Submitting Grades

An Incomplete, or “I” grade, is defined in the Academic Catalog as a “temporary record of work which was passing when interrupted by unavoidable absence or causes beyond a student’s control.”  If you have questions about which circumstances warrant an “I” grade, please contact the Dean of Students Office at (219) 989-4141.

• A student who receives an “I” grade must achieve a permanent grade in the course no later than one year after the incomplete is given. If not, the “I” grade will convert to a failing grade of  “IF” which will impact the student’s GPA. Please consult the grades section of Academic Regulations in the Academic Catalog for additional information on the “I” grade process.
• If you are issuing an “I” grade, please submit the Incomplete Grade Form (PDF) to the Office of the Registrar in Lawshe Hall Room 130 at the Hammond Campus or to Schwarz Room 120 at the Westville Campus or to registrar@pnw.edu and to the student’s academic department. The instructor must provide the reason for the “I” grade and what is required of the student to achieve a permanent grade and must also indicate the grade the student has earned on the work completed and the weight to be given to the remainder of the work in computing a final grade. This should not be used to replace a failing grade per university regulations.
• When a student completes the requirements of the Incomplete course, the faculty member must submit a Form 350 (Academic Record Change) to the Office of the Registrar.  For changing an I grade to an earned letter grade, check option #3 on the form. In this instance, only the faculty member’s signature is required.  If a student has elected to take the course as Pass/No Pass, please be aware that either a P or N are acceptable entries for the final new grade.  A standard letter grade cannot be assigned for a P/NP graded course. The Form 350 is available on the Resources and Forms page under the Faculty area in myPNW or through the Office of the Registrar.

A grade of “NS” is only assigned by the Office of the Registrar if a faculty member does not submit final grades by the deadline. Faculty members do not assign “NS” grades. This temporary grade assigned during final grade processing is for administrative purposes only; it is not a permanent grade.  Please be aware that students will be instructed to contact the faculty member if an “NS” grade is posted.

Do Not Leave a Grade Field Empty!

Do not omit entering a grade for any student who may have outstanding coursework to submit, never attended or stopped attending at some point during the semester, or who you think has dropped the course but the grade field is empty and isn’t displaying a W. Do not skip over entering a grade for these students. (NOTE: Students who officially withdrew will have a W already pre-populated as their grade.) In these instances select the appropriate grade of I, FN or F, or the grade the student had earned to date. If necessary, you can submit a Form 350 Academic Record Change up until 30 days into the subsequent semester to update the student’s final grade.

Please review your final grade submission to make sure all students have an entry.

Form 350 – Academic Record Change

It is the responsibility of the faculty member to submit a Form 350 (Academic Record Change) as soon as possible co-signed by the department head for each student who received an “NS” in order to assign a permanent grade. To remove the NS grade and assign an earned letter grade, check option #1 on this form.

NOTE: If a student has elected to take the course as Pass/No Pass, please be aware that either a P or N are acceptable entries for the final new grade.  A standard letter grade cannot be assigned for a P/NP graded course.

The Form 350 is available on the Resources and Forms page under the Faculty area in myPNW or through the Office of the Registrar.

A grade of F (Failing) is awarded to students who complete the course and participate in activities through the end of the term but failed to achieve the course objectives.

A grade of FN (Failing/Nonauthorized Incomplete) is awarded to students who did not officially withdraw from the course, but who failed to participate in course activities through the end of the term.

• This grade is to be used when, in the opinion of the instructor, completed assignments or course activities or both were insufficient to make normal evaluation of academic performance possible.
• Once the FN grade is entered the instructor is required to indicate the date the student last participated in the course in an academically related activity, i.e., the last date the student completed an exam, quiz, assignment, paper, project, or attended class (if attendance was taken).
• If the student awarded an FN grade NEVER participated in initial course activity at the beginning of the term, the instructor should report the first day of the term. In this situation the instructor should be sure that the “Initial Course Participating” reporting has been completed for the student to indicate NEVER ATTENDED (student did not commence initial course activity). The student in this situation becomes ineligible for financial aid for this particular course based on federal regulatory guidance.

When assigning “FN” or “U” grades, also include the date the student last participated in the course in an academically related activity, i.e., the last date the student completed an exam, quiz, assignment, paper, project, or attended class (if attendance was taken). This information is required by the Office of Financial Aid.

To change a student’s previously submitted grade, faculty should follow the directions on the Form 350 (Academic Record Change).  For grade corrections, check option #1 on the form.  In this instance, both faculty member and department head signatures are required. A grade correction should be reported within 30 days after the start of the fall, spring or summer semester following the semester in which the erroneous grade was reported. Any correction reported after this time must be accompanied by the instructor’s explanation for the delay in reporting the grade change in addition to the approval of the department head.

NOTE: If a student has elected to take the course as Pass/No Pass, please be aware that either a P or N are acceptable entries for the final new grade.  A standard letter grade cannot be assigned for a P/NP graded course.

