Campuscruiser User Documentation - Excerpt

CampusCruiser User Documentation - Excerpt

Final Grades Feature for Faculty

Document Version 3

January 2006

Timecruiser Computing Corporation CampusCruiser User Documentation: Final Grades Feature for Faculty

This copy printed on 2006-Jan-09

Copyright

CampusCruiser User Documentation: Final Grades Feature for Faculty

Copyright © 2006 Timecruiser Computing Corporation (“TCC”)

All Rights Reserved.

Use of, copying, modifications to, and distribution of this software and its documentation without Timecruiser Computing Corporation’s written permission can result in the violation of U.S. Copyright and Patent laws. Violators will be prosecuted to the highest extent of the applicable laws.

TCC makes no representations or warranties about the suitability of the software, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

Timecruiser Computing Corporation

9 Law Drive

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel. (973) 244-7856

Fax. (973) 244-7859

Revision Record

V. / Date / Details
1 / 2004-Jul-28 / Initial draft.
2 / 2004-Nov-30 / New "Settings" tab of Export Final Grades may affect workflow by removing "Save & Publish" button
3 / 2006-Jan-15 / Admins can limit the availability of the Save & Publish button on the Final Grades page to Faculty; pgs 6 & 8, updated screen capture; updated "Coursework" to be "Assignments" (as it is in FacTools1)

Table of Contents

Introduction - 1 -

Access Your Gradebook - 2 -

Setting an Overall Grade Scheme - 3 -

A Note about the “Grades” column: - 3 -

Access Your Assignments Tool - 4 -

Accessing the Assignments Tool - 4 -

Gradebook: Final Grades - 5 -

Final Grades Workflow - 7 -

Final Grades Workflow - Modified - 10 -

Final Grades Workflow - Publishing Time Expired - 10 -

Save (and Edit) Final Grades - 11 -

Save & Publish Grades - 11 -

9 Law Drive, 2nd Floor Fairfield, NJ 07004

Phone: 973.244.7856 Fax: 973.277.7859 http://www.timecruiser.com

Timecruiser Computing Corporation CampusCruiser User Documentation: Final Grades Feature for Faculty

This copy printed on 2006-Jan-09

Introduction

Documentation on the Final Function (for the Faculty) is provided in the CampusCruiser Custom Edition Academics Guide for Faculty. What is presented here is an excerpt for the Final Grades feature from that document. If cross-references are made in this excerpt, please refer back to the Academics Guide for Faculty.

Information for the Administrative side of the workflow (CampusCruiser User Documentation: Export Final Grades Feature) is available for campus administrators upon request.

Access Your Gradebook

1.  Access your class.

·  The class Welcome page is displayed.

2.  From the Faculty Tools menu, click Gradebook.

·  Your Gradebook is displayed, showing any existing graded items.

Setting an Overall Grade Scheme

(From “Prepare Your Gradebook: Customizing Schemes”)

You can apply a grade scheme to act as the overall grade scheme for your Gradebook. Doing so allows corresponding letter grades to be displayed in the Student Statistics page and the My Grades tool for students. If you do not specify an overall grade scheme, then the overall grades are not displayed in terms of letter grades. Setting this is a good idea, especially when you have a weighted gradebook (i.e., one that uses categories) because this way, a letter grade can be displayed based on running grades that have been entered and saved (be sure to appropriately publish grades to your students, too.)

1.  From the Assignment Settings - Grade Schemes page use the Scheme Selected For Overall Grade drop-down list box to select an existing scheme to be applied for all grades.

·  If a suitable scheme does not exist, then create one before proceeding.

2.  Click Change.

·  The page will refresh, and a confirmation message will alert you that the overall grade scheme has been changed.

/ It’s important that the scheme you select is appropriate for your needs. For example:
“Scheme 1” is a point scheme, where 10 points is the maximum point score allowed, and 10 points corresponds to a letter grade of “A+.”
BUT
The total amount of points from all of your gradable items equals 300.
If you applied “Scheme 1” as the overall grade scheme for your Gradebook, then students would need a point score of no higher than 10 to receive a letter grade of A+!

A Note about the “Grades” column:

The “Grades” column on the default Gradebook page will also show the corresponding letter grades. However, if you use the Assignment categories and assign weights, then your Gradebook is considered “weighted” (i.e., there are a set amount of points that comprise grades, but because of weights, some points are obviously heavier than others). When your Gradebook is “weighted,” the running calculation of final grades is therefore done by percentage—so, the Overall Grade Scheme must also be based on percentage, and not points. If the Overall Grade Scheme you use is based on points and your Gradebook is weighted, then the letter grades displayed will not be accurate.

/ You have taken care of setting up Grade Schemes, and this is good...
BUT YOU STILL SHOULD CONTINUE TO SET UP YOUR DEFAULT SUBMISSION SETTINGS AND CATEGORIES BEFORE TRYING TO CREATE ANY ASSIGNMENTS YET!
Continue to the next section of this document for more prep steps... It will really help you in the long run.

Access Your Assignments Tool

The Assignments tool in the Faculty Tools menu is how you post required assignments for your students. Your students view these assignments from the My Assignments tool from the Student Tools menu.

Situation / From the Faculty Side / From the Student Side
Assignment
Posted / Using the Assignment feature from the Faculty Tools menu, you post Assignment for students to complete. Assignments will be visible to students on the date you specify. / Using the My Assignments feature from the Student Tools menu, students see the details of the Assignments. If students display the My Classes channel in their Dashboard, then any assignments due for the current day are listed under the class name in the channel.
Assignment
Sent / Received / Using the Assignment tool, you can see how many submissions have been received for an assignment, and download all submissions in a zip file. (However, in order for students to be able to submit work, your submission settings need to be in effect!) If you display the My Classes channel in your Dashboard, then you will receive notification of new submissions under the class name in the channel. / Using the My Assignments feature, when viewing an assignment’s details, students will be provided a link that will allow them to upload submissions and send them to you (assuming the assignment requires work to be submitted, and your submission settings permitted them to upload files!).
Assignment Graded / Using the Assignment feature or the Gradebook feature, you can see which gradable items you have published grades. / Using the My Grades feature, students can see which Assignments were gradable, and what their published grades were for those items.

