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6.5.1 Gradebook Interface
The main Gradebook interface is shown in
Fig. 6.41. Several options are available
for this display. By default, all gradebook data is displayed, but the
"Show" menu lets you select one specific category of data for separate
display.
Gradebook Setup. To view or set the configuration
of the Gradebook, click on the "Gradebook Setup" button
(Sec. 6.5.5).
Display Options. The menu lets you choose to see
the grading information in terms of points (based on the points allotted
for each category in the Gradebook configuration) or by percentage of
the total points possible; it also lets you set a date range for the
display. For any changes to the display to take effect, you must click
the "Update Display" button.
Full Screen View. Click on the link to view the
Gradebook in an expanded screen.
Send Message to Selected Students. Instructors can
quickly send a message to students while viewing the Gradebook. There
is a number icon by each student's name that gives the position of the
student in the sorted list. Since the default sort is by student name,
the numbers will reflect the position of the student in the alphabetical
list. If instructors sort on a different column, the numbers will show the
position of the student relative to the new sort. By sorting on a column
and then using this feature, you can quickly send messages to groups of
students who have high or low values for any column. Furthermore,
you can send messages without having to navigate through the ALEKS
Message Center or lose your place in the Gradebook.
Download to Excel. As with other reporting displays
in ALEKS, the contents of the Gradebook can be downloaded into an Excel
spreadsheet for use outside of ALEKS. It is recommended that you
download the Gradebook into Excel on a regular basis in order to have
a backup file on hand. This can be useful in the event of a discrepancy
or if edits need to be made to student scores.
Students are listed in the left-hand column; there are also options to
show their ALEKS Login Names or student ID numbers instead of names.
Total Grade. The Total Grade column appears when
choosing "Show: All" from the drop-down menu. It shows a computation
of the student's current grade based on assignments completed or for
which the due date has passed. This column attempts to predict or
approximate the student's grade for the course based on any work to
date; for example, if the course is half completed and a student has
70% in this column, it means that if the student's work continues
at the same level for the remainder of the course, it is likely that
the final grade will be around 70%. If a particular category
(e.g. Quizzes) is chosen rather than "All," it shows the total grade to date
based only on that category of assignments. If a date range is specified
other than the entire period of the course, the display will use only
the assignments whose dates fall within that range.
Student Grades. The Gradebook displays in
columnar format where specific assignments are
chronologically ordered by due date. Each assignment has a name, is
color-coded by category, and shows its due date. As the students complete
the assignments, values are inserted into the corresponding cells.
Cells where the student has not completed the assignment are empty or,
if the due date has passed, contain a value of 0. If the student has
completed the assignment but the due date has not passed, the value
appears in grey indicating that it will not be used in computing the current "Total
Grade." For some types of assignments (e.g., Homework with multiple
attempts, Sec. 6.4.5),
students have the option of redoing or retaking the assignment, so that
values in grey may change before the due date.
If you click on the heading for the "Students" or "Total Grade" column,
the list will be sorted on the values in that column. If you click on
the "[Edit]" link in any column for a specific assignment, a box will
open containing options to edit and view student results. These are
similar to the analytical options in the regular report views for
similar assignments (Sec. 6.2.17).
Chapter or Objective Completion. Scores for chapter
or Objective Completion, in the ALEKS Gradebook, are received from
the Textbook Integration or Objective features
(Sec. 6.3.2).
Student scores will be derived in one of the
following two ways based on the course setup:
- Chapter or Objective completion with End Dates
-
Each chapter or Objective has a due date by which students are expected
to complete the material in that unit. If a student completes the chapter
or unit before the due date, a grade of 100% is entered into
the student's cell for that assignment. The score will appear in grey,
and it will not be used to compute the Total Grade until the due date
has passed. It is not, however, subject to change; even if the student
loses material in a subsequent assessment, the 100% score will
remain. If the student does not complete the unit by the due date,
the percentage of unit material that the student did complete will appear
in the cell as the student's score.
- Chapter or Objective completion without End Dates
-
All chapters or Objectives have a single end date by which students are expected
to master all Objectives. This feature includes a Mastery Level completion
percentage for the Objectives. The Mastery Level completion defaults to
90% but can be adjusted. Students must master this percentage
of the topics in an Objective before they can advance to the next
Objective. The student's score is entered into the student's cell for
that assignment and will appear in grey until after the end date has
passed. When students meet the Mastery Level they will be moved to the
next Objective and will be able to access the remaining unmastered topics
from all previous Objectives via their pies. The "Total Grade" column
will not include the chapter or Objective assignment type until after the end date has passed
(Sec. 6.3.4).
Students using ALEKS have access to Gradebook information for their
own work, similar to the information described in this chapter.
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