EXAMS IN THE GENESIS GRADEBOOK

Transcription

1 EXAMS IN THE GENESIS GRADEBOOK I. Introduction to Exams in the Genesis Gradebook II. Steps to Grading Exams in Genesis III. Setting Up Exams A. Selecting the Averaging Method for an Exam B. Adding Sections to an Exam C. Modifying Exam Sections D. Removing Exam Sections IV. Copying Exams from Class to Class V. Grading Exams VI. Curving Exam Grades VII. Viewing Exam Summary Information VIII. Posting Exam Grades to the Report Card Grading Module I. Introduction to Exams in the Genesis Gradebook What is an Exam? An Exam is a major test that is outside of any marking period, is separately reported to the Report Card Grading system in Genesis, typically appears as a separate grade on students report cards, and can consist of one or more independently graded sections. Where do the Exams come from? Exams are defined by the Grading Administrator in the Genesis Grading module. The Gradebook looks into the Grading module and finds the following information for all courses: All Marking Periods that apply to each course All Exams that apply to each course All of the information is imported into the Gradebook at the time each course is setup. not define these things to the Genesis Gradebook. You do Can I create my own Exams? You cannot create your own Exams. You setup Exams that already pre exist. Exams can only be created in the Genesis Grading module by the Grading Administrator and, in the Gradebook, you can only setup the Exams that already pre exist for each course. The Gradebook shows you only those Exams which correspond to each course. What does an Exam consist of? An Exam in the Gradebook consists of one or more separately graded sections, plus a method of computing the Exam average. An Exam must have at least one section (or else it cannot be graded). You can have as many sections as you need (e.g. multiple choice, writing, oral presentation, etc.). Exams also get a special section called Curve which allows you to curve the calculated Exam final grades. 12/13/2007 Page 1 of 19

2 What is an Exam Section? An Exam Section is similar to an Assignment. It is an independently graded portion of an Exam. It can be graded by either a numeric or alpha grade and is worth a specific number of points (e.g. 100). Each Exam must have at least one section. You create the sections on the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup screen. What is the Exam Average? The Exam Average is the final grade for the Exam that is reported to the Genesis Grading module (and which ultimately appears on a student s report card). If an Exam only has one section, then the grade for that section is the Exam Average and the final grade for the Exam. If there are two or more Exam sections, they must be averaged together to produce the final grade for the Exam the Exam Average. How is the Exam Average computed? Genesis Gradebook provides you with 3 different mechanisms for computing the Exam Average from the scores of the individual Exam sections: 1. Total Points. The sum of the student s scores is divided by the sum of the maximum points for each section (Earned points/attempted points). 2. Weighted Sections. A percentage value is set for each Section. The Exam Average is computed by weighting the score for each section by the weight of the section. (E.g. oral presentation is worth 50%, multiple choice section is worth 50%). 3. Simple average: a sum of the section scores divided by the number of sections. Scores for all sections are summed up and divided by the number of sections. You choose which of the three mechanisms you want to use for each Exam. You can modify your choice at any time and Genesis will recalculate the Exam scores. What about curving the Exam grades? There is a special section added to each Exam called Curve which allows you to curve the students Exam grades in any way you choose. Exam Related Screens There are three Exam related screens in the Gradebook: 1. Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams 2. Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade 3. Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen: This screen displays a course roster and an Exam spreadsheet giving a summary of the Exam grades for all students in the class. This is the first screen that appears when you navigate to the Gradebook Gradebook Exams tab. The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade screen: This screen allows you to grade Exam sections. It is similar but not identical to the Grade Assignment screen. The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup screen: This is the screen on which you create and manage Exam sections and specify how to compute the Exam grade average (if there is more than one section to the Exam). Viewing Overall Exam Status The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen (shown below) displays overall current Exam status for a selected course/section. It lists the student roster and displays a summary of Exam section grades as well as the computed final grade for the Exam ( Exam Average ). Further details are given in Section V below. 12/13/2007 Page 2 of 19

3 Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams When grading is open and an Exam grade is being collected, a message is displayed. Figure 1 The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams summary screen before any Exam has been either set up or graded How do I know when an Exam grade is being collected so it can be recorded in students permanent record and printed on report cards? When grading is open and the Exam grade is being collected, a This Exam Grade is currently being collected message appears immediately below the name of the Exam: When this message does not appear, grading is not open for that Exam. You may still setup the Exam and enter grades. The grades will be copied from your Gradebook to the Grading module later, when grading is open. 12/13/2007 Page 3 of 19