Accessing the Assignments Tool

1. Access your Class.

1. From the Faculty Tools menu, click on Assignments.

·  The Manage Assignments page is displayed, showing any currently existing items in your Assignments tool.

Note:

If you have not yet created any assignments, your Manage Assignments page will display "No Entry" and look pretty bare.

·  If an Assignment displays (assignment icon), then the item is visible to students in the My Assignments tool.

·  If an Assignment displays (gradebook icon), then the item is gradable: it is available in your Gradebook tool to be graded. If the grades are then published, then the grade will be visible to students in the My Grades tool.

·  If the Assignment displays (publish icon), any grades you've entered for this item have been published and are visible to the students via their My Grades tool.

·  An assignment can take on any combination of these icons.

·  Clicking on the Edit button will allow you to edit full details of an assignment (go to section Error! Reference source not found.)

·  Clicking on the Grade button will allow you to enter grades for all students to this particular assignment. (If there is no Grade button, then this assignment is not currently a gradable assignment.)

Gradebook: Final Grades

When an Overall Grade Scheme is applied, the “Grades” column displays the running final grades in the form of corresponding letter grades. The final grade displayed in the “Grades” column is dependent upon the following:

1. The Coursework items graded: as more grades are entered, the corresponding letter grade may change.

1. The Overall Grade Scheme applied: if no Overall Grade Scheme is applied, then this column won’t display a letter grade.

1. Manual Entry in the Final Grades page: You can manually enter the final grade in the event that an Overall Grade Scheme is not applied or if you wish to enter a grade arbitrarily. BUT you should keep the following in mind:

·  Do you really want to edit and save a "Final" grade PRIOR TO the end of the semester? It may be better to NOT edit any grades in the Final Grade page until grades really are final.

·  If you ever edit and save grades in the Final Grade page, then you can expect the "Grades" column in the Gradebook page to STOP updating itself automatically with the estimated grade according to running tallies.

The Final Grades page is where these grades are “finalized” and published.

Note:

If your institution employs the Gradebook Export feature, then grades MUST be finalized and published before they can be exported by the Campus Administrator.

Final Grades Workflow

Data in the Final Grades page shouldn’t ever be saved before the end of the grading period—after all, this page is for determining the “Final Grade!” Keep in mind the following:

·  Any grades displayed in the Final Grades page are in “Estimated” status until they are saved for the very first time. When an Overall Grade Scheme is in place (refer to Assignment Settings > Grade Schemes), the corresponding letter grade that is derived from calculations will be displayed in the “Estimated” column.

·  You can edit the Estimated grade in the “Final” column if desired. The very first time that Final Grades are saved with the Save Only button, the grades are in “Final” status. However students cannot yet see their final grades until the grades are saved and published.

Q: So, even though I have an Overall Grade Scheme applied—which will take care of calculations and correlate letter grade to the numeric value… I can change this in the Final Grades page?

A: Yes. You can edit the data in the “Final” column and use the Save Only button to save this grade.

Q: What happens if I use the Save Only button to save final grades, but then realize I forgot to grade a Coursework item?

A: The grade seen in the "Final" column on the Final Grades page will not be changed, but the calculated data seen in the “Estimated” column will change, based on calculations.

·  Once the Save & Publish button has been used, a timestamp will indicate when the grades were published, and the Save Only button will no longer be available. Students will see a Final Grade Available link in the “My Classes” page / Dashboard channel for this class after the Save & Publish button has been used.

·  The Campus Administrator can tell that your grades are ready to be used with the Gradebook Export feature when the Save & Publish button has been used, so use this button only if you are sure these grades are ready for exporting!

WHAT THE FACULTY SEES / WHAT THE STUDENT SEES

Note that the Final Grade has been edited from the original Estimated grade before the Save & Publish was used.

Note the “Grades” column will reflect what is Saved & Published /
Here is how the Student can be notified that Final Grades for the class are available. Clicking on this link accesses the My Grades feature, where the “Final Grade” heading will now be available and display the Final Grade.

Note that the Final Grade of “A+” is different from what is calculated in the “Grade” column; the Final Grade reflects what has been Saved & Published

If the Campus Administrator has exported your grades, then an “Exported” timestamp will alert you of this (e.g., “Exported: May 06, 2004 03:40 PM”):

Note:

·  If the Save & Publish button is visible BUT not clickable, please refer to Error! Reference source not found.

·  If you do not see the Save & Publish button anymore, please refer to Final Grades Workflow - Modified

Q: What happens if I use Save & Publish once, but realize I want to change the final grade again?

A: You can still edit the grade in the “Final” column, and then use Save & Publish.

But

If your institution employs the Gradebook Export feature AND the Campus Administrator has already exported these grades, then other processes at your institution may be necessary. Using the Save & Publish button after an Administrator has already exported your grades will cause the following changes in display:

“Change Pending” will be displayed in the Status column in the Final Grades page / “change pending” will be displayed to the student in the My Grades page

The display of “Change Pending” in the interface will not ever be removed if you have used Save & Publish AFTER the Administrator has exported the Final Grades!!

Final Grades Workflow - Modified

Q: Wait, for some reason, I no longer see the Save & Publish anymore—where did it go?