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| This lesson explains creation and use of gradebooks. |
- Read the material on this page
- Follow the links and read the relevant Help material
- Take the practice quiz
- Observe FTF demonstration
- Do the exercise
Read the Quick Guide for an overview of the subject.Quick Guide for Gradebooks
Introduction to Gradebooks
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The CATE gradebook module enables you on a section-by-section basis to keep track of student scores on individual assignments, display those scores to students (if desired), calculate final grades at the end of the semester, and display those grades to students (if desired). It will also allow you to automatically submit final grades to A&R via the Faculty Portal system.
It's entirely possible to utilize a gradebook strictly for your own purposes and never show the scores or grades to students, but that's very unusual. Generally the gradebook will be used for displaying scores, grades, and comments to students on demand, with each student seeing only the information intended for him or her.
Students must always use a username and password to access the gradebook.
In order for you to set up a gradebook, you must first create a homepage for that section. In addition, you'll need to know how to use the Student Rosters module to populate your CATE roster.
Finally, you will almost certainly need to know how to utilize the Tests & Exercises module to create assignments for your gradebook.
Before programming the CATE Gradebook module, we interviewed many faculty from all over campus, encompassing almost every department, in an effort to find out what grading systems were currently in use and what instructors needed and wanted in a gradebook.
It turned out that practically everyone on campus was using a different system and practically everyone had a different and unique perspective on how grading should be handled.
As a result, we tried to include as many different options as possible so that everyone could grade as he or she saw fit.
Unfortunately, in doing so, it became necessary to build dozens -- if not hundreds -- of obscure options and configurations. All those options and configs make this a fairly complicated module to learn and master. So the good news is that you'll be able to do just about anything you want, but the bad news is that it might be difficult to figure out how to set it up. This is certainly the single most sophisticated module in the system, with all the advantages and disadvantages that implies.
The default configurations are set in a manner that seems to reflect the most common usage of the gradebook, but you will probably want to juggle the configs to suit your own needs.
Within the gradebook module, these are some important terms you'll need to know about.
Assignment: When a student is required to perform some kind of activity -- take a test, write a paper, participate in a discussion, etc -- that activity needs to be set up as an assignment in the gradebook. Almost always, an assignment will be scored and contribute to the final grade for the student.
Online assignment: An assignment created in the Tests & Exercises module, with results automatically flowing into the gradebook as students submit it.
Manual assignment: An assignment NOT created in the Tests & Exercises module, and thus requiring you to manually enter the score. For example, a "participation" grade would be a manual assignment.
Submission: Each time one student submits one assignment, that is a submission. In some cases, a student will be able to make multiple submissions for a particular assignment.
Open: The first status (out of three) for the gradebook. This means assignments can be submitted. Final grades have not yet been calculated. This is the normal status during the semester.
Closed: The second status (out of three) for the gradebook. This means assignments can no longer be submitted. Final grades have been calculated, but not yet released to students, thus giving you the opportunity to review and edit.
Finalized: The third status (out of three) for the gradebook. This means assignments can no longer be submitted. Final grades have been issued and released to students. At this point you can transfer grades to A&R via your Faculty Portal.
Weighting: The ability to make one or more assignments worth more or less than other assignments for calculating final grades in the class. Often necessary when grading by percentages (so that a 90% on a final exam is worth more than a 90% on a quiz), but seldom used when grading by points (because the final is exam is probably worth many more points than any quiz).
Should You Use the Gradebook?
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Before proceeding, you should determine if the CATE module is the best solution to your online grading needs. In order to do so, you need to ask yourself some questions and consider the answers.
What kind of grading system are you already using?
Are you teaching an online class or a face-to-face class?
Do you expect to utilize assignments created in the CATE Tests & Exercises module?
If so, what percentage of your assignments will come from that module?
If you're teaching face-to-face, there's far less pressure to utilize an online gradebook. If you're teaching online, then you must use some means of putting your grades on the Web for students.
If you're already using some form of electronic grading system, you might be able to stick with that. For example, if you're using an Excel spreadsheet, you could continue to do so, but occasionally convert the spreadsheet file to an HTML file, upload the HTML version of the file (using the CATE File Management module), and allow students to find their grades via the last four digits of their student ID number.