The Form 350 is available on the Resources and Forms page under the Faculty area in myPNW or through the Office of the Registrar.

Please contact Lisa Kovacs in the Office of the Registrar at lkovacs@pnw.edu or (219) 989-2664 for issues related to processing grade changes.

Follow the instructions listed here for submitting final grades through self-Service Banner in myPNW. If you have questions about entering grades using this method, contact the Office of the Registrar .

• Hammond Campus – Kim Frazier, (219) 989-2181
• Westville Campus – Barbara Phillips, (219) 785-5342

1. Go to the myPNW portal. Please note that the recommended browsers for Banner 9 are Chrome, Firefox or Safari and not Internet Explorer.

2. Type in your career account and password and click “Login”.  You will then be prompted to authenticate (approve) your request using the Duo Mobile app on your smart phone (or a hardware token) that you previously had for the Boilerkey.  If you have questions, email csc@pnw.edu or call (219) 989-2888.

3. Once you are logged into myPNW, click on the Banner SSB widget.

NOTE:  If the Banner SSB widget is not already displayed on your dashboard in the portal you can find it by clicking on the Find New Widgets button. In the search box, type “Banner SSB” and when the widget pops up, click on the +Add to Dashboard button.  Close out of the Widget Library and return to the dashboard by clicking the X in the upper right of the dialog box.

4. Click on the Go to Banner SSB button in the widget.

5. Click on the Faculty tab.

6. Select Mid-Term or Final Grades from the list of links depending on the type of grade you need to enter.

7. A list of all your courses – past and present – will display.  You can filter the list in the term column or enter the current term in the search box to filter the list to display just those courses that need grades.

8. Click anywhere on the row of the course to bring up a list of students.

9. You can now begin entering grades. Select each student’s grade from the drop-down list. Every student must receive a final grade.  Mid-term grades are optional.

Note: When entering grades, scroll on the drop-down arrow to make the appropriate grade choice. Failure to submit a final grade will result in the assignment of a temporary “NS” grade that will need to be resolved with a Form 350 Academic Record Change co-signed by your department chair.

Do not enter any form of a “W” grade. This may cause financial aid ineligibility for the student in a future semester. When assigning “FN” or “U” grades, please also include a date the student last participated in the course in an academically related activity. i.e. the last date the student completed an exam, quiz, assignment, paper, project, or attended class (if attendance was taken). This information is needed by the Office of Financial Aid.

10. Once you are done, press save at the bottom of the page.

• If you have left any grades blank, you will see this message and will need to click OK.  “Save Successful, grading for CRN [#####] is still in progress.”  It will remain in progress until all grades for that CRN are entered.  If you have to press OK, then you know that you are not finished entering grades and need to go back and review your grade submission.
• If every student has received a grade, you will see the message “Save Successful, grading for CRN [#####] is completed.”  This is your confirmation that you have not omitted assigning a grade in that CRN.

The Grading Status column on the left in your list of classes will display one of three statuses for each course:

• Not Started in red for courses that have no grades entered.
• In Progress for courses that have only some of the grades entered.
• Completed in green for courses where every student has been assigned a grade.

11. If you need to grade more than one course, select the next course from the appropriate term on the list to begin entering more grades.

Please refer to the Office of Instructional Technology’s grading resources for instructions on using Brightspace to submit your final grades.

Resources for using the Grade Submit Tool in Brightspace

• Valid grade choices are A, B, C, D or F (including optional +/- grades). You may need to scroll up or down to find your selection.
• If a “W” already appears in the Grade column, do not assign another grade.
• Select or enter the appropriate grade in the Grade column corresponding to the student’s name. All students must receive a grade.
• “NS” (Not Submitted) is only assigned by the Office of the Registrar if a faculty member does not submit final grades by the deadline. Carefully review your submission to make sure no students are omitted. The faculty member will need to submit a Form 350 Academic Record Change as soon as possible to the Office of the Registrar co-signed by the Department Chair indicating the permanent final grade earned in the course for each student who did not have a grade submitted by the deadline.
• Last Attend Date is required for students being issued an “FN” or “U” grade. Please enter this date to the right on the electronic roster.  An “FN” grade should be used when students do not officially withdraw and fail to complete the course.  The Last Attend Date is defined as the date the student last participated in the course in an academically related activity, i.e., the last date the student completed an exam, quiz, assignment, paper, project, or attended class (if attendance was taken).
• If a student is receiving an Incomplete for the course, please assign the “I” grade. If the student fails to complete the course, then an “IF” will be administratively assigned at a later date. Do not assign “IF” when submitting your final grades.
• For students on the Pass/No Pass option, please select or enter either “P” or “N” in the Grade column. Students may not receive a grade of “P” or “N” unless the Pass/No Pass indicator is displayed. The Pass/No Pass indicator appears in the P/NP column with a “P”.
• For all non-credit courses, students should be assigned either “S” (passing/satisfactory) or “U” (failing/unsatisfactory), whichever applies. The Last Attend Date is required for students being issued a grade of “U”.