How do I access the "grade category" in Google Classroom using their API

Question

I'm trying to build a dashboard to monitor class grades using the Google Classroom API.

When I create an assignment through the website, I have the option to give it a "Grade Category" which affects how it is weighted in the final grade. For example, I can create (in Course Settings) a Homework category that counts 20% toward the final grade or a Quizzes category that counts 30% toward the final grade and so on.

I've been using the python API and can download most everything I need so far except this "Grade Category", which means I can't compute their grades in my dashboard or do things like drop the lowest grade or similar actions. I figured there would be a field like "gradeCategory" but I can't find it anywhere.

Anyone else run across this?

Answer 1

For posterity, gradeCategory is now accessible in CourseWork https://developers.google.com/classroom/reference/rest/v1/courses.courseWork#resource:-coursework. So you can use

• https://developers.google.com/classroom/reference/rest/v1/courses.courseWork/get or
• https://developers.google.com/classroom/reference/rest/v1/courses.courseWork/list

to retrieve this info.

Take a look at the new Grading Guide as well to understand any pitfalls if you're building a dashboard like this.

Answer 2

• Use the method courses.courseWork.studentSubmissions.get to retrieve grades

• Use courses.courseWork.studentSubmissions.patch to assign / modify grades

• For the latter you need to specify updateMask either as draftGrade or assignedGrade - depending on what grade you want to update.

• For both you need to specify courseId, courseWorkId and id (the submission identifier)
• To retrieve the corresponding Ids you can use the methods Courses:list, courseWork:list and courses.courseWork.studentSubmissions.list respectively
• Have a look at the studentSubmissions resource for better understanding