If you won't be using any assignments created in the CATE Tests & Exercises module, there's much less reason to use the CATE gradebook. If, on the other hand, at least half of your assignments will come from that module, then you'll probably find it very efficient to allow submissions to be automatically graded and automatically flow into the CATE gradebook.
In the end, you'll need to decide for yourself how you want to handle your grading. If you're still unsure about how to proceed, try running a CATE gradebook in parallel with your regular grading system for a semester, and see how it works.
There is one caveat, however. Don't ever try to start using a CATE gradebook in the middle of a semester! You'll probably encounter difficulties if you try to implement the gradebook after you already have a pile of submissions and scores and grades and comments on hand. It's always best to start using the gradebook right from the beginning of the class.
A Note about the Faculty Portal
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One useful consideration involves the integration of CATE gradebooks and the Faculty Portal. If you use a CATE gradebook for a class, at the end of the semester you'll be able to click one button in your Faculty Portal to automatically transfer final grades from your CATE gradebook directly into A&R without doing any manual entry or calculations.
Other Issues to Consider in Advance
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Before you begin working on your gradebook, you need to think about some issues that are going to arise, because eventually you'll need to set these configurations to your preferences.
- Points vs Percentages. You'll need to decide how you'll do the scoring for assignment submissions. They all need to be treated the same. In addition, you'll need to match your gradebook scoring with the way you configure tests, quizzes, and exams (from the Tests & Exercises module) being used in the gradebook.
- Online assignments vs Manual assignments. Online assignments are those created in the Tests & Exercises module, and they flow into the gradebook automatically, at which point you can change the scoring, add comments, etc. Manual assignments do NOT come from the Tests & Exercises module, so you need to enter the scores yourself. Naturally, online assignments are more convenient, because everything (including scoring) can happen automatically, but you'll need to decide which kinds of assignments are most appropriate for your purposes, then set up the gradebook with the appropriate mix of assignments.
- Rounding vs Not. If it requires at least 90 percent to earn an A, but a student scores 89.5 percent, do you round up and award an A? If so, you need to set your configs accordingly, because 89.5 is not 90, and in that case, by default, the system will only award a B if an A requires a score of at least 90 percent.
- Full disclosure vs Can of worms. If it requires a score of at least 900 points to earn an A, but a student only scores 899 points, do you tell the student he or she missed an A by one point? Or do you just say, "You scored a B"? You need to decide how much about the scoring you want to reveal to your students.
- Hiding vs Revealing. You can reveal test scores to your students any time you want, but how soon do you want to do so? You probably don't want to reveal scoring while other students can still take the test. Therefore, you need to think carefully about instantly posting that information to an early test-taker, because you don't want him or her to pass along useful information to someone else who hasn't taken the test yet.
Relationships among Gradebooks and Other Components
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In order to use a CATE gradebook for a class, you must use the CATE Student Roster module for that section, which means you must also have a homepage for that section. In addition, you will almost certainly need to use the Tests & Exercises module for at least some of your assignments.
Here's a diagram showing the relationships among the various components as well as student and instructor access to gradebook data. 
The configurations you set for the gradebook will variously control the gradebook as a whole, all assignments, individual assignments, all students, individual students, and individual submissions of each assignment by each student.
Here's a diagram showing the relationships among the different kinds of data. 
Student View of Gradebook
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As noted above, you can configure your gradebook to show students as much or as little as you choose. (Of course, you can always see all the data.)
Gradebook data for students can be displayed in three separate areas:
I. Student view of gradebook for entire class
II. Student view of his/her final grade
III. Student view of his/her assignments/scores
Each of the three areas can be configured separately, so that you might show students all, some, or none of the data in each of the three areas.
Before we investigate how to set these configurations, you should study this Help document to get an idea of what is contained in each of the three areas and what options are available within each area. Keep these configs in mind -- and think about which options you prefer -- as we look at setting up the gradebook.Configuring Student View of Gradebook
Setting up and using a gradebook is dependent in part on use (and understanding) of other CATE components, so you'll need to make sure you understand material covered in previous lessons before proceeding.
If you haven't already done so, take the following steps:
- Create a section homepage
- Set the roster options and parameters
- Add a practice student to your roster
- Create at least some of your assignments with the Tests & Exercises module
With that infrastructure in place, we can begin to create and configure the gradebook itself.
