Grade Center: Advanced

1. Grade Center: Advanced Presented by: Hallie Ray, Distance Learning Course Designer hray3@cnm.edu Jose Pedraza, Distance Learning Technician jpedraza@cnm.edu

2. Disclaimers This presentation has morphed several times and grown by accretion—if you have questions beyond the presentation, please contact anyone in the DL Department for assistance! We will be talking MATH in this session: beware, persons with Math-phobia

3. Session Overview • Advanced Grade Center topics • Smart Views • Categories • Multi-level calculations • Grading schemas and color coding • Uploading spreadsheets • Analytics and reports

4. Smart Views • Collect subsets of Grade Center columns • Standard “favorites” • Assignments • Tests • Manage > Smart Views

6. Smart View Options and Filters

7. Categories are your Friends • Blackboard comes with several Categories • Full Grade Center > Manage > Categories • Default vs. Created Categories • Only empty, created categories may be deleted

8. Default categorization • Automatic column creation = Automatic Categorization • Assignments, Blogs, Discussions, Journals, Self and Peer, Survey, Test • Tip: Do not duplicate these! It gets very confusing! • Manually created columns • Default to “No Category”

9. Manual Entry Column Review • Required: Item Name and Points • Avoid special characters • Don’t use a Grade Center Name • Default category: No category • Primary and secondary display

10. Calculated Columns

11. Simplest method: Total Points • Full Grade Center > Create Calculated Column > Total Column • Or use the default Total column found in every new Bb shell • Include point range in your Syllabus • May display as Points or Percentage or both (Secondary Display) • Student View = My Grades • Students do not see the Secondary Display in a column • Optional: create two: one displaying Score, one displaying Percentage • Slide them so they appear next to each other for you to double-check

12. Defaults for a Total Column • Include in total • Default: All Grade Columns • Except those excluded per column and any Calculated Columns • Option: Selected Columns and Categories • Calculate as Running Total • Default: Yes; Option: No • If Yes, you must replace “–” with zeroes for % display to work properly • Options (defaults in boldface) • Include this Column in Grade Center Calculations: Yes or No • Show this Column to Students: Yes or No • Show Statistics (average and median) for this column to Students in My Grades: Yes or No

13. Selecting Columns and Categories May select Columns and/or Categories Caution: Don’t double-count grades Caution: Be sure all appropriate grades are included

14. Pitfalls of Columns Tedious Make sure to include all columns, and that they add up to 100% Changing an assessment means re-doing the calculated column

15. One method: Categorize everythingStep 1: Create Categories Make a Category for each type of grade you will use Manage > Categories Create Category May prevent problems if assessments are changed…but remember to categorize correctly!

16. Step 2: Categorize columns Manage > Column Organization Select item(s)—1 Use button at top (or bottom) to “Change Category to…”—2 Select proper category—3 Repeat as necessary Submit

17. Double checking… • Confirm everything is categorized correctly • Use Manage > Column Organization to view and to edit • Don’t forget to submit!

18. Now you can Total chosen Categories • Choose Selected Columns and Categories • Select the Categories you wish to use • Click the arrow next to the categories list to add them to your Selected Columns box • Yes, it should say Selected Columns and Categories but it doesn’t

19. Confirm contents as you add Categories to the Calculation As you highlight categories to add them, all items in that category will be displayed for double-checking

20. Dropping grades works any time you have Categories • Categories provide an easy way to leave out practice quizzes or other items—just put them in No Category • Edit the Grade Center column • Categories allow dropping grades • Don’t worry! If you put no numerals in the boxes, nothing is dropped. • Be sure to put the numerals in the correct box; formatting may be wonky • Don’t select Use only… unless you mean it

21. Percentage gradesTotals, Averages, Weighted Calculations Totals may be expressed as % of possible points earned Average columns show as percentages with each grade being equally weighted before the average is calculated Weighted calculations are what many instructors mean when they say “averages”—but in this mode, some grades are “more equal” than others

22. Weighted Column • Full Grade Center > Create Calculated Column > Weighted Column • Name the column • Select Columns and/or Categories to include • Weight each • Bb will accept ≠ 100%, but calculations will be wrong

23. Select Columns and/or Categories Double check items in the category Weight each column or category Weight category grades equally or proportionally Drop highest/lowest, or use only highest or lowest

24. Select Columns and/or Categories Double check items in the category Weight each column or category Weight category grades equally or proportionally Drop highest/lowest, or use only highest or lowest

25. Select Columns and/or Categories Double check items in the category Weight each column or category Weight category grades equally or proportionally Drop highest/lowest, or use only highest or lowest

26. Equally or Proportionally? • If all quizzes are 10 points (equal value), it doesn’t matter… • If quizzes have varying point values, it can make a difference • Example: Demo User’s grades

