SETUP AND USAGE TIPS
PERPARED
BY:
JOHN BERESTIANSKY
Grade Machine Setup Tips
Prepared by John Berestiansky
Grade Machine
NB: In Windows XP make sure to close all classes before closing program. If
you close the program with open classes, you will only be able to open it again
by finding that class’s data file using windows explorer and clicking on the
class file.
It’s important that you set a number of parameters before you start. The
first of these are found on the Class Menu.
1. Grading Periods
The Grading Periods set the number of terms in the year and certain characteristics of
those terms.
You may design up to 20 Grading Periods (for quarters, six-week grading periods, etc.), but
this dialog only shows two at a time, with a scroll bar on the right side of the dialog for
moving up and down the list of Grading Periods. Choose Grading Periods from the Class menu
to open the following dialog:
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Description
Enter the name of the Grading Period here (i.e. Term 1, Fall Quarter, Spring Trimester,
Quarter 3, etc.).
Weight (%)
Assign a Weight to each grading period to determine how the overall (year-long) grade is
calculated (in a manner similar to that shown in the Categories section). Note that if the
"Weight" fields are grayed out, you need to select "use grading period weights" in the
Overall Summaries dialog next to "When calculating grade". If the weights total up to
some number less than 100%, then overall percentages will be divided by that percentage to
compensate. If the weights add up to more than 100%, and if "Use... Weights" is selected in
the Grading Periods dialog, then the program will make the combined weights equal to a
100% scale. If you want to make a Grading Period of "Extra Credit", insure that you have
checked the box next to "Extra Credit". For more information, please refer to the Extra
Credit Grading Periods topic.
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Note: At the beginning of the year you may want to start with a single grading period (e.g.,
a Description of Quarter 1, a Weight of 100, and a Starting Assignment of 1). If you prefer
to enter the descriptions and weights for future grading periods "in advance", you may do
so, but be sure to leave the Starting Assignment for future grading periods blank.
Starting Assignment
So that Grade Machine will know where in your assignment list each grading period starts,
enter a Starting Assignment number for each grading period. For example, if Quarter 2
begins with your fifth assignment, enter "5" for Quarter 2's starting assignment. The first
grading period must start with assignment number 1.
Include In Reports checkboxes
Grade Summary
The checkbox next to Grade Summary allows you to include or exclude each grading period
summary in reports.
Attendance
The checkbox next to Attendance allows you to include or exclude each grading period's
attendance totals in reports.
Start Date
You can include attendance totals and/or dates on Individual student progress reports, but
first you must specify the Start Date for each grading period. As an alternative way to
enter a date, you can click your right mouse button on any month, day, or year input field. A
pop up calendar will appear, from which you can select a date.
When Calculating Grade
There are three options for what to use for calculating the grade: "Use category weights";
"Weigh categories equally"; and "Ignore category weights". The following explanations
describe the function of each option:
Use category weights
This option refers to the weights set in the dialog box under the Class/Categories dialog.
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Weigh categories equally
This option will negate the individual weights of the categories and make all the category
weights equal. For example, if your category weights were 40%, 20%, 20% and 20%, they
will be changed to 25% each.
Ignore category weights
This option will negate any individual weights you have set up for categories.
2. Categories
You can create a unique set of up to ten assignment categories in each grading period.
When you start a new class, the Assignments window will show a single assignment category,
Total Points, with a weight of 100%. Teachers who don't need multiple categories for their
assignments may leave it this way, so grades will simply be based on total points achieved
divided by total points possible.
But Grade Machine offers you the option of creating a unique set of up to ten assignment
categories in each grading period. Choose Categories from the Class menu to open the
following dialog:
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The Categories dialog lets you enter a Description (up to 30 characters) and a Weight (0100) for each category.
Note that if the "Weight" fields are grayed out, and you wish to use weights, select "use
category weights" in the Grading Periods dialog next to "When calculating grade". The
"Include Grade Summary in Reports" checkbox in each category section controls whether a
grade summary for each category is included in reports. In addition, the checkbox next to
"Extra Credit" in each category section controls whether extra credit for each category is
included in reports. To view or edit categories for other grading periods, select a grading
period from the pop-up list at the top of the dialog. The "Copy From Previous Grading
Period" button allows you to quickly copy the categories from the previous grading period.