We'll follow these steps:
- Create the gradebook itself
- Set configurations for the gradebook as a whole
- Add the first assignment to the gradebook
- Set configurations for that assignment
- Continue to add assignments and set their configurations
After logging into your CATE account, go to the Gradebook module. If you have any gradebooks on file, they'll be listed on the Gradebook Menu page, and you'll be able to select the corresponding radio button for any gradebook, then click the "View/Edit/Clone/Delete Selected Gradebook" button to work on that gradebook.
While it's possible to clone one of your own gradebooks (or someone else's gradebook), for our purposes we want to click the "Create a New Gradebook" button.
Upon doing so, you'll see a list of all the section homepages you currently have on file that don't already have a gradebook. (Note that each section can have only one gradebook, and each gradebook can only be used for one section.) Select the section you want to use for this gradebook by clicking the corresponding radio button.
If you already know the number of "manual" assignments you're going to need, go ahead and select that checkbox and enter the appropriate number. If you don't know how many you need, or you don't understand what this means, just leave the checkbox unselected.
When you're ready, click the "Confirm Picking Section" button.
As soon as you do so, your new gradebook will be created. Of course, you still need to configure the gradebook, then add and configure individual assignments.
Buttons, Buttons, Buttons
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Before doing any configuring, look at the buttons available on the main page for the new gradebook.
Note that some of these buttons might not appear immediately, because they will only show up when conditions are appropriate (such as when the gradebook is finalized, or when you have multiple assignments on file).
Gradebook buttons
View Gradebook: This gives you a spreadsheet view of all your assignments and all your students, along with scores and other information. Useless until you have at least one assignment and one student on file.
View Final Grades: This gives you a quick view of the final grades for all your students. Useless until you have at least one assignment and one student on file, and useless until the gradebook is finalized.
Shortcut to Section: This button takes you directly to the section (in the Section Homepage module) for this gradebook, where you'll also find shortcut buttons to the roster and gradebook.
Shortcut to Roster: This button takes you directly to the appropriate roster (in the Student Rosters module) for this gradebook, where you'll also find shortcut buttons to the section homepage and gradebook.
Grbook Menu: This button returns you to the menu of all your gradebooks.
Prev Grbook: This button takes you to the previous gradebook on file for you, if there is one.
Next Grbook: This button takes you to the next gradebook on file for you, if there is one.
Clone Grbook: This button allows you to make an exact copy of this gradebook for another section (usually of the same course) which can then be edited as desired.
Delete Grbook: This button allows you to completely and permanently delete the entire gradebook along with it all its associated scores, grades, and other data. Not usually needed, because generally you will archive, purge, and re-use your gradebooks (just like all your other class components).
Add Grbook: This button allows you to create a gradebook for another section. Same as the "Create New Gradebook" button on the main gradebook menu.
Email Grades: After your gradebook has been finalized, you can use this button to email final grades to students.
Update P/NP: In order to keep your student data synchronized, you can use this button to automatically update P/NP ("pass/no pass") information (formerly known as credit/no credit).
Back-Up: You should use this button at least once each week -- more often if you have a busy gradebook -- to have back-up copies of gradebook data emailed to your for safekeeping in case something disastrous occurs.
Archive: At the end of the semester, after finalizing your gradebook, you need to create an archival file for permanent storage of all pertinent data from the class. See the usual End-of-Semester Maintenance Procedures document for complete instructions.
Edit Gradebook Configurations: This is where you'll set the configs for this gradebook.
Assignment buttons (on main gradebook page)
Deadlines: This button gives you access to one page where you can quickly and easily edit names, deadlines, and points for all your assignments on a single screen, as opposed to going to each assignment page individually.
Edit Sequence: This feature allows you to edit the sequence of assignments within the gradebook.
Edit Weighting: Rather than going to each individual assignment to adjust settings, this routine allows you to go to one page where you can quickly and easily edit the weighting options for all your assignments on a single screen.
Add Assignment: This button allows you to add a new assignment to the gradebook.
Enter/Edit Assignment: For each assignment on file for the gradebook, a corresponding button allows you to reach the assignment to edit its configurations, enter/edit scores, etc.
Student buttons (on main gradebook page)
Hide Drops and Show Drops: You can click this button at any time, and the label changes as you toggle back and forth. When you hide dropped students, they remain on the roster but don't appear on any pages or features of the gradebook. (But in a few cases, such as backing up and archiving the gradebook, dropped students are always included regardless of the setting.) This feature is strictly for convenience in avoiding clutter on your screen.