4 II. Steps to Grading Exams in Genesis There are 3 steps to Grading Exams in Genesis. Step 1 is to setup the Exam you wish to grade. Step 2 is to grade it and Step 3 is to post (or report) the Exam grades to the Report Card Grading module during a grade collection (e.g. when MP2 and MidTerm Exam grades are collected). Step 1: Setup your Exams (Create Exam Sections) All of a course section s Exams are listed on the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup screen. Before you can grade an Exam, you must set it up. Setting it up means doing two things: Creating the Exam sections that you will grade Selecting an averaging method to compute the final grade for the Exam. To begin setting up exams, do the following: 1. Navigate to the Gradebook Gradebook spreadsheet screen. Select the course section for which you wish to setup Exams. 2. Click on the Exams third level tab. This brings up the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen. 3. Click on the Exams fourth level tab. This brings up the screen. You should now see a list of all of the Exams targeted to the currently selected course section (see Section III. A. below for details). To setup an Exam you must decide how many Exam sections your Exam consists of. What is the format of the test you are giving to your students? How many sections of an Exam do you need? How will you average the Exam section grades together to produce a final grade for the Exam? Step 2: Grade the Exam Sections To grade the Exam sections, do the following: 1. Navigate to the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade spreadsheet/grading screen. 2. Select the Exam section you want to grade. Click in the column for that Exam section. 3. Grade the section (See Section IV below). 4. Save the grades for each Exam section. Once grades for Exam sections have been entered, you may view a summary of all Exam grades and averages for your class by viewing the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen. This is a view only screen. Optional Step 2a: Curve the Exam Grades To curve the Exam grades, do the following: 1. Go to the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade spreadsheet/grading screen. 2. Identify the Curve column. Click in the column. This brings you to the same Exam grading screen as before only now you are curving the Exam grades rather than section grades. 3. Save the curved values. Step 3: Post the Exam Grades (i.e. Exam Average) during Marking Period Grade Posting. To post Exam grades, do the following: 1. When grade posting is open for a Marking Period, Navigate to the Gradebook Gradebook spreadsheet screen. 2. Click on the Grading is open for message at the top of the spreadsheet. This brings up the usual Grade Posting screen. 12/13/2007 Page 4 of 19

5 3. The Update All Grades button at the top of the Gradebook Grade Posting screen now copies both the students Marking Period Average and any Exam Grades into the proper fields in the Gradebook Grade Posting screen. 4. Click Save (when you are done with Grade Posting) to save the exam grades along with Marking Period grades and comments. The score modifier globally changes all values in the Curve column. The Curve column. Place you initial curving value in the top field and click All. Figure 2 - The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade screen illustrating the Curve feature. 12/13/2007 Page 5 of 19

6 III. Setting Up Exams A. Selecting the Averaging Method for an Exam Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup Select the method by which to calculate the final grade for the Exam (i.e. the Exam Average) and click on the Save icon. Figure 3 The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup screen before any Exam section has been created illustrating the selection of the Averaging Method for the Exam Averaging Method for an Exam If your Exam is to have more than one section, you must specify how you wish the various sections to be averaged together to create the Exam Average or final grade for the Exam. There are three options (see Section I above): 1. Earned Points/Attempted Points This is the total points method. Each Exam section is worth a specified number of points. The Exam Average is computed from a simple sum of the Attempted Points (sum of maximum point value of all Exam sections) and sum of Earned Points (the sum of the student s scores). The total Earned Points is divided by the total Attempted Points. 2. Exam Section Weighting Percentages This is the Weighted Section method. The student s score for each Exam section is multiplied by the percentage of the final grade for the Exam that the Exam section is worth. The sum of the weighted scores is divided by the sum of the weights. 3. Earned Points/Total Exam Sections This is the Simple Average method. The student s scores are summed up and divided by the count of Exam sections. 12/13/2007 Page 6 of 19

7 Selecting Averaging Method The default averaging method is Total Points. To select a different averaging method, do the following: 1. Navigate to the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup screen. 2. Locate the Calculate <exam> Exam Final Grade by field at the left side of the Exam setup screen. 3. Select the averaging method you wish to use from the drop down list. 4. Click the Save disk icon directly next to the drop down list to make your choice permanent. You may change the averaging method as often as you wish to view the results of the different methods on the students Exam grades. 12/13/2007 Page 7 of 19