Here's an example of four assignment categories:
Homework (worth 20% of the grade),
Tests (20% of the grade),
Presentations (20% of the grade), and
Final Exam (40% of the grade).
Important Note: If you enter category weights to equal more than 100%, or less than
100%, the total of all the weights will always be based on a 100% scale. For example, if you
enter 50% for Homework and 10% for Tests, and nothing else, the 60% total of those two
weighted categories will be made equivalent to a 100%. If you would like one of the
categories for a grading period to be extra credit, make sure that the box is checked next
to "Extra Credit".
After you use the Categories dialog to enter your category information and click the "OK"
button.
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3. Overall Summaries
The Overall Summaries dialog allows the user to define up to 10 different overall grades.
For example, you may have a Term 1 Overall Summary which includes only grades in Term 1,
a Term 2 Overall Summary which includes only grades in Term 2, a Term 3 Overall Summary
which includes only grades in Term 3, and a Final Overall Summary which encompasses all
grading periods. Choose Overall Summaries from the Class menu to open the following dialog:
Note that the grading period range of an Overall Summary must be in a continuous order.
For example you can include Grading Periods 1, 2, and 3, but not Grading Periods 1 and 3
without Grading Period 2.
The following are the different parts of the Overall Summaries dialog and a brief
explanation of each:
Description
Type in a name for the Overall Summary.
Include
Select the first Grading Period the Overall Summary will encompass.
Through
Select the last Grading Period the Overall Summary will encompass.
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When calculating grade
There are three options for calculating the grade: "use grading period weights", "weigh
grading periods equally", and "ignore grading period weights".
·
If you select "use grading period weights", Grade Machine will calculate the Overall
Summary grade using the weights you have assigned in the Grading Periods dialog under the
Class menu.
·
If you select "weigh grading periods equally", all grading periods will have the same
weight, with the exception of Extra Credit Grading Periods. Note that no weights will
appear in the Class/Grading Periods dialog.
·
If you select "ignore grading period weights" Grade Machine will not use any of the
grading period weights, but will obtain an overall summary grade either by summing the total
points of all included assignments or by using weighted categories. It is recommended that
you check the calculating method you have chosen for your grading period grades. The
following are two possible methods of calculation Grade Machine uses when ignoring grading
period weights:
If you choose "ignore category weights" in the Grading Period & Class Name dialog, Grade
Machine will sum the total points achieved by the total points possible for all assignments
encompassed by the Overall Summary.
If you choose "use category weights" in the Grading Period & Class Name dialog, Grade
Machine will indirectly include those weights in the Overall Summary grade, while still
ignoring grading period weights. Each grading period grade percentage will be multiplied by
the total points possible for that grading period, and all of these factors will be summed
into a single value that will be divided by the total number of points possible across all of
the Grading Periods selected in the Overall Summary dialog.
Include in Reports
The checkboxes in the Include in Reports area of the Overall Summaries dialog control the
way the Overall Summary is displayed in reports. The "Overall category grades" option
works in conjunction with the "Use Tables for Summaries" checkbox in the Style/Individual
Report Prefs dialog. Once both boxes are checked, reports will show the Overall grade for
each category. The "Grade Summary" will show the Overall Summary of the combined grade
for all the grading periods you have selected. "Attendance" will show totals for each
selected Attendance Code, and a daily summary for the date range of the Overall Summary
as defined by its Grading Periods.
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You must also set up the screen preferences from the Style Menu.
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4. Screen Preferences
The Screen Preferences dialog settings controls what grade is displayed in the Grade
column of the Scores window. This dialog also allows you to set the Safety Factor and to
choose if a warning appears when a score is changed.
Grade to Display
This option controls the Grade column that is displayed just to the right of the student
names in the Scores window.
None
If you select None, then the Grade column will be eliminated from the Scores window. This
can speed up Grade Machine considerably, since large classes take some time to re-calculate
grades whenever there is any change that affects grades (such as a change in the grading
scale).