Enter/Edit Final Grades: At the end of the class, you can use this button to view and/or adjust final grades for all students in the class on a single screen, as opposed to going to the record for each student to do so individually.
Enter/Edit Student: For each student on the roster for the class, a corresponding button allows you to reach the student to edit his or her configurations, scores, final grade, etc.
After creating the gradebook and reviewing all the buttons that appear on the main page for the gradebook, click the one labeled "Edit Gradebook Configurations." This leads to the page where you can set and adjust the configs for the gradebook as a whole (as opposed to the configs for individual assignments or students.)
We'll look at the configurations and options from top to bottom.
General configurations for the gradebook
Status of this gradebook: To begin with, the gradebook should be open. When the class ends, you need to change it to closed so you can deal with final grades and adjustments. When you're satisfied with all the grading, then you'll finalize the status so students can see their final grades.
Cloning: You can optionally allow other instructors to clone the gradebook by selecting the checkbox. This also allows other instructors to clone any online assignment (from the Tests & Exercises module) being used in this gradebook.
Scoring: Select percentages, points, or numeric equivalents. You can choose any one of the three options, but you do NOT want to change it after you've started populating the gradebook with scores. Similarly, you need to ensure that all the online assignments in this gradebook are configured to use the same kind of scoring as the gradebook itself.
Final grades: The gradebook will calculate final grades for you (although you can always adjust them), but in order to do so you must first enter the threshold (in points or percentages, depending on how you choose to do your grading) to earn a final grade of A, B, C, or D. For example, if you're grading by percentages, you'll probably enter 90, 80, 70, and 60. If you're grading by points, and students can score a maximum of 2000 points in the class, you'll probably enter 1800, 1600, 1400, and 1200.
General comments: Optionally, enter a note for all students to see whenever they access the gradebook.
Configurations for student view of the gradebook
As noted earlier, the student view of the gradebook comprises three separate areas:
I. Student view of gradebook for entire class
II. Student view of his/her final grade
III. Student view of his/her assignments/scores
Accordingly, these configurations are divided into three separate areas.
Within each of the three areas, use the radio buttons and/or checkboxes to select the options you prefer.
Be especially watchful when you select any radio button for this option: "In addition to his or her own personal scores, the student can be allowed to see some or all of the class gradebook as a whole." Depending on which button you select, various other options will instantly appear or disappear beneath the five initial radio buttons. That's because, depending on which one of the five radio buttons you pick, other sub-options might or might not be available.
The sheer number of options and sub-options can make this process a little confusing, so take your time. Using your practice student, you should log into the student view of the gradebook in another browser window. Each time you adjust the options, switch over to the student view, reload the page, and see how it changes. In this manner you can be sure to set things up the way that best suits your needs. (Note that you'll need to have at least one assignment and at least one student -- practice or otherwise -- on file in order to do this.)
If you're not sure how best to set the configs for displaying scores, grades, and comments to your students, just leave them at the default values and everything should be fine.
Links
The best thing to do here is use the corresponding radio button to select the main nav bar for this class and place it at the top of the gradebook page.
After setting all the gradebook configs to your satisfaction, click the "Confirm Editing Gradebook Configurations" button.
A gradebook is useless without assignments. To add an assignment, click the "Add Assignment" button.
Assignments come in two flavors. An online assignment is one created in the Tests & Exercises module, such as a multiple-choice quiz, and submitted via the Internet so that results flow directly into the gradebook (and are probably graded automatically). A manual assignment is one that is NOT created in the Tests & Exercises module, requiring you to manually enter scores, such as for a participation grade.
When adding an assignment to the gradebook, you can choose either "Manual Entry" or one created with the Tests & Exercises module. Click to select the corresponding radio button, then click the button labeled "Confirm Adding New Assignment." Note that you must create the online assignment in the Tests & Exercises module BEFORE it will show up on the list to be picked, so you should create all your quizzes, tests, and exams before working on your gradebook. Also note that an item created in the Tests & Exercises module can be used in any number of gradebooks, but can only be used once per gradebook. For example, "Quiz 1" could be used in gradebooks for section 1234, 1235, and 1236, but it could only be used as one assignment in the gradebook for section 1234, one assignment for the gradebook for section 1235, and one assignment for the gradebook for section 1236. It could NOT be used for two assignments in the gradebook for a section.
