Grading Software

Portfolio Page

Discuss the advantages of keeping grades on a computer versus in a paper book.

(Think about how your teachers communicate your grade to you. Do they email it,
put it on Canvas, or have you come to their office so they can show you their paper
grade book?)
Discuss and show what it means to keep grades by points as opposed to weighted
categories.
Discuss and show other features of a grading program (i.e. dropping low scores,
attendance, seating charts, statistics)

Worksheet:
Grading is inevitable for most teachers. It is a way not only to record progress and ability,
but also to motivate or punish students. Grading software is a wonderful tool to help
teachers manage their records and communicate graded performance back to their
students.
MicroGrade Workshop 1
To prepare you for the real experience of tracking grades, a simulation exercise has been
provided using MicroGrade. MicroGrade can be found under the Program menu on the Language Center
computers, in the 302 Assignments folder on your flash drive, or a free trial version can be downloaded from
MicroGrade.
For additional help see Tech Support on the MicroGrade website.
Input the data below into MicroGrade.

Category Weights
Homework
10%
Quizzes
25%
Midterms
30%
Final Test
35%
Total
100%

Fill in the blanks by using MicroGrade in these various scenarios to see how the
same numbers can be manipulated to get different grades.

1. Using the Percentage Weight of Cats and Assigns

method where the category percents are listed below and each assignment is

weighted by points. Give the final grades.

Students
Carlton, Simon
Comelately, Johnny
Fakaofaofa, Appleton
Jones, Tom
Pagulian, Sheena
Smith, Mu Jung
Zeumanu, Solovi

Letter Grade
AB+
B+
B+
B+
B
B+

Percent Grade
92.4%
89.3%
87.5%
87.8%
86.5%
83.6%
86.5

Start you name with a Z so it will always be last)

2. Keeping the same grading method as above, this time drop 1 Homework
assignment, 1 Quiz, and 1 Midterm. Give the final grades below.
Students
Letter Grade Percent Grade
Carlton, Simon
A
94.2%
Comelately, Johnny
A
95.2%
Fakaofaofa, Appleton
B+
89.6%
Jones, Tom
A92.1%
Pagulian, Sheena
A90.4%
Smith, Mu Jung
B
85.4%
Zeumanu, Solovi
B+
89.2%

3. Using the total point method, what is the final grade for each of the
students?
(Remember to undrop the dropped assignments)
Students
Letter
Percent
Total
Grade
Grade
Points
Carlton, Simon
A
93.1%
417/448
Comelately, Johnny
B+
89.3%
370/409
Fakaofaofa,
B+
88.8%
398/448
Appleton
Jones, Tom
A90.2%
404/448
Pagulian, Sheena
B
85.5%
383/448

Smith, Mu Jung
Zeumanu, Solovi

BB+

81.7%
86.4%

366/448
387/448

MicroGrade Workshop 2
Recycling skills is an important part of learning. Sometimes this happens naturally. Other
times it is by design. In this simulation, it is by design.
Often times a class begins and a few days or weeks later a new student arrives and is
enrolled in your class. Delete or remove the Green box below and then the Red box to
reveal the new students information. Add the new students information. Calculate his
grade under the different methods listed in MicroGrade Workshop 1.

MicroGrade Quiz
Once you have calculated the grades for the students in Workshops 1 & 2, use
your answers to help you as you take the MicroGrade Quiz on Canvas.

MicroGrade Quiz Score:

MicroGrade Workshop 3
MicroGrade has several other features besides grading. It can be used to setup
attendance, arrange a seating chart, or make reports.
Setup attendance using the information as follows:
a. First day of class is Jan 11, 2006 and last day is April 19, 2006
b. The class meets only on Tuesdays and Thursdays
c. Holidays (Non-School Days)
i. Jan 16, Human Rights Day

ii. Feb 20, Presidents Day

iii. Mar 27, Kuhio Day
After you have input the above information, go to the Reports menu to
Attendance Grid. Set the output to Screen. Take a screen shot of the
Attendance Grid window.

Attendance Grid Screen Shot:

Make a seating chart in MicroGrade. Use the following information.

Arrange the seats to how you would like your classroom and put a picture of
your seating chart here.

Seating Chart Screen Shot:

Many different reports can be generated in MicroGrade such as a student roster, overall
class grades, or grades by assignment. One useful report is a statistical report. Below is a
sample of a statistical report showing a class overall grades for the grading period:

Make a statistical report for the Final Test and past a copy of that report below.

Statistical Report

MicroGrade is only one of the various grading programs available. It is hope that by using
MicroGrade, you have now become a more informed consumer. You know a little bit more
behind the principles of using a grading program and what features you like. As for me,
MicroGrade meets my needs. However, I would like to have the option of automatically
lowering a score by 10% or so when I mark an assignment as turned in late. I would also
like to tie in the attendance grid to the final grade. For example, each tardy would lower
the final grade by 0.5%. This would help me as a teacher so that I didnt feel like it was me
taking off points, but rather the grading program was doing it, based on the students
action. That way I can still be the nice teacher and blame all the bad on the grading
program.
Do a web search to find out what other Grading Software is available. Report
your findings with links, prices, and what features you like. An example has
been done for you.

Findings:

MicroGrade http://www.chariot.com/micrograde/index.asp costs around

$90. Site licenses are also available for schools or departments,
bringing the cost down to about $35 per computer if 10 or more
programs are ordered. I like that low scores can be dropped or
excused and it has email capability.
http://gradelink.com/ The grade link website is a grading software
which allow teachers to grade their students from any computer
and from all over the world only when it has internet connections.
ex.

It costs $79 per month for up to 50 students. I am interested in

this software because it look so easy and that it doesnt require
anything to be installed.
Finishing Skills
Add a water mark which says Sensitive Information