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Gradebook: Q&As for Setting up Assignments

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Category: » Webtycho » Gradebook-assignments-portfolio

The Questions list here is followed by the Answers section. See also FAQs/Q&As related to

• student views of Assignments/Gradebook
• managing student assignment submissions
  

For basic instructions on creating assignments, see the WebTycho Faculty Guide/Create Assignments HELP pages.

ANSWERS 

Is there a deadline for setting up the Gradebook in my WebTycho classroom?

There is no uniform deadline for setting up the Gradebook in WebTycho; however, the earlier before/during the semester, the better, for several reasons:

• Students cannot submit any individual/private assignment unless the instructor has first created the assignment and made it "Available" in the students' Assignments Folders.
• Many adult students like to get started on assignments early. Since the Gradebook Assignment entry CAN be used as a repository for students' private drafts before submission, instructors should create Assignments and make them available to students well in advance of due dates.
• Students' most frequently asked questions regarding assignments concern locating them when instructors have not yet created them or made them available in their Assignments Folders.
• Creation of the entire Gradebook before the start of the semester not only helps clarify students' expectations and avoid some anxiety about assignments, but it also frees up the instructor's time for active management of classroom dynamics once the semester begins.

Do students see a "Gradebook" link on their WebTycho class menu, as I do?
 

NO. Where instructors see "Gradebook" on the class menu, students see "Assignments Folder" (see menu examples at right); HOWEVER, the two areas are NOT IDENTICAL in appearance or function !!!!

Students' Assignments Folders function as a creation center and "drop box" for private, individual assignments. They list only the items instructors have selected in Manage Gradebook to be "Available" there, i.e., as items students should submit privately.

Each item in the students' Assignments lists (see sample below) has a link that opens a text submission form, similar to a Conference topic creation form. The student can type or paste text in the form and/or attach a file and then save or submit for grading. The WebTycho User Guide provides Student Instructions for Assignments.

How do I get started setting up my Gradebook?

The basic concepts of setting up your Gradebook aren't difficult. The instructions are available in the WebTycho Faculty Guide.

It's usually helpful to have handy the project descriptions and grading information of your completed syllabus. Select the Gradebook link on your WebTycho class menu. Create assignments using the Create Assignment link on either the main Gradebook page ("Overview") or the Manage Assignments page.  Follow your Syllabus as a guide for the number and type of assignments to create. 

Editing and deleting can be done, as needed, through the links in the Manage Assignments page of the Gradebook. 

You can also begin in your online classroom's Faculty Center, and select Gradebook/Manage/ from where you can create new assignments, edit previously created or imported assignments, and delete assignments, as desired.

I imported my Gradebook from last term and I can see all the assignments; why can't students see them?

When importing a Gradebook from a previous semester's classroom, by default, ALL entries are imported as being NOT AVAILABLE in students' Assignments Folders. Instructors can see them to edit them, but students cannot. You must edit EACH assignment that you wish students to submit privately in the Gradebook to make the item AVAILABLE to students.

To edit the assignments to make them Available in students' Assignments Folders, in your WebTycho classroom,

• Select Gradebook / Manage Assignments
• Select the Edit link to the left of the Assignment title
• Scroll down to the section of the Assignment form entitled "Do you want this assignment to be available in student Assignment Folders?" and select the radio button for YES.
• Submit.

How does my grading method (% or points) for an assignment relate to its weight as a percentage of total grade?

When selecting the Grading Method when creating a new assignment, consider the single assignment separately from it's weight of the overall grade to decide if you will wish to grade it out of 100 (i.e., as a percentage) or out of some other number of points (e.g., a maximum of 5 or 40 or 156 points, etc., that you will award for the assignment). Your grading method should reflect your choice.

To assign a grade in percentages, the Percentage radio button should be selected (it is the default), and do NOT type in any points, since the default is already 100.

To assign a grade in points, select the Points radio button and then type in the total maximum points for the assignment:

Incorrect:

As set up in this example, the net worth of the assignment as part of the total grade is .025 rather than the .05 that is intended.

Do NOT use the Grading Method section as a means to calculate the percentage that the assignment will contribute to the final grade. Do that separately in the "assign a weight" section of the form.

The "assign a weight" section of the Create Assignment form should reflect the grading weights noted in your syllabus, e.g., those shown in red below:

Note: When you enter assignment weights in the Create Assignment forms, the weights as a percentage will appear for you in the header row of your Gradebook Overview. Students will not generally see an overview table of all assignments and their weights in WebTycho, except in the syllabus, until all individual and group and participation items have been graded. Then, the students' Portfolios will show all the completed and graded assignments, including their weights as a percentage of the final grade.

WebTycho will apply and calculate grading weights to all graded assignments when you select to Compute All Grades in the Gradebook. In order to use the Compute All Grades feature of the Gradebook, the weights of all assignments (as shown at the bottom of the Manage Assignments page) must total 100.

Will my students know whether my grading is designated in % or points?

Student will see indicators of your grading method in the individual assignment form itself as well as in their portfolios after you grade the assignment, but not in table form in their Assignments Folders. If you choose percentage as the grading method, the student will see "%" next to the grade in the grade cell in his/her Portfolio's Graded Assignments table. If you choose points, the student will see the grade as a fraction (e.g., 48/50) in the Portfolio's grade box.

