To see the Gradebook for a course select Gradebook from the sub-navigation menu and then select Course Gradebook (Fig. 6.59). Several options are available for this display. By default, all gradebook assignment types are displayed, but the Show menu allows the gradebook data to be filtered by assignment type. Each assignment is color-coded by category. If student groups have been set up, gradebook data can be filtered by group.

Send Message to Selected Students

Instructors can send a message to students while viewing the Gradebook without having to navigate to the ALEKS Message Center. The default is to sort students by name, but by sorting on a grade column instructors can send messages to groups of students who have high or low values for that column.

Display Options

Grading information may be displayed in terms of points (based on the points allotted for each category in the Gradebook configuration) or by percentage of the total points possible. A date range can also be set for the display. After making any changes to the display, click the Update Display button.

Full Screen View

Click on the link to view the Gradebook in an expanded screen.

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.

Student Information

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 will be displayed when All is chosen from the Show drop-down menu. This column computes the student's current grade based on assignments completed or for which the due date has passed. This grade predicts the student's grade for the course based on any work completed 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, the final grade will be around 70%. If a particular category (e.g. Quizzes) is chosen rather than All, a total grade (Quiz Grade) will be displayed, 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

In the Gradebook, student grades for specific assignments are ordered chronologically by due date. As the students complete the assignments, values are inserted into the corresponding cells as follows:

Empty cells

The student has not completed the assignment.

Zero

The due date has passed.

Grey

the student has completed the assignment but the due date has not passed (the value will not be used in computing the current Total Grade).

For some types of assignments (e.g., Homework with multiple attempts), students have the option of redoing or retaking the assignment, so that values in grey may change before the due date.

Clicking on the [Edit] link in any column, for a specific assignment, will open a box containing options to view and edit student results.