Be sure that the scoring selected for the test (points or percentages) in the Tests & Exercises module matches the scoring (points or percentages) selected for the gradebook.
Assignment Buttons and Data
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Before doing any configuring, look at the buttons and data available on the main page for the new assignment.
Note that some of this only appears for an online assignment, not a manual assignment, or vice versa.
Assignment buttons
Gradebook: This button takes you back to the main page for the gradebook.
Prev Assg: This button leads to the previous assignment on file for this gradebook, if there is one.
Next Assg: This button leads to the next assignment on file for this gradebook, if there is one.
Clone Assg: This button allows you to make a copy of this assignment for this gradebook. This is the equivalent of adding a new assignment, but with the same configurations (which can be subsequently edited if desired).
Delete Assg: This button allows you to completely delete the assignment, along with any submissions on file for it.
Add Assg: This button takes you to the page for adding a new assignment to the gradebook. It leads to the same page as the "Add Assignment" button on the gradebook page.
Tally: This feature gives you a snapshot of how well students performed on each question for this assignment in this gradebook. Similar to the tally feature in the Tests & Exercises module, but this only covers results in this gradebook, not elsewhere.
Edit Assignment Configurations: This button leads to the page for editing the overall configs for this assignment.
Enter/Edit Assignment Scores: This button leads to one page containing all submissions by all students for this assignment, and allows you to edit, score, and annotate all the submissions on one handy screen.
Buttons for each submission (on the assignment page)
Loads: This link launches a pop-up window with complete information for investigating submissions by a student. Useful for uncovering potential irregularities such as possible collaboration or cheating. If the "Loads" link is red, you should investigate. See further information on loads, submissions, and irregularities below.
Submissions: Each submission by each student for this assignment is listed on the page. Depending on whether it is an online assignment or a manual assignment, each line will display date and time submitted, time elapsed (in red if exceeding time limit), date and time updated, release override, raw score, penalty applied, credit applied, overall adjustment applied, total score (raw plus credit minus penalty plus or minus adjustment), whether or not the submission is being used to calculate final grade for the student, and specific comments you've written to the student
Results: You can click this button to see the exact text of the submission, with questions, answers, etc.
Enter/Edit: This allows you to edit score, penalty, credit, note, etc. It does NOT allow you to edit the actual text of the submission. This button works for one submission at a time, as opposed to the "Enter/Edit Assignment Scores" button which puts all submissions for the assignment on a single screen for bulk editing.
Delete: This button allows you to delete the entire submission, along with the score, note, etc. Of course, there should not be too many cases where you really want to delete a submission from one of your students.
Assignment Configurations
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Each assignment has its own configurations. Configs for online assignments are not quite the same as configs for manual assignments. Generally, however, all the online assignments in a gradebook will have pretty much the same configs and all the manual assignments in a gradebook will have pretty much the same configs. Of course, deadlines and accessibility dates will be different for each assignment.
Setting the configs for an assignment can be a little daunting, but the default values generally work fine, except for the deadlines and accessibility dates.
Configurations for an assignment are divided into three areas.
General configurations
Name: Enter a name. If this is an online assignment, the name here will be the same as the name given in the Tests & Exercises module, and you can edit it here or in that module. (Can also be edited for all assignments on a single screen via the "Deadlines" button on the main page for the gradebook.)
Time limit: Optionally, set a time limit. You can edit it here or in that module. Not available for manual assignments. (Can also be edited for all assignments on a single screen via the "Deadlines" button on the main page for the gradebook.)
Test accessibility: This is the "hard" deadline. Students will only be able to load and submit the assignment when permitted by this configuration. You can edit it here or in that module. Not available for manual assignments. (Can also be edited for all assignments on a single screen via the "Deadlines" button on the main page for the gradebook.)
Assignment deadline: This is the "soft" deadline. It's possible for students to miss this deadline and still submit an assignment, but it won't be used unless you specifically flag it. (Can also be edited for all assignments on a single screen via the "Deadlines" button on the main page for the gradebook.)
Number of submissions: In most cases, you will only accept one submission of an assignment, but you can configure it for multiple submissions. It's possible for students to exceed the permitted number of submissions, but extra submissions won't be used unless you specifically flag one. Not available for manual assignments.
Maximum points: This config is used (optionally) to display to students and also to help you adjust the thresholds for final grades. Only available when grading by points. (Can also be edited for all assignments on a single screen via the "Deadlines" button on the main page for the gradebook.)