8 B. Adding Sections to an Exam Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup To add a section to your exam, click the Add New Section to Exam. E.g. Add New Section to Midterm Exam Figure 4 The Add an Exam Section popup is displayed Exam Sections Exams must have at least one section to be graded: you can create as many sections as you need (e.g. Oral Presentation, Multiple Choice, Written Essay ). Each section can be separately graded using a different grading type, if you desire. Create an Exam Section To create an Exam section, click on the Add New Section to Exam button for the Exam to which you wish to add a section. You must enter the following fields: Section Name This is the name or description of the Exam section (e.g. Oral Presentation ) Maximum Possible Points This is number of points the Exam section is worth. Grading Type You have a choice of Numeric or Alpha grading and can alter this at any time. Percentage of Exam This is the percentage of the overall Exam grade that this section is worth. This is applicable if the Exam s final grade (i.e. the Exam Average ) is calculated by Weighted Sections. Sequence # This simply orders the appearance of the Exam sections in the list. Click the OK button to create the Exam section. If you do not enter information into the popup, Genesis Gradebook creates an Exam section with default values. 12/13/2007 Page 8 of 19

9 C. Modifying Exam Sections Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup To modify an Exam section, edit the fields you wish to change and click on the corresponding Save icon. Figure 5 To modify an Exam section, type directly into the fields and click the Save icon Modifying an Exam Section All parts of a section s definition can be modified (including Grading Type). To modify an Exam section, make your changes directly into the Exam section s fields and then click the Save disk icon to make the changes permanent. You may change the following fields: Section Name This is the name or description of the Exam section (e.g. Oral Presentation ) Maximum Possible Points This is number of points the Exam section is worth. Grading Type You have a choice of Numeric or Alpha grading and can alter this at any time. Percentage of Exam This is the percentage of the overall Exam grade that this section is worth. This is applicable if the Exam s final grade (i.e. the Exam Average ) is calculated by Sequence # This simply orders the appearance of the Exam sections in the list. You must click the Save disk icon to make any change permanent. 12/13/2007 Page 9 of 19

10 D. Removing Exam Sections Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup To delete an Exam section, simply click on the corresponding trashcan Delete icon. Figure 6 An Exam section is deleted by clicking on the corresponding trashcan icon Removing an Exam Section To remove an Exam section, click the Delete trashcan icon that corresponds to the Exam section you want to delete. There is no UNDO and removing an Exam section is permanent. WARNING: If you have already graded the Exam section you remove you will lose all the associated student grades: if you accidentally delete the wrong section, you will have to re enter the deleted grades. E. A Completed Exam Definition Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams Figure 7 - The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen with a fully defined but not yet graded Exam Once you have completed setting up an Exam, a column appears for each Exam section, other columns appear for the Exam Average or computed grade, a curving value and the Exam s Final Grade. Final Grade here means the grade that will be reported to the Grading module for this Exam. 12/13/2007 Page 10 of 19

11 IV. Copying Exams from Class to Class Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup All your course sections are listed here. Select the one to which you wish to copy the Exam. Then click Copy. Figure 8 The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Setup screen illustrating the Copy this exam setup to control Copying Exam Setups from Class to Class This tool allows you to setup your Exam once and then copy it to your other course sections. Procedure to Copy an Exam from Class to Class Once you have completed setting up the Exam, you may copy it to additional course sections. 1. Locate the Copy this exam setup to control immediately beneath the list of exam sections. 2. Select the course section to copy the Exam to. 3. Click the Copy button. 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to copy the Exam to additional course sections. 12/13/2007 Page 11 of 19

12 V. Grading Exams A. Getting to the Grade Exam Section Screen Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams To grade a section or curve the Exam click on the corresponding highlighted column header. Figure 9 - The Exams Exams screen. To grade an Exam Section or Curve the Exam, click on the corresponding highlighted column header. Getting to the Grade an Exam Section or Curve Exam Screen From the screen, to bring up the Grade an Exam Section screen, simply click on the highlighted column header for the Exam section you wish to grade. This will bring up the Exams Grade grade Exam Section screen shown below in Figure 12. Once on the Exams Grade screen, you can navigate between Exam sections simply by clicking in the column of the section you wish to grade. To curve the Exam, you can use the Score Modifier tool that appears at the upper left of the Exams Grade screen. This activates the Curve column as discussed in Section VI, Curving Exam Grades below. 12/13/2007 Page 12 of 19

