Control and Responsibility 1 -- Mary Gibson

Current grade status- frequent circulation of the grades a student has earned for a single assignment or for all assignments to the current date in the class. This allows the students to see exactly where they are rather than relying on the vague feeling of what they are getting. It is especially good for those students who would not seek out the information from the instructor.

Description of activity or assignment

Circulation of grades earned by the students on a specific assignment/exam or for the entire course to date. This can be done by posting the print-out on a bulletin board near your office or circulating it in the classroom.

Materials needed

Micrograde program available to each instructor here on campus or a similar means of summarizing and posting grades using an identifier for each student that insures their anonymity.

Procedure and time needed

The micrograde program is very easy to learn and use. You will initially set up your classes with assignments and scores for the course. You may save and transfer the same course assignments from semester to semester without re-doing it each time. Each semester your class rosters are available electronically on the Academic Server. You will need to modify them once you have received them so that the whole social security number of the student does not show (most instructors use the last four digits only). You also have the option of using miscellaneous ID numbers assigned automatically, but then the student will have to learn his/her ID number.

Once you are set up, time is needed to post the grades in the computer. You may rely solely on the computer records or also keep a traditional grade book and transfer the scores. The real time-saving comes when the computer does the math and summarizing and the ability to have an anonymous print-out for each student to read. Total time will depend on class numbers.

Connection to campus resources

Micrograde training is available through the Faculty Resource Center on campus.

Attachment: Example print-outs I.A