Letter grades: Optionally specify thresholds for reaching A, B, C, and D based on the score in points or percentage.
Weighting: Allows you to make this assignment worth more or less than other assignments when determining final grade in the class.
General comments: You can optionally enter generic comments about this assignment for all students to see.
Global adjustment: If for some reason there's an error in the scoring for all submissions of the assignment, you can automatically adjust the scoring (plus or minus) for all submissions.
Explanation: If you use the global adjustment, you can also enter an explanation.
When to Display Scores
For the most part, you do not want to display scores for an assignment to one or more students while one or more students can still be taking the same assignment. Thus, you need to set the configuration for when you want to release scores to students. If you're unsure, leave the configs at their default values. Note that the choices for online assignments are not quite the same as choices for manual assignments, the default value is different. Also note that you can override this config on a student-by-student basis if you care to do so.
What to Display for Individual Student Scores
Not all of these configurations are available for manual assignments.
To begin with, you can decide what part(s) of the scoring (such as raw score, penalty, credit, etc) to display to each student for his or her submission(s) for this assignment.
In addition, when a student submits an online assignment, you -- the instructor -- can always see all elements of the submission: the questions, the answers given by the student, whether or not the answer was correct, etc. Most of the time, you also want to show all that information to the student. (But only at the appropriate time, which is set in the previous configuration, "When to Display Scores.")
Should you care to do so, however, you can alter these configs to show more (or less) information to students. Just use the radio buttons and checkboxes to make your choices. If you're unsure, leave the configs at their default values.
Remember there is also a gradebook-level configuration for "Allow student to see scores for his/her assignments." By default, that option is selected. If you have de-selected it, then no assignment information whatsoever will be displayed to students, regardless of the assignment-by-assignment settings.
Student Page and Configurations
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The gradebook automatically draws students from your CATE roster for the corresponding section. Therefore, to get students into your gradebook (and without students the gradebook is useless), you need to follow the usual steps to populate your CATE roster. That can be done via either of the main roster options: the check-in process or the auto-population feature.
Either way, when looking at the main page for the gradebook, under the bold "Students" heading you'll find a list of all students currently on the roster. This list looks almost identical to the list on the corresponding roster page. To the right of each student on file are two buttons.
The first button, "View Grades," allows you to see the gradebook for that student exactly as the student sees it. This can help clear up any questions or misunderstanding about what students are seeing in the gradebook.
The second button is labeled "Enter/Edit Student." If you click that button for any student, the system will take you to a gradebook page for that student. This is the page where you see your own view of the grading info for the student, and you can edit student scores and information. On the grading page you'll find all the gradebook info for that student, along with a variety of buttons and links.
Student buttons
Gradebook: This button takes you back to the main page for the gradebook.
Prev Student: This button takes you to the previous student on file for the gradebook, if there is one.
Next Student: This button takes you to the next student on file for the gradebook, if there is one.
Enter/Edit Student Scores: This button leads to one page containing all submissions by this student for all assignments, and allows you to edit, score, and annotate all the submissions on one handy screen.
Buttons for each submission (on the student page)
For each submission for each assignment for this student, the following buttons appear (depending on whether it is an online assignment or a manual assignment). These are exactly the same as when you go to an assignment page and look at the submissions from all students for one assignment. (See above.)
Loads: This link launches a pop-up window with complete information for investigating submissions by a student. Useful for uncovering potential irregularities such as possible collaboration or cheating. If the "Loads" link is red, you should investigate. See further information on loads, submissions, and irregularities below.
Submissions: Each submission by this student for each assignment is listed on the page. Depending on whether it is an online assignment or a manual assignment, each line will display date and time submitted, time elapsed (in red if exceeding time limit), date and time updated, release override, raw score, penalty applied, credit applied, overall adjustment applied, total score (raw plus credit minus penalty plus or minus adjustment), whether or not the submission is being used to calculate final grade for the student, and specific comments you've written to the student
Results: You can click this button to see the exact text of the submission, with questions, answers, etc.
Enter/Edit: This allows you to edit score, penalty, credit, note, etc. It does NOT allow you to edit the actual text of the submission. This button works for one submission at a time, as opposed to the "Enter/Edit Student Scores" button which puts all submissions for the student on a single screen for bulk editing.
