2. Why grade book?
Common mistakes in using a web grade
book
About weighted total
Alternative grading system
To avoid miscalculation
Comments
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3. Important Role of a CMS
By 2002, over ¾ of colleges had adopted a
CMS
By 2008, over half of college courses make
use of a CMS tool
Blackboard has 3700 clients in 70 countries
Student learning assessment matters
System bugs with online grade books
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4. Confusing and counter-intuitive
interface
Poor performance speed and efficiency
System reliability
Endless Upgrades and fixes
Grade calculation becomes a variable
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5. Weight or total points?
Look at your grading policy
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6. Identical Total and Weighted Total columns
What can I do?
Remove
Not to “Show this Column to Students”
Hide
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7. Grading Policy Actual Grade Book
Wrong function!
Assignment Point Percent Assignment Point Percent
Assign 1 100 10 Assign 1 100 7.69
Assign 2 100 10 Assign 2 100 7.69
Assign 3 100 10 Assign 3 100 7.69
Assign 4 100 10 Assign 4 100 7.69
Project 100 10 Project 100 7.69
Blog 100 15 Blog 100 7.69
Quizzes (6) 100x6 15 Quizzes (6) 100x6 46.15
Final Exam 100 20 Final Exam 100 7.69
TOTAL 1300 100 TOTAL 1300 100
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9. When a grade book
is copied, the
weighted total
column can be
different from the its
source.
A weight given to an
empty category
Total Weight: 95 % Check the weight
calculation
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10. $ dollar : colon < less than | pipe
& ampersand ; semi-colon > greater than ^ caret
+ plus = equals # pound ~ tilde
, common ? question % percent [ Left bracket
/ slash @ at { left curly brace ] right bracket
backslash " quotation } right curly brace ‘ grave accent
Alphabetic and numeric characters ONLY for
column name
Follow the same rule for gradable activities
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11. Grading schemas get duplicated in Blackboard when a
course is copied
Remove all the useless schemas
Verify your letter grade against your grading policy
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12. BB default category
Instructor defined category
Two terms are used for a single category
Use default category first
Always check to make sure all category
members are included
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13. No Category
Columns should be properly categorized unless they are
weighed individually
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14. Score is added to
TOTAL only as
extra credit (BB
9.1)
Score with 0 point
possible is ignored
in all calculations
(BB 8.0 )
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15. Calculation can be complicated
Different weighing methods
How to deal with un-attempted columns?
How extra credits are handled?
How does your CMS support the
weighted calculation?
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16. Extra applied to course total
Course Weighted Total (100%)+ Extra credit (5%)
Extra applied to a category
Writing 40%
Journal 1-5 (500 pts)
Short Essay 1-5 (500 pts)
Bonus Essay (100 pts)
Extra added to an individual quiz or
assignment
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17. Grade Item Points Weight Range Grade
Short Paper 1 100 10 950-1000 A
Short Paper 2 100 10 900-949 A-
Pair Discussion 100 10 870-899 B+
Panel Discussion 100 10 840-869 B
Midterm 100 10 800-839 B-
Final 200 20 770-799 C+
Term Project 200 20 700-769 C
Attendance 100 10 670-699 C-
Total 1000 100 600-669 D
Extra Credit 50 5 0-599 F
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18. Download your grade book from your CMS
Use any spreadsheet program to verify the
weighted total or the total column
=100*(SUM(D4:F4)/300*0.5+SUM(G4:I4)/30*0.25+SUM(J4:L4)/60*0.25)
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19. Prepare a detailed plan for the course grade
book
Understand the grade book in your CMS
Verify course grades with a spreadsheet
program
Consider using a flat total point system if
weight does not work for your class
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