DE Oracle @ UMUC

WebTycho Gradebook FAQs

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Category: » Webtycho » Gradebook-assignments-portfolio

Gradebook questions/answers are organized in the Questions Table below by category:

• General
• Setting up the Gradebook
• Managing Assignment Submissions
• Editing the Gradebook 

The Questions Table is followed by the Answers section.

TIPS

1. 1. Take a philosophical approach to using the Gradebook. If a Gradebook problem affects your or your students' ability to work, find a temporary solution (such as emailing a student's grade), then contact WebTycho Support or your Instructional Support Specialist (ISS) for help.
2. 2. Don't use the browser BACK button when navigating in the Gradebook; use the CANCEL buttons in the Gradebook interfaces instead. Replication-Save Conflicts and other problems occur more often after use of the BACK button.
3. 3. Don't double-click any Submit button in WebTycho, especially in the Gradebook.
4. 4. Reload/Refresh a page if you don't see results of submissions in any part of the Gradebook: Right-click in a blank area of the work space and on the minimenu that appears, select Reload (Netscape) or Refresh (Internet Explorer).
5. 5. Expect occasional replication delays in the Gradebook between numbered servers. However, if submitted items don't appear within an hour or so on all servers, seek help.

ANSWERS

GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. Am I correct in assuming that students see only their own grades and not the grades of their classmates? I click on Gradebook and I see the grades for the entire class.

Yes. Students just see their own portfolios and assignment folders with their own work in it.

2. Do students see the same "Gradebook" link on their class menus as I do?

No. Where you see "Gradebook" on the class menu, the student sees "Assignments Folder." See the examples to the right comparing the faculty and student views of the WebTycho class menu.

Faculty Class Menu

Student Class Menu

3. What's the difference between a student's "Assignments Folder" and "Portfolio"?

All students have both an "Assignments Folder" and a "Portfolio" link on their class menus.

Assignments Folder is a location that displays a list of the individual assignments not yet graded by the instructor and gives students the means to submit those assignments via links to assignment forms created by the instructor in the Gradebook area. The instructor "places" assignments in students' assignments folders by selecting the Yes radio button in the field, Make available in students' assignment folders? in the Create Assignment form.

Only the individual student and the instructor can see the work submitted in an Assignments Folder. It does NOT normally list assignments that are to be turned in in public (conferences) or semipublic (study groups) parts of the classroom.

Before an individual assignment is graded, it is listed in a student's Assignments Folder, with a notation as to its status (see sample below). AFTER an instructor grades an assignment, it moves to the student's Portfolio and is no longer listed in the Assignments Folder.

Portfolio is a location that records each student's completed activities in the classroom. It includes individual assignments turned into the Assignments Folder ONLY AFTER the instructor has graded the assignments and they are therefore no longer available in a transition status in their Assignments Folders. Once an assignment is graded, the assignment, plus grade, plus any comments or attachments added by the instructor, are available in the student's Portfolio. The faculty member may see each student's portfolio via the name link (lefthand column) in the Gradebook, or via the Portfolio link in the Class Member's list.

4. Can I see what my students see in their Assignment Folders?

On request from faculty, the WebTycho developers have created a link for instructors to see how their class Assignments Folders look from a "student" perspective.

Go to Faculty Center and look for Gradebook/Preview Student Assignments Folder.

This "preview" is Read-Only. Return to Gradebook to create/edit/grade assignments.

The student assignment folder looks similar to the example shown below. As students turn in their assignments and instructors Mark them As Read, the Status column changes.

Once the instructor grades an item, it disappears from the assignment folder altogether, but appears in Portfolio with grade and any comment or attachment added by the instructor.

5. How do I see what students see in their Portfolios?

The students' portfolios are available to you in two places:

1. In the Gradebook itself, click on the students names to go to their portfolios.
2. In the Class Members list, there is a "portfolio" link for each student.

(Students see a Portfolio link on their main class menu as well as only their own "Portfolio" link in the Class Members list.)

QUESTIONS ABOUT SETTING UP THE GRADEBOOK

1. What is the difference between creating an assignment item as "AVAILABLE in students' assignment folders: YES/NO"?

Differences include how assignments are viewable to students and how you grade them. Student view of/access to assignments

1. "Available" Gradebook items. Those assignments you create as "available" appear as an item in a list in the students' personal Assignment Folders. These are items that are privately viewed by the student and you only, and the student will submit the item in effect as a "response" to your available item in the Assignment folder. In fact, the student cannot submit a private assignment if there is no corresponding Gradebook item that has been made "available."
2. "Unavailable" Gradebook items. Those assignments you create as "unavailable" are those you will base on public or semipublic conference or study group work. They are not individually submitted by students in their private Assignment Folders, and therefore you shouldn't create an item as "available" that students won't be expected to submit in the assignment folder.