Delete: This button allows you to delete the entire submission, along with the score, note, etc. Of course, there should not be too many cases where you really want to delete a submission from one of your students.
Entering/Editing Scores and Comments
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For online assignments, submissions (often scored automatically) flow directly into the gradebook. For manual assignments, you need to manually enter submissions.
In both cases, you can deal with scores, notes, etc via three different avenues:
- By clicking the "Enter/Edit" button for any submission, you can reach just that one submission
- By clicking the "Enter/Edit Student Scores" button on the page for any student, you can reach all submissions of all assignments on file for that student
- By clicking the "Enter/Edit Assignment Scores" button on the page for any assignment, you can reach all submissions on file by all students for that assignment
This gives you three different ways to handle data entry/editing: By the individual submission, by the individual student, or by the individual assignment.
That kind of flexibility makes it easy to choose the editing screen that best suits your needs.
No matter which approach you choose, the editing screen will give you the following options (which vary a little depending on whether it's an online assignment or a manual assignment).
Excuse this assg for this student: In some situations, a student might be excused from submitting an assignment, in which case you can select the corresponding checkbox. In that case, the assignment will be ignored for purposes of computing a final grade for the student.
Raw score: You can enter/edit the raw score for a manual assignment, but not for an online assignment.
Penalty: You can optionally apply a penalty to the score.
Credit: You can optionally apply a credit to the score.
Release override: The assignment-level configurations determine when the results for an assignment should be released to the student to view via the gradebook. For any assignment, you can override that config to optionally release the result immediately, not at all (until the setting is changed), or to retain the default value for the configuration. This gives you greater control over exactly when each student can see the results of his or her submissions.
Comments: Optionally, you can enter comments for the student to read about his or her submission. These comments will be released (or not) in exactly the same way as the score for the assignment. Optionally, you can paste in any text from your student (or use the "Paste Results" button to paste the actual submission), which you can then annotate. If desired, you can easily use the simplified red tag to make your annotations in red.
Use this submission: In some situations, for a variety of reasons (for example, the student missed the deadline), you might not want to use a submission from a student. In other cases (such as when a student submits an assignment more than once), you might need to specify which submission should be the one utilized for scoring and grading. The radio buttons for each submission within an assignment allow you to make the choice.
Add Submission: For an online assignment (as opposed to a manual assignment), it is expected that the student will take and submit a test created with the CATE system and the results will automatically flow into the gradebook. Under some circumstances, a student might be unable to submit an online assignment in that manner, but you might want to manually enter a score for that student for that assignment. In that case, you can click the "Add Submission" button to create an ersatz submission where you can then enter the score, etc.
In some cases, the system might flag a submission as not used. Here are some of the reasons that happen:
- The student might make the submission after the assignment deadline
- The student might make the submission after the gradebook is closed
- The student might submit the assignment more than the number of times permitted
In those cases, the student is immediately warned by the system what has happened, and that the submission will not be used unless the instructor chooses to do so.
As the instructor, you have the ability to override the system and specify that a submission actually will be used. If you care to do so, you can select the "Use" radio button (or, in some cases, checkbox) for the assignment on the editing screen (whether editing a single submission, all submissions for an assignment, or all submissions by a student). Doing so will tell the system to go ahead and use the submission.
Otherwise, if you choose not to override, the "not used" submission will simply be ignored. Depending on the exact circumstances, that probably means the student will get a zero on the assignment.
Upon conclusion of the class, you need to deal with final grades for your students.
At the point when you are no longer accepting assignment submissions and you've completed all scoring for all submissions, you must change the status of your gradebook from "Open" to "Closed". You can do so by clicking the "Edit Gradebook Configurations" button on the main gradebook page, then using the radio button under the "Status" heading to select "Closed".
Having closed the gradebook, now you can see final grades, but your students can't yet do so.
If you want, you can click the "View Gradebook" button on the main gradebook page to peruse all class scores and grades for your students in a spreadsheet-like view.
In addition, you should click the "Enter/Edit Final Grades" button on the main gradebook page. This takes you to a screen where you can see the final grading data for all students on file. For each student you can adjust overall penalty, overall credit, and/or the final grade itself. By default, the system automatically calculates the final grade for each student based on submission scores, excused assignments (if any), assignment weighting (if any), and so on, but you can override anything as you see fit.
