Week's End Report - Oct. 21st

Tip of the Week!

Now that midterms are passed we have a lot of students inquiring about their grades. ASOM policy 7.5 dictates that instructors must provide feedback on student work within 7 days of the due date for assignments. This includes entering 0's for all those assignments for which your students did not earn any points. 
 
Entering 0's is particularly important due to a glitch in the grade center in Blackboard, which can cause assignments to become invisible to the students if 0's are not entered. This leads students to believe that their score is higher than it really is.

For example: Quiz 1 was due in Session 2. John Student does not complete Quiz 1 and Ann Instructor does not enter a 0, leaving the Quiz 1 score blank. After the due date, the quiz is made unavailable to students. Because John Student doesn't have a score for Quiz 1, the column disappears from his grade center when it is made unavailable in the Class Session. John's grade center will now look like this:

John Student's Grade Center	Instructor's Grade Center
Intro Discussion = 10/10 Assignment 1= 10/10 Discussion 2 = 10/10 Quiz 2 = 10/10 Total = 40/40     100%	Intro Discussion= 10 points Quiz 1= 10 points Assignment 1= 10 points Discussion 2= 10 points Quiz 2= 10 points Total= 50 points

John now thinks he has a score of 40/40, or 100%. Without an extensive review of the course calendar and syllabus, John would have no indication that his score is actually 40/50, or 80%.

If a 0 is entered for Quiz 1 for John Student he would then be able to see the Quiz in the grade center (as shown below). This will give students accurate and complete information with which to calculate their true grade.

John Student's Grade Center	Instructor's Grade Center
Intro Discussion = 10/10 Quiz 1= 0/10 Assignment 1= 10/10 Discussion 2 = 10/10 Quiz 2 = 10/10 Total = 40/50     80%	Intro Discussion= 10 points Quiz 1= 10 points Assignment 1= 10 points Discussion 2= 10 points Quiz 2= 10 points Total= 50 points

Systems Information

Reminder: This past Saturday, October 15th, Blackboard courses from Summer 2014 through Spring 2015 were temporarily taken offline while the Blackboard system is moved to a new Blackboard environment. 

All of these courses will become available again at the end of December when the new environment goes live.