Grading/commenting on assignments

1. "Available" Gradebook items. Once the student has submitted an assignment in the assignment folder, the instructor will access the assignment for each student by clicking on the given assignment "tab" in the Gradebook, and then on a "View" link that appear's for each student's submission. You will generally enter the grade from within your view of the student's assignment submission form rather than in "Edit All Grades" mode.
   
   When you enter a grade/short comment in the View mode, it will appear in the student's portfolio (and at the same time, the item will disappear from the student's assignment folder). You may also attach a file complete with lengthy/substantive edits/ comments in the View mode, which will be available to a student when s/he clicks on the assignment title link in her/his portfolio.
   
   
2. "Unavailable" Gradebook items. You enter the grades for these "unavailable" items by clicking on the Gradebook tab for the item, then on the "Edit All Grades" link and type in the grades for each student down the list based on your personal notes about their contributions in the (semi)public areas of the classroom. When you enter a grade, it appears in the students' assignment portfolio. This can be accompanied by a short comment, but save long comments (as on group work) for the actual assignment submission in the study group (or conference) area.

2. Multipart assignment: I compile the "Homework" item of my final course grade based on several separate activities, including both conference responses and assignments to be turned into the assignment area. How shall I create that item in my class Gradebook?

You have several choices.

1. You can break up the grade into its component parts and create separate Gradebook entries, each worth a smaller proportion of the final grade.
   1. When you create the Gradebook entries for the portions of the assignment that students will turn into the assignment area, select to make the item(s) available in the students' assignments folders.
   
   
   2. When you create the Gradebook entries for the portions of the assignment that students will complete in the conference (or webliography or study group) portions of the WebTycho classroom, select to create the Gradebook item as not available in the students' assignments folders. (You will enter the grade for these within the Gradebook area itself: select the correct assignment tab, then "Edit all grades.")
2. You can create one tab, not available in the students' assignments folders, that represents the combined total of all the portions of the assignment, regardless of where in the class the assignment the various portions of the assignment are completed. Then, separately, create Gradebook entries only for those portions of the grade to be turned into the assignment folder, and give them a value of 0 points and 0 weight. (This is necessary to enable students to be able to turn the work into the assignment folder.)
   
   Option 2 may be most useful if it is difficult for any reason to assign separate point values to the subassignments that contribute to the grade of the assignment item overall.

3. Multidate assignment: I have an article review assignment that all students complete -- but at different times during the semester. What date do I give the Gradebook item?

Since you are required to enter a specific date for the assignment, and the due dates will vary, you will have to select only ONE due date when creating the Gradebook item. You cannot create assignment items for just a few of the students at a time.

How carefully you have to explain that single date to students will depend on whether or not you want the students to turn in the assignment in the assignment folder or elsewhere, such as in a conference or study group. If the assignment won't be available in the assignment folder, the students won't see the date you assigned to the assignment and so it won't concern them.

4. I want students to post an assignment to a conference so that their classmates can comment. Do I need to set up the Gradebook so that they also need to post the same assignment again in their "Assignment Folders" so I can grade them in the Gradebook and have their grades show up in their portfolios?

NO, double-posting of conference assignments is not necessary or advised. You can grade items "not available" in students' assignment folders via "Edit All Grades" in the Gradebook tab for the item. Once you enter the grades, they show up both in your Gradebook AND separately in each student's individual portfolio.

In fact, for assignments you wish to have students share with each other in the conference area, make sure your corresponding Gradebook item is NOT available to students, or the message from you is confusing, since they will see that item in their Assignment Folder/task manager: Seeing it there, they may wonder, Do you mean them to submit the assignment in the conference area as you instructred elsewhere, or do you mean them to submit the assignment in the Assignment Folder, or both? Besides being confusing, this is unnecessary work for the students.

5. Do students need to post a group assignment both in the group area and in their "Assignment Folders" so the work is available to the group but I can place grades in the Gradebook that will show up in the students' portfolios?

NO, double-posting of group assignments is not necessary or advised. As in the answer above, you can grade items that are designated "not available" in students' assignment folders via "Edit All Grades" in the Gradebook tab for the item. Once you enter the grades, they show up both in your Gradebook AND separately in each student's individual portfolio.

Not only can the double-posting be confusing and a nuisance to students, it complicates the instructor's ability to give a detailed response to the group assignment and do so efficiently. If the assignment is posted in the study group area, the instructor can, if applicable, download it as a file, make extensive comments and reupload it as an attachment and only have to do this once. S/He can also make extensive comments in the text field of the group area where the assignment is returned. Once the group assignment has been commented on and graded and returned in the study group area, the instructor can in a few minutes give the appropriate grade in the Gradebook to each of the students involved in the group work, which will then appear in their portfolios.

