Grade Book Tool

Definition:

Grade Book is a spreadsheet-like tool, in that it contains a grid of rows and columns: each row is a member and each column is a type of data. Unlike a spreadsheet, which is open-ended in the type of data you can enter in each cell, in Grade Book, each column can only contain a certain type of data, such as numbers or letter grades. This ensures the integrity and standardization of data for export and other operations. Columns either appear by default in Grade Book or are added by you.

Accessing the Grade book
Enroll/Unenroll Members
Creating Columns

Accessing the Grade Book

You can find the grade book by clicking on the TEACH tab. It is located under the Instructor Tools at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Click on the Grade Book icon. The following screen appears. (You will notice the Content Tools menu minimize so that you only see icons.)

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Enroll/Unenroll Members

Students are automatically added to the courses they are registered for. This process begins a week before the semester starts. Courses will be updated daily throughout the semester.

Enrolling Students, TAs and Designers

Click on Enroll Members at the top of the screen. The following window appears:

In User Name, type the UNID, select the role and click Enroll. You can keep doing that if you have more than one person to add. Then click on Save.

Unenrolling Students, TAs and Designers

First click on the boxes next to the names you wish to unenroll from your course, then click on Unenroll at the bottom of the grade book page. The following warning will be given:

  Are you sure you want to unenroll the selected member(s) from this course?

Select OK and those members selected will be unenrolled. You will now notice in the gradebook that their name(s) are in red and this icon is found by their name. This is to let you know they are not enrolled anymore and will not configure into the grading statistics.

If you want to re enroll those students that you just unenrolled, click on Enroll Members, type in their UNID again, select their role, click Enroll and then Save. They are added to the course once again.

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Creating Columns

The following columns are system-created:

• user-related: Last Name, First Name, User Name, and Role. These columns pull their information
  from the member's user/enrollment record and cannot be modified in Grade Book. See your Administrator to make edits to values in these columns.
• grade-related: Midterm and Final. These columns cannot be deleted and are used to calculate a Student's midterm and final grade. These two columns are, by default, calculated columns, but you can change the column type to something else.
• quiz, assignment, and discussion topic columns: if there are any quizzes, assignments, or gradable discussion topics created in the course, a corresponding grade-related column will be automatically
  created in the Grade Book. Creation of a survey also creates a column in the Grade Book, contents
  indicating whether the survey has been completed or not.

You can create columns of the following types:

• text columns: allow you to enter text only (You could use a text column to add comments about each member or to track member data.)
• numeric columns: allow you to enter numbers only (You could use a numeric column to insert grades for an offline assignment and other interim grades.)
• calculated columns: allow you to specify a formula (that can include other numeric columns) to come up with a numeric value (You could use a calculated column to calculate an interim grade.)
• selection list columns: allow you to specify one or more text values that
  can then be selected (You could use a selection list column to describe a Student's overall term effort (fair, good, excellent).)
• letter grade columns: to calculate a letter grade based on the numeric values of another column.

When adding a column, you specify whether the column is grade-related or not. Only grade-related columns can be exported.

Adding Columns

To create a column, click the ActionLink for Create Column at the top of the page. From the list, select the type of column you want to create. The Column Settings window will then open for that specific column type, allowing you to choose which settings you want. Click Save when you are done. A column will now be added to the end. If you wish to add columns in a particular order, first select the box above the column you wish it to go before and then click the ActionLink for Create Column.

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April 11, 2007 -RKC