ASSESSMENT IN IN THE ONLINE CLASSROOM
I did post the first version of my final. I reread it, and found a few typos that I will need to fix. I also realized that I missed a concept that I need to add. It is amazing that when we proof our own work, it is easy to miss these mistakes.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASZkoRlT3PnCZGNud3ptcTJfMWQ0N3JmemY0&hl=en
This is the URL to view my self assessment of my final project.
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASZkoRlT3PnCZGNud3ptcTJfMnJtcDU
As part of our Week 7 assignment we need to explore online grade books. In my 27 years of teaching I have used manual paper grade books, Excel, Word tables, and customized a paper grade book for each course. I never liked that the students could not see the points that I entered. So what I did, we would meet and go over their points, or I would print off my grade book and cut it into strips of paper that were their row in my grade book and have the student proof it.
I felt so responsible for grading, knowing that I could make a mistake. I did not want to hurt a student's grade by a mistake. I encouraged students to help me avoid this by keeping a record of their points. Some did, most did not. Many students felt, I was the teacher and entering grades, it was my sole responsibility.
If a course was not an online course we did not good online grade book to use. The online courses had a grade book in Blackboard that the students could see. In the beginning of on line classes (about 7 years ago) the gradebook was not easy to work in the environment, it did not interface well with People soft. It has gotten better.
About 5 years ago, my school included an online grade book in our People soft system for face to face class use! I used it the second it became available. I found a miracle online grade book tool. The students and I love it! The student can see what points I enter and help me catch any mistakes. It takes the pressure off of the human error; adding up grades, or mistakes in entering. I like the double check of this system.
The first versions were not easy to use, a lot of typing and points and clicks. It took a lot of time to set up a course. My school has had continual updates and this is the best version yet. It is excellent for both the instructor and the student.
From my standpoint, the interface that lets me copy assignments from one semester to another. The steps to change or add an assignment are user friendly and there are minimal points and clicks. I can post a comment to a student for them to see. The best thing... final grades are imported with one key stroke. Amazing. If a grade change is necessary, that too is accomplished very easily. Through time, faculty has been given a nice step list for People soft grade book it is a nice reference tool.
The students know their grade percent and the matching letter grades instantly as I enter them. They have told me, they can see their grade change if they are online as I am entering grades. They will tease me about entering grades as 11:00 pm..am I ever not working?
I was curious what the student see, and they showed the student screen. It is easy to read and each class that uses People soft grade book is listed, when they click on the class, the assignments that I entered are listed.
The only aspect that could be improved is that it does not tell the students or me how many point they accumulate.
In fact, many of the online instructors use this grade book in addition to Blackboard grade book because it is so easy.
I feel so strongly about this technology, I think the school should mandate all instructors to use it. Stop the excuses, learn the technology for both the student and instructors benefit.
I love our online grade book.
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