I’m a 23-year-old master’s student teaching an undergraduate course in the U.S. It’s my second time teaching a full course.
I made a pretty bad mistake with my Excel gradebook when submitting final grades. The issue was not with the grading itself, but with a formula/scale error. I thought I had fixed it before submitting, but apparently the change did not save or apply properly.
The grades were approved and released, and about five hours later, I checked the file again and realized the mistake was still there. Around 50 out of 100 students had the wrong final grade. It also made it look like about half my section failed, which felt pretty weird. The only good thing about this is that every grade is going to go up.
I emailed the course examiner right away, took full responsibility, corrected the file, and told my students there was a calculation issue. I’m now waiting to hear if the grades can be rejected and resubmitted all at once, or if I have to submit individual grade corrections.
I know this is on me, and I should have checked the file more carefully. I just feel awful, and I’m trying to fix it properly.
For professors/instructors, how serious would you consider this for a second-time graduate student instructor?