When you have all final grades adjusted to your satisfaction, then you should change the gradebook status from "Closed" to "Finalized". As soon as you do that, your students can now see their final grades for the class via the gradebook, unless you've configured the gradebook NOT to display final grades.
With the gradebook finalized, you might also want to use the "Email Grades" utility to send each student's final grade to him or her via email.
Finally, with the gradebook finalized, you can now use your Faculty Portal to automatically transmit grades from your CATE gradebook to A&R.
Assuming that you have implemented authentication as recommended (so that students must submit a valid username and password before they can take a test), the system carefully keeps track of when students load tests and submit tests. This data can be accessed via the "Loads" link above each submission when you're viewing a single submission, all submissions for a particular assignment, or all submissions by an individual student.
The "Loads" page provides a wealth of data about exactly when and how the student went about accessing and submitting the assignment, and that information can assist you in identifying issues with student test-taking, including possible collaboration and/or cheating.
Each individual "Loads" screen contains a complete explanation.
Archive, Purge, and Re-Use
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You are required to save your gradebook data for a duration specified by the District. In order to do so, after finalizing the gradebook you must use the "Archive" button (located on the main page for the gradebook) to perform the necessary routine.
The archiving process gathers all student, scoring, and grading information for the section (including Message Board messages, activity logs, and other class-related material) and builds a consolidated archive file for the class. The archive file is saved in your CATE home directory, accessible via the File Management module.
The archive file is completely portable and completely independent of the CATE system. You can move and store the file (or copies) anywhere, and the file can be opened at any time in any browser, without an Internet connection and without a connection to the CATE system.
You should always use the archiving routine to save all data at the conclusion of a class, and retain the archive file for as long as required.
Note that the system will automatically lock you out of certain procedures -- such as purging your roster -- until the archiving procedure has been accomplished.
Also note that you should never need to create a new gradebook for an existing section. You will simply follow the usual process to archive, purge, and re-use, meaning that you can use exactly the same gradebook -- with modifications, if desired -- over and over again, semester after semester.
Study the Help module for this topic. Think of this as a chapter in your textbook.Help module
How to...Enter/Edit Assignment Scores: http://online.santarosa.edu/catedocs/howto_enter_scores.html
How to...Mix Your Comments with Student Text: http://online.santarosa.edu/catedocs/howto_mix_comments.html
How to...Edit Assignment Deadlines: http://online.santarosa.edu/catedocs/howto_edit_deadlines.html
How to...Edit Assignment Weights: http://online.santarosa.edu/catedocs/howto_enter_weights.html
How to...Finalize a Gradebook: http://online.santarosa.edu/catedocs/howto_finalize.html
How to...Archive Grades: http://online.santarosa.edu/catedocs/howto_archive_grades.html
How to...Email Grades to Students: http://online.santarosa.edu/catedocs/howto_email_grades.html
After studying all the material for this lesson, take the self-assessment quiz.CATE Online Training Quiz 12: Gradebooks
Demonstration (For face-to-face sessions)
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We'll demonstrate how a student goes through the check-in process, how you accept students into a class, and how you manage students on your CATE roster.
Lecture slides: http://online.santarosa.edu/presentation/?9918
To help you better understand the material, to integrate the different modules, and to demonstrate how an entire class can be constructed from various components, in each lesson you'll be creating a portion of a class website, so at the end of the process you'll have a complete model of an entire class.
To begin with, you should always use a practice course (such as CATE 101, ROCK 101, or BASE 101) for your exercises. After you've mastered the process and created material that's ready for your students, then you can convert your practice class into a real class that you're actually teaching and make it accessible. |
Create a gradebook for your training section and set its configurations.
Add one of your tests (from the Test & Exercise module) as an assignment.
Add a manual assignment.
Utilizing your practice student, submit a test to the gradebook.
As the instructor, enter comments (and any adjustment) for that assignment.
As the instructor, enter score (and any comments) for the manual assignment.
As the student, check your scores via the gradebook.
As the instructor, close the gradebook, deal with final grades, and finalize the gradebook.
Archive the gradebook in order to create a file as a permanent record.
Lab (For face-to-face sessions)
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We'll walk around the room and assist individually as you undertake the exercises for this material.
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WWII 101 A plain-vanilla sample class website
Rock 101 A fancier sample class website
Please provide us with comments, corrections, and/or suggestion regarding this material. Be sure to identify the lesson and the material to which you're referring.
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