math for gradebooks

RamCT Math 101

Maite.correa@colostate.edu

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FIRST OF ALL: HIDE SECTIONS YOU DON’T USE!!

• Hide those sections that you do not use

I#2 WANTS TO TRANSFER MATERIALS FROM I#1’S/ANOTHER COURSE?

• To transfer materials from your own previous/current course go directly to step 2 on next slide

• 1st: I#1 adds I#2 as a designer & teaching assistant in her course:– I#1 opens course from which she is going to

transfer files

– Teach tab - > Gradebook - > Enroll member -> “username” (check section designer & teaching assistant)

– Do not forget to actually check, SAVE and OK!!– I#1 logs out

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• 2nd: I#2 logs into the section she HAD NEVER logged in before

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• Select the course you are going to be transferring from…and voilà!!

• Do not forget to…– CHANGE the

SYLLABUS!!

– DISCARD MATERIALS THAT YOU DO NOT NEED

– TAKE A LOOK TO CALENDAR/ASSIGNMENTS AND SEE WHAT HAS CHANGED

– OTHER

If you want to create a new gradebook

• GRADEBOOK IS ALWAYS IN THE TEACHING TAB, under “instructor tools”

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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE COLUMNS

• NUMERIC: the ones where you actually INPUT a number

• CALCULATED: the ones that POPULATE themselves thanks to a formula that you are going to provide

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HOW MANY COLUMNS DO WE NEED?

• Take a look at your syllabus:– How many main categories are there?

• Homework• Participation• Exams• …

– How many individual grades are part of the main category?

• Exams= exam1 + exam2+…• Homework= homework1 + homework2 +…• WE NEED A NUMERIC COLUMN PER

INDIVIDUAL GRADE (suggestion: try to make all individual columns out of 100 to avoid having to take RamCT Math102)

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NOTE: the “maximum value” field is solely for your and your students’ information. It does not affect any formula and you can leave it blank. 9

REPEAT AND REPEAT AND REPEAT…

• Yes, one column per individual grade you are going to input…

• While you wait…let’s warm up the with some math!!

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NOW WE START THE MATH: THE MAIN CATEGORIES

– How do we calculate for main categories (homework, exams, participation,…)?

• If I got a 56 (exam1) and a 78 (exam2) and a 93 (exam3)

• More difficult (Math102): if I have a 25/50 (homework1) and a 45/100 (homework2) and a 73/75 (homework3)??

• Several ways to do formulas

– Each of those averages/main categories is going to be a NEW calculated column

– Make sure that the name says something like “AVG” or “mean” to distinguish from individual columns

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WHERE DO I PUT THE FORMULA?

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• In “gradebook”, select the little tab on the left of the category and “edit column formula”

• Use the (somewhat primitive) keypad to type the formula (no typing allowed!!).

• Do not forget to SAVE at the very very bottom

• To erase…undo (so do not make mistakes if the formula is very long..!!)

• If you use functions such as SUM, AVG… you need to click “enter another value” in order to enter another value. Silly, but a real pain. You might have to click “end function” before saving, as well. 13

AND…THE FINAL FORMULA!!• The final grade is a calculated column

(you want RamCT to calculate it for you, right?)

• So now that you have all the main categories, what is the final formula going to look like?

• If exams are 50% (and I have a 67 average), homework is 25% (and I have a 54) and participation is 25% (and I have a 90), what is my TOTALSCORE?? 14

• TOTALSCORE formula for one of my classes

• Suggestion: Do it first on paper, because if you have an error in the first part, you have to undo all of it…

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ALWAYS CHECK• One of your students is called

“Student Demo”

• Give him/her the maximum points for everything

• If all the formulas are OK, TOTALSCORE should be 100

• If TOTALSCORE is not 100, go back and see where you made a mistake 16

PROVISIONAL GRADES (Math102)• Because of the way TOTALSCORE is built, students never now

how they are doing so far (or they believe they are failing when they are not)

• I like to use STUDENTDEMO as my “model student” to know what the maximum points can be at a specific time

– I make sure that STUDENTDEMO has no grades at all (delete the ones I gave her to check my formulas)

– Then I give her the maximum points for everything we have done so far in class (and leave it blank for the things we haven’t yet completed)

• Her TOTALSCORE gives me the maximum points that students can have at that specific moment

• If you are superkind and have a lot of free time, you can create another calculated column based on TOTALSCORE for students to see (for example, right before the drop period ends, midterm, or before the final)

• What would the formula be?– STUDENT DEMO HAS A 72– WHAT WOULD I HAVE AS A PROVISIONAL GRADE IF I CURRENTLY

HAVE A 56 (out of 72)??? 17

• This is a lot to take ;)

• Please, play with the gradebook and practice your math as much as you can

• For those of you who came today, I am available if you need me

• Maite.correa@colostate.edu18