For both methods, the instructor will see numbers in the Overview tables for all students' grades and will have to remember whether the number represents a percentage or fraction of total number of points, or refer to the Manage Assignments page. However, in the instructor's individual grading form for each student's work for the assignment, the table at the head of the form indicates Grading Method as either "%" or total number of points available for the assignment, as established when the assignment was created in the Gradebook.

Why have a choice to "Make this assignment available in students' Assignment Folders"? Wouldn't I want to make ALL assignments available in students' Assignment Folders?

Whether or not to make an assignment "available in students' Assignments Folders" is an issue of (a) access permissions and (b) turn-in location. What is made available in the students' Assignments Folders gives them a location to turn in assignments privately such that only the student who submits work and the instructor(s) can read it. Think of the Assignments Folder simply as a creation location and a "private drop box" for students' individual work.

This generally does not include group assignments that are turned in/collected in the Study Groups conference or collaborative documents areas; nor does it include public class participation that is conducted in Conferences. Making these kinds of graded items "available in students' Assignments Folders" tends to confuse students, who wonder if they are being asked to create or turn in these assignments twice.

Note: "Availability" of assignments in students' Assignments Folders does not affect an instructor's ability to grade them.

Is it okay to leave the due date blank?

It is generally most helpful to students' to include a due date for individual assignments if you know them during assignment set-up.  Assignments are ordered in the students' Assignments Folders first by due date, if provided, so students know in which order to work on them.  If you do not enter a due date, the assignments will appear in the order they were entered into the gradebook by the Faculty.  For example, if you enter a midterm exam and then a second week assignment, they will appear in that order.  But if you include due dates for these assignments, they will be ordered by date due, in chronological order so that the earliest due date will appear first, e.g., second week first and then the midterm.

Note: You may reorder assignments in the Gradebook "Manage" view: this affects the order of assignments as they appear in your Gradebook and as they appear in students' Assignments Folders, unless due dates are included, in which case chronological order by due dates supercedes any other order.

Do the students' Assignments Folders work about the same as my Gradebook?

Students' "Assignments Folders" ARE NOT FUNCTIONALLY OR VISUALLY EQUIVALENT to the instructor's "Gradebook":

• Grades do not appear in Assignments Folders at all; grades appear to students only in their Portfolios.
• The Assignments Folder provides a list of links to turn in private assignments only; it is not intended to provide an overview of the term's work (as the Syllabus does). Once graded, assignment items disappear from students' Assignments Folders, to reappear in their Portfolios with grades/comments.
• There are no "tabs" in Assignments Folders equivalent to what instructors see in Gradebook to distinguish assignments.

Once you have set up your Gradebook, go to Faculty Center-->Gradebook row-->Preview Student Assignment Folder to see how it appears to your students. Just remember that whereas your "Preview" is static, the students' folders are dynamic and should, in fact, be blank by the end of the semester after all assignments have been turned in and graded.

How would I set up class participation and study group assignments as distinct from individual assignments?

Since students generally submit private, public, and semi-public assignments in three different locations in their online classrooms, the assignment setup should reflect this:

1. Private, individual assignments (e.g., papers, exams, problem sets, etc.) are turned in via the students' Assignments Folders. No one but the creator and instructor(s) can access/view these assignments.
   Make this type of assignment "Available in students' Assignments Folders.


2. Public / participation assignments are submitted as topics, responses, or asides in the Conferences (e.g., topical discussions, article reviews, and sometimes problem sets or other assignments the instructor chooses to have students submit publicly). All class members can access/view (and respond to) all student work posted in the Conferences area.
   
   
   • Do not make this assignment type "Available in students' Assignments Folders."
   • When students see a link for a public assignment in their Assignments Folders, they are often confused as to whether the instructor intends for the assignment to be submitted privately there or publicly in a Conference.
   • The instructor can still give a private grade for discussion participation (or other publicly submitted work) via the "Edit all Grades" link in the Gradebook tab view for that public assignment.
     
3. Semi-public study group assignments are created by student teams within a Study Group area. Only Study Group members and instructors can see work submitted there, either in the group's Collaborative Documents or Conferences areas. One of these areas is therefore the appropriate location to have students turn in their group work, and it is least confusing for students.
   
   
   • Do not make this assignment type "Available in students' Assignments Folders.
   • If students place the final version of the assignment in the designated Study Group location, that is also the easiest place for the instructor to return comments, since s/he need do so only once. However, s/he will need to provide the grade for the assignment to each member of the Study Group separately via Edit All Grades in the Gradebook in order for the students to see the grades in their Portfolios. The instructor may return a standard note, such as, "See study group topic for comments," in the Comments field of the Gradebook item.

How do I edit the title (or tab) of an assignment?

Unfortunately, the only way to change the title (or tab) of an assignment is to delete the assignment and recreate it. (The title and tab of an assignment are working online database markers, which is why you can't change these; likewise, deletion of the assignment item deletes the entire database for that assignment.)

Can I edit a Gradebook item after students have started submitting assignments?

Can I reimport a Gradebook item after students have submitted assignments?