27. Select Columns and/or Categories Double check items in the category Weight each column or category Weight category grades equally or proportionally Drop highest/lowest, or use only highest or lowest

28. Double checking calculations *Student Preview is easy! Give Student Preview* perfect scores in everything, and see what the grade is Give Student Preview 50% of everything, and check the calculated grade If you’re still worried, give 75% of everything, or a variety of grades, and check again

29. Nested Calculations Example • Theory grade = 83% • Tests: 75% • Homework/Assignments: 25% • Clinical grade = 17% • Part 1: 25% (100 points) • Part 2: 50% (100 points) • Part 3: 25% (100 points)

30. Nested Calculations Example • Theory grade 83% (5/6) • Tests 75% • Homework/Assignments 25% • Clinical grade 17% (1/6) • Part 1: 25% (100 points) • Part 2: 50% (100 points) • Part 3: 25% (100 points) • Solution: Two Calculated Columns combined • Calculated Weighted Column, “Theory Grade” • Tests and Homework categories, properly weighted • Calculated Weighted Column, “Clinical Grade” • Three columns selected and properly weighted • Calculated Weighted Column: Course Grade • Theory Grade 83% • Clinical Grade 17%

31. Calculated Column Cautions • Categories • As new items are added, they must be in the proper categories to work • Columns • If calculations are based on Columns, adding or substituting items requires checking and adjusting the calculated column • Dropping grades • If you are dropping x quizzes, the quiz grades will not count until you have at least x+1. • It’s helpful to have a teaching peer or a DL Staff member as an extra pair of eyes when you first set these up.

32. In the Display:When Letters ≠ Text • To hand enter Semester text grades, use Text • A, B, C, D, F, I, W, P … • Or words/phrases • So then, what are Letters? • Full Grade Center > Manage > Grading Schemas

33. Letters have numeric values • In Grading Schemas • Letters have numeric values • “This is a B- essay” can translate to 81.5% • Numeric values can be translated into letter grades

34. Grading Schema Default

35. Edit, or Create anew? Whether you choose to edit or create a new Schema, make sure all requisite values are covered. Letter cannot indicate Incompletes or Withdrawals Can be set up for Pass/Fail

36. Enter a Letter… • You consider Student Preview’s Essay #2 to be B+ work • Set column options to display as Letter • Award B+ • Demo will earn 88.5% for the essay • Since Bb cannot calculate with letters, this allows calculations to be conducted on equivalent numeric values

37. Enter, or Calculate, a Number • Set Display to Letter • The letter will reflect the numeric value of the column • Student Preview has a calculated grade of 92%; column will display A- • Remember, CNM doesn’t use + or – grades • Edit your Letter schema, or create a new one for your course

38. Color Coding Manage > Grading Color Codes Make sure it’s turned on in Full Grade Center See DL TV episode this fall!

40. Analytics and Reports Work Offline Attempts Statistics Item Analysis Reports

41. Work Offline • Allows downloading all or part of the Grade Center as a spreadsheet • Can download just user information for creating roll sheets! • Uploading is problematic • Mustbe preceded by a download • “To upload grades from external sources into the Grade Center, the external file must be formatted to synch external data to the Grade Center data. Data is synched by using unique identifiers for each Student and each existing Column.” • Generally not recommended

42. Attempt Statistics Example: 25% answered A, 35% answered B, 40% answered D Yes: questions and/or answers are Randomized No: Question Sets (all students need to have the same questions)

43. Item Analysis More detailed analysis: Discrimination and Difficulty “Good” vs. “Poor”; “Hard” and “Easy”

44. What Blackboard says about Item Analysis • Discrimination: This area shows the number of questions that fall into the Good (greater than 0.3), Fair (between 0.1 and 0.3), and Poor (less than 0.1) categories*. A discrimination value is listed as Cannot Calculate when the question's difficulty is 100% or when all students receive the same score on a question. Questions with discrimination values in the Good and Fair categories are better at differentiating between students with higher and lower levels of knowledge. Questions in the Poor category are recommended for review. *Uses Pearson Correlation Coefficient: • Difficulty: This area shows the number of questions that fall into the Easy (greater than 80%), Medium (between 30% and 80%) and Hard (less than 30%) categories. Difficulty is the percentage of students who answered the question correctly. Questions in the Easy or Hard categories are recommended for review and are indicated with a red circle.

45. Grade Reports Reports > Create Report User, columns, ID data Some programs use this feature to generate paper copies of progress reports, to use in face to face advising sessions at midterm. Example from TLOL

47. And now, for your questions…

48. Thank you for participating!hray3@cnm.edupchick@cnm.edu