13 B. Grading an Exam Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade Note the Score Modifier or curving tools. All Exam sections are listed here. Click in the column of the section you wish to grade. It is then loaded into the Grade fields at right. Exam statistics. Statistics for the Exam being graded. The section being graded is highlighted in light yellow. Figure 10 The Exams Grade screen lists all Exam sections and provides grading options The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade Screen The new Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade screen is an all-in-one spreadsheetplus-grade section screen. It displays all sections of the Exam and allows one section to be graded at a time. Similar to the Gradebook Gradebook spreadsheet screen, the left side of the screen lists the overall Exam Average column, followed by a separate column for each Exam section. Similar to the Gradebook Gradebook Grade Assignment screen, the right side of the screen contains a grading column and columns for the four special grades (Absent, Incomplete, Exempt, Missing). To select an Exam section for grading, you click anywhere in its column. When selected, the Exam section is loaded into the right side of the screen. Scroll to the bottom to locate the SAVE button and save all updated grades. WARNING: Each Exam section s grades must be saved separately. You must do a SAVE before moving to the next section. Entering Grades for an Exam Section Grading an Exam Section is virtually identical to grading an Assignment. Click in the column of the Exam Section you want to grade. This loads the selected Exam section into the right side of the Grade screen. Once you have clicked in an Exam section column to load it for grading, you can enter grades for each student. You may also leave some students ungraded. 12/13/2007 Page 13 of 19

14 Grading For each student you may: Enter a grade the grade you will be asked for corresponds to the Grade Type for the Exam Section. In this example the Grade Type is numeric and you are asked for a numeric value not to exceed 100 the Maximum Possible Score for this Assignment. If the Grade Type for this Exam section were Alpha you would select from a drop down list of possible Alpha grades. You may mark this student as Incomplete for this Assignment by clicking the Incomplete checkbox at the right side of the student s row. A grade of Incomplete is equivalent to a grade of 0 (or a failing Alpha grade). 1 You may mark this student as Exempt from this Assignment by clicking the Exempt checkbox at the right side of the student s row it will then not count towards their Marking Period grade in any way. You may mark this Exam section as Missing by clicking the Missing checkbox at the right side of the student s row. Missing Exam section grade is equivalent to a grade of 0. If the student missed the Exam section, you may mark the student as Absent. As with Assignments, a grade of Absent is equivalent to Exempt. DO NOTHING you are not required to enter any information for a student. This leaves their status as ungraded and is essentially the same as Exempt. Unlike Assignments, you do not have capability to enter comments associated with an Exam section grade. What does it mean to grade an Exam section with one of the four special Grades? The four special grades of Exempt, Missing, Incomplete and Absent have the same effect as they do for Assignments. Grades of Exempt and Absent (as well as no grade) are equivalent: they all result in the Exam section not being counted in the student s Exam average. Grades of Missing and Incomplete default to a value of 0 (or Failing ). Curving Tools There is a Score Modifier tool at the upper left of the screen. Enter a value in the text field and apply one of the three tools: Add, Multiply, Subtract all grades are modified by the amount in the text field. This is a decimal value and different operations can be applied in succession. Changing Exam Section Grades You may grade an Exam section as many times as you wish. Changing Exams to Grade The Select Exam drop down at the upper left of the screen allows you to select which Exam you will grade display and grade. CAVEAT: Always Save your Grades! Grades you do not save before changing screens are lost! 1 Actual values for grades of Missing and Incomplete are set in the Profile used by the course. Both grades default to zero but can be altered by the user in the applicable Profile. Grades of Missing and Incomplete cannot have different values for regular Assignments vs. Exam sections. 12/13/2007 Page 14 of 19

15 Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade Highlighted statistics are those for the currently selected Exam section or total. Figure 11 The Exams Grade screen after grades have been posted for an Exam section The Exam Average Column The Exam Average column on the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade screen displays the computed Exam Average for each student. As soon as grades are saved for any Exam section, the Exam Average column is populated. Note that a grade of Absent appears in the Exam section column and does not result in an actual Exam Average being computed. Grades of Incomplete and Missing result in a grade of 0 (zero) or failing for the section. A grade of Exempt, like a no-grade or a grade of Absent exempts a student from a grade for the section. Exam Grades for Dropped Students As with grading Assignments, you may enter Exam section grades for dropped students as long as the dropped students remain visible on your spreadsheet. You will NOT be able to post grades for dropped students. Exam Statistics When an Exam section is being graded, the Mean, Median, Standard Deviation and Mode values are calculated and displayed for the Exam. 12/13/2007 Page 15 of 19

