EvaGrade Desktop Official Documentation

📖 1. Introduction to EvaGrade Desktop

EvaGrade Desktop is a native desktop application designed for educators across primary/secondary schools, vocational colleges, and universities. Its mission is to automate the batch reading and rubric-based grading of Moodle assignments using Artificial Intelligence—cutting assessment time by over 90% while enforcing strict student data privacy regulations.

System Requirements & Hardware

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) or modern Linux distributions (Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, Fedora, Arch Linux).
• App Footprint (Cloud Mode / On-Premises Server): Lightweight: runs smoothly on any standard educator PC or laptop with 4 GB RAM.
• Local AI Requirements (Offline Ollama on your own workstation):
  • Minimum: 16 GB system RAM and a 4+ core CPU (for lightweight local models).
  • Recommended: 32 GB system RAM or a dedicated GPU with 8+ GB VRAM (for deep pedagogical reasoning and larger open models).
• Internet Connectivity: Required only for syncing with Moodle and when using Cloud AI. With Local Ollama, grading works 100% offline.

💻 2. Step-by-Step Installation

🪟 Windows Installation

🐧 Linux Installation (.AppImage)

chmod +x EvaGrade-x86_64.AppImage

🎁 3. 15-Day Full PRO Free Trial

When opening EvaGrade for the first time, you automatically receive a 15-day trial with all PRO features unlocked (unlimited batch grading, ZIP/Excel/PDF deep extractors, and full access to all AI engines).

🏫 4. Connecting to Your Moodle Server

EvaGrade connects natively to any standard Moodle instance (v3.9 to v4.5+), including school districts, universities, regional educational portals, and private institutions worldwide.

Moodle Server Prerequisites

For EvaGrade to sync courses and submit evaluations, the Moodle server must have Web Services API enabled:

• Enable Web Services (Required in Moodle): Under Site administration ➔ Advanced features, ensure Enable web services (enablewebservices) is checked.
• Mobile App Access (Recommended): Under Site administration ➔ Web services ➔ Mobile devices, enable Enable web services for mobile devices (enablemobilewebservice). This allows automatic token creation using your username and password.
• User Security Keys: If direct password authentication for APIs is restricted by your school, generate a personal token under User Profile ➔ Preferences ➔ Security keys and paste it into the password field.

Connection Setup

1. In EvaGrade, navigate to ⚙️ Settings ➔ 🏫 Moodle Servers.
2. Server URL: Paste the root URL of your Moodle instance (e.g. https://moodle.yourschool.edu/).
3. Authentication Method:
   • Direct Credentials (Username & Password): Recommended for quick setup. Passwords are saved encrypted locally on your machine.
   • Web Services Token: If your institution provides token-based API access (User Profile ➔ Security Keys).
4. Click «Test Connection». Once validated, your active courses will sync automatically.

📚 5. Courses Tab & Subject-Level Settings

The Courses tab serves as your command center for organizing classes and defining distinct pedagogical preferences per classroom.

Key Screen Features

• ⭐ Starred Favorite Courses: Click the star on any card to pin that course to the top of your workspace.
• 🙈 Hidden Courses: Archive past or inactive courses to keep your screen uncluttered. Reveal them anytime with the "Show Hidden" toggle.
• ⚙️ Individual Subject Settings (Gear Icon):
  • Target Grading Language: Set a specific language for that class (e.g., 🏛️ Valencià / Catalan, 🇬🇧 English for bilingual subjects, or 🇪🇸 Spanish).
  • Pedagogical Strictness: Configure whether this subject uses Supportive (K-8), Standard (High School), or Rigorous (Higher Ed / College) grading.
• Pending Counters: Each card clearly displays the number of active assignments and pending submissions waiting to be graded.

📥 6. Assignments & Submissions Tab

The primary workspace where you inspect the assignment prompt, filter student deliverables, and launch batch grading.

Screen Layout

1. Assignment Header: Shows the task title, submission deadline, full instructions, and original teacher attachments.
2. Quick Student Filters:
   • Pending grading: Students who submitted work that has not yet been marked.
   • Graded: Evaluated submissions with visible scores and feedback.
   • All: Complete classroom overview with live name search.
3. «🚀 Enqueue Submissions» Button: Kicks off background batch grading across all students concurrently.

🔍 7. Multi-Format File Inspector: Spreadsheets with Formulas & ZIPs

EvaGrade embeds dedicated file extractors so you never have to manually unzip archives or open LibreOffice/Excel separately:

📊 Spreadsheets (Excel XLSX & LibreOffice ODS)

Unlike generic LLMs that only read plain text, EvaGrade inspects cell structures and verified mathematical formulas (e.g. =SUM(B2:B10), =VLOOKUP, conditional formulas). This allows the AI to ensure students actually computed the assignment with formulas rather than typing static numbers manually.

📁 Compressed Archives (ZIP & TAR.GZ)

Safe recursive extraction with an interactive folder tree explorer and built-in syntax-highlighted code viewer (Python, Java, C++, HTML/CSS, JS, SQL).