Overall Summary
If you select Overall Summary, then the overall summary grade will be displayed in the
Scores window. This combines all assignment categories and all grading periods.
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Grading Period
Select the Grading Period option, and choose the correct Grading Period from the pop-up
list, if you'd like the Scores window to show the grade for a particular grading period.
Category
Select Category if you want the Grade column to display the grade for a particular
assignment category in a particular grading period.
The Grade to Display option actually affects four areas of Grade Machine:
·
the Grade column in the Scores window,
·
student tallies in the Grading Scale dialog,
·
sorting by rank in the Sort Students dialog,
·
and the Students with percentages less/more than options in the Report menu's
dialogs.
Score Changed Alert
This group of radio buttons provides the option of warning you with a Beep or an Alert Box
each time you change an existing score in the Scores window. If you don't want either of
these warnings, select None.
Safety Factor
Have you ever had that "groggy-fingers" experience, late the night before grades are due,
of entering 334 into your calculator or computer for a test score, when the student actually
scored 34? This tends to make certain students very happy.
Grade Machine helps you guard against typing errors by warning you if the score you enter
is too high. The Safety Factor setting allows you to control the warnings to allow for bonus
points. For example, if you give the safety factor a value of 1.5, then no warnings will appear
as long as you enter scores that are no more than 1.5 times the number of points possible
for an assignment.
For example, on a 100-point test, you could enter scores as high as 150, but an attempt to
enter a score of 151 or higher would produce a warning.
On extra credit assignments, where you have assigned 0 points possible, the safety factor
will be ignored and no warnings will be generated. If you want to turn off the warning, just
give the safety factor a very large value, like 1000.
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Assignments window
By default, Grade Machine initially assigns all new assignments to the first category. Place
the appropriate category number (1, 2, etc.) into the Category column for each assignment.
You can also use the Category pop-up list to assign the category (click your right mouse
button in the Category field, or highlight the Category field and press [F8]).
When grades are computed for reports, all of the category "Tests" points are added
together, then divided by the number of points possible for a particular student, to obtain a
Tests percentage. The process is repeated to obtain a Homework percentage, and so on.
Each percentage is multiplied by the weight of the assignment category, and all are added
together to obtain the total grading period percentage (e.g., the percentage grade for
Quarter 1).
Caution: If you use weighted assignment categories, be sure to select the Grades command
from the Style menu, so you can omit the Grading Period Summaries Points and Overall
Summaries Points from reports. This is because weighted assignments will produce an
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overall grade that usually will be different than the total points achieved divided by the
total points possible.
For example, suppose a student scored the following:
150 out of 200 points on Homework
40 out of 50 points on Tests
60 out of 80 points on Presentations
90 out of 100 points on Final Exam
(20% of grade),
(20% of grade),
(20% of grade),
(40% of grade).
The grading period percentage would be:
(150/200) x 20%
+ (40/50) x 20%
+ (60/80) x 20%
+ (90/100) x 40%
which works out to 82.0% for the grading period.
If you just added up total points achieved, and divided by total points possible, ignoring
categories, you would get
(150 + 40 + 60 + 90) / (200 + 50 + 80 + 100) = 340 / 430
which works out to 79.1%. If this is really how you want the grading period grade to be
calculated, then select the Ignore Category Weights option in the Categories dialog.
Otherwise, select Use Category Weights. If you select Use Category Weights, Grade
Machine will print the grades as either a point value or a percentage, but not as both. This is
to prevent reports from showing:
340 / 430 = 82.0%
which certainly looks wrong, since 340/430 = 79.1%. (You'd have to explain that 82.0% is
obtained by weighted categories rather than simple division.)
If you have not entered any assignments in a particular category, or if a student received all
"excused" grades in that category, then that category is ignored when the grade is
calculated. In the example shown above, suppose a student was excused on every assignment
in the Final Exam category. Then that student's grade would be
(150/200) x 20% + (40/50) x 20% + (60/80) x 20% = 46%
But since the student is only being graded in categories totaling 60%, then the grade would
be calculated as 46% / 60% = 76.7%.