16 VI. Curving Exam Grades Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams Figure 12 - The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen illustrating the Curve column that is part of every Exam. Note that curving values are in place for the Midterm but not for the Final Exam. Curving the Exam s Final Grade There is a curve feature that allows you to alter the Exam grades for all of the students. The Curve value is a number positive or negative that is brute force added to the Exam Average of every student to produce their Exam Final Grade. In the example shown in Figure 11 above, the Curve feature has been used for the Midterm and has not been used for the Final Exam (the Final Exam has not been graded at all). Curve is a special column that appears along with the set of Exam Sections to the left of the Exam s Final Grade. If no curving has been done, this column is blank (it never reads not graded ). Once curving has been done, the curved by values appear in the column. To curve an Exam, click on the Curve column header, or anywhere in the column. You will be taken to the Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade screen to do the curving. See next page below. 12/13/2007 Page 16 of 19

17 Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams The score modifier globally changes all values in the Curve column. The Curve column. Place your initial curving value in the top field and click All. Figure 13 - The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Grade screen illustrating the Curving tool. Grading the Curve Column Curving an Exam final grade is done by grading the special Curve column. This column consists of a set of text boxes which will accept positive decimal values, one for each student. Please note that this feature doubles as a mechanism for adjusting an individual student s grades by a specific amount. Curving Procedure 1. Enter a value in the curve field for the top student in the list. 2. Click All this will propagate the same value to all the students in the class. This value can now be altered if you wish by a series of operations using the Score Modifier fields at the upper left of the class roster list. Alternatively, Add or Subtract an amount from zero. 3. Use the Add, Multiply, and Subtract score modifiers with values in the score modifier text box to adjust the values in the Curve column. 4. When you are done, you can manually update any individual student s curve field in order to alter that one student s grade by a specific amount. 5. Scroll down and click Save to save the Curve values and add them to the students Exam final grades. Note: The Curve values can be negative as well as positive. Grades can decrease as well as increase. 12/13/2007 Page 17 of 19

18 VII. Viewing Exam Summary Information/Class Rosters Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams Figure 14 The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen after an Exam has been setup and partially graded. In this example the Final Exam has not yet been set up. The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams Screen The Gradebook Gradebook Exams Exams screen displays a spreadsheet of all Exam data for the students in the selected course section. For each Exam, all Exam sections are listed along with the Final Grade for the Exam. The Final Grade is the computed Exam Average. In the example in Figure 8, the MidTerm Exam has been set up and one of its sections has been graded. The Final Exam has not yet been set up and no data exists for it. This is a view only screen that summarizes the Exam data for the selected course section. 12/13/2007 Page 18 of 19

19 VIII. Posting Exam Grades Gradebook Post Grades The Update All Exam Grades for Grading Period button now copies both the Marking Period Average and any Exam grades into their proper fields. The button also now specifies which Marking Period/Interim Period grades are being collected for. Figure 15 The Gradebook Grade Posting screen illustrating the Update All Grades for button Posting Exam Grades: the Update All Grades Button The only change to the Gradebook Grade Posting screen has been to cause the Update All Grades for Grading Period button to copy both the Marking Period Average into the MP Grade field and any Exams into the proper Exam Grade fields (e.g. Mid-term Exam, Final Exam ). When you click this button, Exam grades are copied from the Gradebook into any Exam being collected (as well as Marking Period Averages continuing to be copied into the Marking Period grade field). Two things control the Exam grades that are copied: The Exams (e.g. MidTerm vs. Final) that are open for grading The Exam grades that exist in the Gradebook for a given student. When the button is clicked, a grade is copied from the Gradebook to the Report Card Grading module for any student who has a grade for any Exam being collected. For example, if the MidTerm Exam is being collected, and a student has a MidTerm Exam grade, it will be copied in. If the Final Exam grade is being collected and a student does NOT have a final Exam grade (e.g. has a no grade or the Final Exam is not yet set up), then no grade is copied. That is, students do not receive a grade of zero if they actually do not yet have a grade. Everything else on the Grade Posting screen remains the same. 12/13/2007 Page 19 of 19