📝 Word Documents (DOCX), PDFs & Online Text

Clean extraction of formatted text, data tables, and online essays written directly in Moodle's web editor.

📐 8. The 3 Pedagogical Grading Strategies

In the Strategy section, you can switch seamlessly between three evaluation frameworks:

🪄 9. 5-Second AI Rubric Assistant

Don't have a rubric ready? Click «🪄 Generate Rubric with AI»:

1. The assistant reads the Moodle assignment prompt and learning goals.
2. Within 5 seconds, it proposes 3 to 5 balanced criteria with achievement levels and percentage weights.
3. Review, customize, or tweak criteria weights before launching grading.

🎯 10. Strictness Levels, Extra Credit & Penalties

Pedagogical Strictness Selector

• 🟢 Supportive (K-8 / Elementary / Middle School): Encouraging, empathetic tone. Highlights student strengths and provides constructive next steps.
• 🔵 Standard (High School / GCSE): Balanced, rigorous, and formative evaluation.
• 🔴 Rigorous (Higher Ed / University / Technical Degrees): High technical precision, formal methodology, and deep critical rigor.

Extra Credit & Automated Penalties

Configure extra credit points (+1 pt for exceptional creativity) and automated deductions (-0.5 pts for late submissions or spelling errors).

Exhaustive Criterion-by-Criterion Mode

When enabled in Settings ➔ Pedagogical Strategy, the AI isolates each criterion and evaluates it with dedicated chain-of-thought reasoning before consolidating the final score.

🎯 11. Validation Tab & 1-Click Publishing to Moodle

You always maintain ultimate supervisory control:

• All AI-generated assessments are saved locally as Drafts.
• The grid shows all evaluated students with proposed marks and feedback summaries.
• Quick Editing: Click on any student to tweak numerical scores or edit the feedback narrative.
• 1-Click Publishing: Click «🚀 Push All to Moodle» to upload all approved marks and comments directly to your official gradebook.

🕰️ 12. Historical Moodle Comparison (Resubmission Tracking)

In the detailed draft review, EvaGrade displays a side-by-side card with the student's previous grade and feedback in Moodle.

📊 13. Live Kanban Monitor & Execution Logs

The Monitor tab provides real-time oversight of all background tasks:

• Kanban Status Columns: Monitor which jobs are Queued, Evaluating, Completed, or Failed.
• Playback Controls: Pause or resume the queue at any time if you need to close your laptop.
• Live Terminal Logs: Inspect behind-the-scenes actions (file extraction, spreadsheet formula evaluation, and feedback formatting).

🧠 14. AI Model Architecture (Local Ollama vs Cloud)

🏠 Mode 1: Local AI (Ollama Offline - 100% Private)

Run open-source weights directly on your hardware without internet connectivity. Includes 1-click model downloads and an interactive RAM safety slider to prevent system memory overload.

☁️ Mode 2: Cloud APIs (OpenRouter Hub / On-Premises Server)

• OpenRouter Hub: Connect to 300+ frontier models (Gemini 2.5 Flash, DeepSeek R1/V3, Claude 3.5, GPT-4o, or 100% free :free models) with a single API key and smart presets.
• On-Premises Server: Connect to vLLM or LM Studio endpoints hosted within your school network.
• Smart Auto-Failover: Automatically switches to a fallback provider if the primary encounters rate limits (HTTP 429).

🛡️ 15. Client-Side Anonymization & Privacy Compliance

EvaGrade is architected to exceed international educational privacy regulations (GDPR, FERPA, COPPA):

• In Local Mode: 0 bytes leave your physical device.
• In Cloud Mode: The local engine masks and anonymizes student names, emails, and student IDs on your PC before sending text to the cloud. Once the score and feedback return, it re-associates the response with the real student locally.

🔑 16. PRO Licensing & Updates

Activate your license key in ⚙️ Settings ➔ License.

• Up to 3 Workstations: One license covers your personal laptop, classroom workstation, and home desktop simultaneously.
• 1-Click Streaming Updater: In Settings ➔ About, check for and download software updates in the background with a live progress bar.

❓ 17. Technical FAQ & Educator Support

Why does Moodle connection fail even if my username and password are correct?

The most common cause is that your Moodle server has Web Services or Mobile App Access disabled. Moodle requires an administrator to enable enablewebservices and enablemobilewebservice to allow third-party clients to authenticate. If you do not have administrative privileges, ask your school's IT coordinator or generate a personal Web Services Token in your Moodle profile (Preferences ➔ Security keys).

What happens if I format or upgrade my PC?

You can deactivate your license in Settings before wiping your drive, or simply reactivate your key on the new computer. Our licensing server handles transfers automatically.

Do I need to install Python separately?

No. Official Windows (.exe) and Linux (.AppImage) builds are fully self-contained with all extraction engines bundled inside.

Where can I get technical support?

Contact our educator support team directly at [email protected]. PRO license holders receive priority responses within 24 business hours.