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Student Scores
After you have created your assignments in the Assignments window, enter the students'
scores in the Scores window. The Scores window displays all scores for every student on
each assignment. When you choose Scores Window from the View menu, or press the Scores
button on the Toolbar, you will see your class organized in much the same way as a
traditional paper gradebook, with the students in rows and the assignments in columns.
Note: The Scores Window only shows 80 assignments at a time. If you have more than 80
assignments, then you can view assignments before or after the current 80 assignments
shown on the screen:
·
To view the previous 80 assignments, choose the Previous 80 Assignments command
from the Edit menu, or press the "Move left to previous table" button on the Toolbar
·
To view the next 80 assignments, choose the Next 80 Assignments command from
the Edit menu, or press the "Move right to next table" button on the Toolbar
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·
Use the Jump To command to quickly jump to any assignment column in the Scores
window.
Entering/Editing information in Grade Machine
·
In Normal mode, you can use the arrow keys (as well as the mouse or the Tab key) to
move between cells. To replace the contents of the active cell, simply move to that cell and
begin typing.
·
You can double-click on any cell (or press [F2]) to enter Edit mode, which allows you
to use the mouse or the keyboard (e.g., the Delete key, the Backspace key, etc.) to edit part
of a cell's contents. To get back to Normal mode, press [Esc] or [Tab], or click on another
cell with your mouse.
Here is information about the various parts of this window:
Name column
Shows the names of all students in the class.
Grade column
The Grade column shows the percentage and current grade for each student. It is
automatically updated as soon as you change or enter a score. You can use the Screen Prefs
command from the Style menu to turn this column off to improve calculation speed, or to
have it display a particular category or grading period instead of the overall grade.
For a more detailed summary of grades, print a report using the Summary command from
the Report menu.
Assignment columns
Show what score each student earned on each assignment.
You can control how assignment scores are displayed in the Scores window:
·
The Grades command in the Style menu allows you to control whether scores are
shown as decimals or whole numbers.
·
Using the Adjust Each Score option, located in the Style/Grades dialog, you can
control whether scores in the Scores window are displayed in raw points or adjusted points
form.
Some notes about entering scores in the Assignment columns:
·
You can enter numerical scores as whole numbers, or as decimals to the nearest
tenth, within the range of -3000 to 3000.
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·
As you enter grades, a Safety Factor warning will appear if you enter scores that
are unreasonably large, which helps prevent typographical errors.
·
Each score you type will replace any previously existing score. However, if you
precede the score with the + character, the value will be added to the existing score, which
is a handy way of adding Extra Credit points. If you change your mind while typing a score,
press [Esc] before leaving the cell, and the original score will be replaced.
·
You can edit any score you have previously entered. To do so, just double-click on
the cell that contains the score. This places Grade Machine in Edit mode. In Edit mode, the
left and right arrow keys move you left and right through the cell, and the [Backspace] key
deletes the character to the left of the cursor. Enter any changes, then press [Enter] to
finish editing a cell, or press [Esc] to finish editing without saving any changes to that cell.
·
Grade Machine allows you to do something you might not expect would be possible:
to input grade descriptions for scores. For example, you can type B into a score cell, and
Grade Machine will check to see if that student's grading scale contains a grade description
called B. If so, it will give the student the appropriate percentage of the points possible for
that assignment, as determined by the middle of the B range.
·
When you create a class, all blank score cells are stored as a special score called
Incomplete, which is normally evaluated as 0% of the points possible. You can type the
abbreviations for special scores directly into a score cell, or use keyboard shortcuts that
you defined in the Special Scores section of the Class menu. You can also click your right
mouse button on the score cell where you want to enter the score. This brings up a pop-up
list of Special Scores, such as Excused or Dropped, from which you can choose.
Additional assignment information
As you move left and right, the Assignment information in the Status Bar will change to
show the following:
·
adjusted points = points possible x weight—but the weight and adjusted points will
be omitted if the weight is 1.000,
·
assignment description, and
·
category—unless there's only one category for the current grading period.
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