QUESTIONS ABOUT MANAGING ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSIONS

1. How do I locate and access the students' assignment submissions?

Click on Gradebook, then on the tab heading of the assignment. For each student who has submitted the assignment, there is a "View" link that allows you to access and manage the assignment submission.

2. How do I halt student submissions after the due date of an assignment?

There is no way in the Gradebook this semester to "lock out" student submissions of assignments in their Assignment Folders after the due date. You'll have to look at the creation date (or the "last edited" date if there is one) of the assignment to determine if it was submitted in time.

For those students who HAVE submitted an assignment in question, please be aware that students can continue to submit and edit and resubmit their work until you mark their submissions as "READ."

If you want a quick reference for who submitted an assignment by the due date, you can print the Gradebook tab item for the grade, which clearly shows "not submitted" for those who have not turned in the assignment.

3. Are students able to continue to edit their assignments after they submit for grading?

Yes. Unlike the old Gradebook, assignments now remain accessible to students after they submit them for grading. The only way to prevent further access to assignments is to mark them as "Read."

If you are concerned about being dishonest to mark READ when you haven't yet actually read the assignments, you can either pay close attention to the "last edited" date on the assignment submissions in lieu of marking as Read, or when marking as Read, inform the students that "READ" is a shorthand for "ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT."

4. How do I mark an assignment as Read"?

Click on Gradebook-->the Assignment Tab-->View-->Mark as Read.

Unfortunately, this semester you will have to do this student by student. Marking an assignment as Read will terminate a student's ability to continue to edit the document.

5. How do I grade and provide substantive feeback on an assignment submitted as a file attachment?

Please see the page, "How to Manage Assignments and Grading in WebTycho": http://info.umuc.edu/de/ezine/how_to/assign_n_grade.htm.

6. How can I remove or replace a file attachment I uploaded in error to a student's assignment page?

Once you have uploaded a file as an attachment, it is available in Edit mode in the assignment page, with a check box to mark it for deletion.

Select to View the assignment again, then select to Edit Grade. Scroll down to the bottom of the assignment page, for a section titled "Mark Attachments for Deletion." There, you should see an icon for the student's original file and an icon for the file you attached.

If you do not see your attached file, right-click in the assignment page and select to Reload/Refresh the frame/page.

When you see the icon and checkbox for your file attachment, click in the checkbox to mark the file for deletion. You can then scroll up to select another attachment to upload, if you wish. Then submit. The file submitted in error will be deleted (and a new file, if selected for attachment, will be uploaded).

7. How can I change the status of an assignment that I marked "Return to Student Ungraded" so that I can now grade it?

Companion question, "A student attached the wrong document in an assignment. (I have already marked it as Read.) How does the student resubmit the correct attachment?

There is one assignment form that trades back and forth between "owners." An assignment's "ownership" governs its editability; this resides in one person at a time and trades back and forth between student and instructor, even though both may be able to read it.

• Until the instructor marks an assignment as Read or Graded, ownership and editability resides with the student.
• Once the instructor marks it as Read or Graded, the instructor acquires ownership and editability.
• When the instructor marks an assignment "Return to student ungraded," ownership and editability reverts to the student.

In order for a student to edit/resubmit an assignment already marked Read or Graded, the instructor must return the assignment to the student.

• Go to Gradebook and the assignment tab and "View" the assignment
• Select "Return to student ungraded" (you will have a chance to note why --e.g., student uploaded wrong file) and submit.
• Email the student to let him/her know s/he can now reaccess the assignment.

In order for an instructor to edit/(re)enter a grade or attachment on an assignment that has been returned to a student, the student must resubmit the assignment for grading.

QUESTIONS ABOUT EDITING GRADEBOOK SETUP

1. 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.)

2. How do I edit a Gradebook item?

Click on the Gradebook/View All Assignments.

Click on the short title of the assignment in the lefthand column, which opens the Gradebook item in edit mode.

After editing the weight, available/unavailable status, instructions, etc., click Submit.

3. How do I delete a Gradebook item?

Click on Gradebook-->View All Assignments.

Click on the short title of the assignment in the lefthand column, which opens the Gradebook item in edit mode.

In edit mode there is a button to Delete Assignment.

4. An assignment is out of date order in the assignment list. Can I reorder the list?

No, for the 0209 semester, it is not possible to reorder assignment entries. (Think through all assignments before starting to create the Gradebook items. The last item entered should appear last on the list of assignments.).

There are a number of issues related to assignment order in the Gradebook this first term of Gradebook use. The programmers are working on these.