplete to when they finish the course. The storyline:

1. You (or the registrar) mark the student Incomplete by changing his status on the course roster.
2. The course is finalized; the student's incomplete status is reflected on his transcript, degree audit, grade report, and anywhere else course grades are shown in Populi.
3. As the student completes his coursework, you enter grades for it on his Student Course Summary page.
4. When he has completed all of the coursework, you switch his from Incomplete to Enrolled by changing his roster status.
5. His enrolled status, together with his assignment and final grades, are finalized; his transcript, etc. are automatically updated.

Marking a student Incomplete

To mark a student incomplete:

1. Go to the course roster.
2. Under the Manage heading, click next to the student.
3. In the dialog, select Yes next to Incomplete.
4. Click Save.
5. Go to the Course > Settings or Gradebook view.
6. Click Finalize Course.
7. Follow the instructions for finalizing an individual student found in this article (you can also finalize the course and all students...).

The student is now listed as incomplete for the course on his transcript, degree audit, and all other reports. His GPA and earned credits/hours will not include this course in their calculations.

Grading an incomplete student's coursework

While not required, it would be helpful to give the student availability exceptions for his incomplete assignments. Doing so lets him submit work after the course end date.

As he begins to submit his coursework, you can grade it on the assignment page or use the grading interface on the student course summary page:

1. Go to the course roster.
2. Go to the student's course summary page—there are two ways to do that:
   • Click the student's name.
   • Click Mark Complete under the red Incomplete notice and then Enter Grades in the dialog.
3. On the course summary, click Edit Grades under the assignments graph (if you got here via Mark Complete, the grading fields will already be opened).
4. Grade his assignment(s).
5. Click Save Grades when you're done.
6. Repeat these steps as often as you need to.
7. If the student has submitted all his work (or his time is up), check Mark Complete to switch his to Enrolled and finalize his grades and attendance.

Don't forget:

• Any assignments you leave ungraded will be counted as excused—they will not be counted in his final grade calculation!
• If you do not wish to excuse an assignment that has not been submitted, you need to enter "0" for the grade (use the fill all empty grades with zeroes function to accomplish this in one fell swoop).

Marking the student complete

When the student has completed the work—or the extension time you've granted his is up—you'll want to mark him as complete:

1. Make sure you've graded or excused his assignments as appropriate.
2. Go to the course roster or the student's course summary page.
3. Click Mark Complete under the red Incomplete notice.
4. After verifying his final grade and attendance, click Mark Complete.

After you mark him Complete, his roster status will switch to Enrolled. He will remain finalized in the course, and his grade will appear on his transcript, degree audit (and other reports), and his GPA and earned credits/hours will be updated.