Mac Magazin/MacEasy 12/Mac Magazin and MacEasy Magazine CD - Issue 12.iso/Sharewarebibliothek/Anwendungen/Datenverwaltung/Gradebook Manager 3.5/Gradebook Manager/Gradebook Manager.rsrc/TEXT_128_User's guide text.txt

Text File | 1995-06-14 | 12KB | 211 lines

Welcome to Gradebook Manager

Gradebook Manager is a powerful tool for managing your grades. With Gradebook Manager you can:

    • Enter scores for 40 students on 40 assignments
    • Group assignments into 7 different categories
    • Excuse individual assignments for any student
    • Drop the “worst” score in one or more categories
    • Compute grades based on total points or category weights
    • Assign letter grades based on your own letter grade cutoffs
    • Have final exams contribute to quarter, semester, or final grades
    • Keep every score and assignment for the entire school year

Gradebook Manager is also very easy to use. The default options allow you to start entering students, assignments, and scores immediately. Setting up your own categories, letter grade cutoffs, and grading options is as easy as clicking a button.


The Gradebook

When you create a new document or open an existing one, Gradebook Manager will open a window displaying the gradebook for that class. Student names are listed along the left side. Assignment names, categories and points possible are listed along the top, and scores are in the middle.

Use the scroll bars to see other students or assignments in the gradebook.


Viewing Reports

Gradebook Manager can also display various reports. To see a report, choose the report you want from the Reports menu. To see other pages in a report, click in the report window and hold the mouse button down, then choose the student or assignment you want from the pop-up menu. You may also use the arrow keys to move to the next or previous page.

Use the scroll bars to see other parts of the current page in a report.


Printing Reports

To print the gradebook or a report, choose that view from the Reports menu, then choose the Print command from the File menu. The standard print job dialog will appear. To print only certain pages of a report, enter the starting and finishing page numbers in the appropriate fields of the dialog.

The gradebook and reports are displayed exactly as they will be printed. The page indicator in the lower left part of the window shows the number of the currently displayed page.


Moving Into Another Quarter

To move into another quarter in the school year, choose the quarter you want from the Gradebook menu. All scores and assignments are saved for the entire school year. This makes it easy for you to deal with incompletes or correct mistakes.


Making Changes in the Gradebook

To change scores, student names, assignment names, categories, or points possible, first choose Gradebook from the Reports menu. Then:

    • Click on the item you want to change
    • Type in the new text or edit the existing text
    • Press return to accept your changes or esc to cancel

Leave a score blank to indicate a missing assignment. Enter “ex” or “x” to excuse an assignment. When you are editing a category, Gradebook Manager will predict the category as you type it. There may be only one final exam in any quarter.

You may also use the arrow keys or the tab key to accept your changes and move to another item.


Adding Students or Assignments

To add one or more new students to the gradebook:

    • Click the student name field in an empty row
    • Enter a name for each new student and press the return key
    • Press the esc key when you are done entering names

You may sort students alphabetically by choosing the Sort Students command from the Edit menu.

You may want to excuse all assignments for any students added to an existing class. Enter “ex” for the student’s first score, then choose the Fill Across command from the Edit menu. This will make every score in that row equal to the one you are entering.

To add a new assignment to the gradebook:

    • Click the assignment name field in an empty column
    • Enter the name, category, and points possible for the assignment
    • Enter a score for each student in the class

If most of the scores you are entering are the same, type the first score and choose the Fill Down command from the Edit menu. This will make every score in that column equal to the one you are entering.


Dropping Students or Assignments

To remove a student or assignment from the gradebook:

    • Click the number for that student or assignment
    • Choose the Cut command from the Edit menu


Moving Students or Assignments

You can move students and assignments using the Cut and Paste commands. To cut a student or assignment:

    • Click the appropriate row or column number
    • Choose the Cut command from the Edit menu

To paste a student or assignment into another row or column:

    • Click the appropriate row or column number
    • Choose the Paste command from the Edit menu

Pasting a student or assignment inserts it into the gradebook. Other items are moved to make room for the new item. You will not be able to paste into the gradebook if there is already an item in the last row or column, since that item would be lost.

You can also use the Cut and Paste commands to move a student into another class, or to move an assignment into another quarter. To move a student into another class:

    • Click the row number of that student
    • Use the Cut command to remove the student
    • Open the other class (saving changes to the first class)
    • Select the row where you want to insert the student
    • Use the Paste command to insert the student

You should be careful when moving students into another class, as scores for the student you moved may not exactly match the assignments in the new class. Gradebook Manager will warn you when this happens.

To move an assignment into another quarter:

    • Click the column number of that assignment
    • Use the Cut command to remove the assignment
    • Choose another quarter from the Gradebook menu
    • Select the column where you want to insert the assignment
    • Use the Paste command to insert the assignment


Assignment Categories

Each assignment must be placed into one of seven categories. You may use these categories to compute grades or simply to organize your assignments. Progress reports show the percent correct within each category.

New classes start off with “Tests” and “Homework” categories. To change these categories, choose the Categories command from the Gradebook menu. The categories dialog will be displayed, showing the current category names and weights. The “Final Exams” category is not listed because you cannot change it.

Type in a name and weight for each category. Use the tab key to move from item to item. Category weights must be between 0 and 100. The weight might be that category’s contribution to the quarter grade, however the weights do not need to add to 100.


Letter Grade Cutoffs

Letter grade cutoffs determine which letter grade is given for a particular percent grade. New classes use Gradebook Manager’s default letter grade cutoffs. To use your own letter grade cutoffs, choose the Letter Grades command from the Gradebook menu. The letter grade cutoffs dialog will be displayed, showing the current letter grade cutoffs.

Enter the percent cutoff for each letter grade. Use the tab key to move from item to item. Each cutoff must be a percent from 0 to 120. If you do not use a certain grade (if you do not give A+ grades), leave that item blank.


Final Exam Options

You may choose to have final exams contribute to the quarter grade, the semester grade, or the final (end-of-year) grade. You may also specify what percent final exams contribute to this grade.

To change these options, choose the Final Exams command from the Gradebook menu. The final exams dialog will be displayed, showing the current options. To choose an option, click on the appropriate radio button. You may also specify what percent final exams contribute to the grade.

These options are only used when there actually are final exams. If you specify that final exams are 20% of the semester grade, but do not give a final exam 1st semester, that semester grade will not be affected. If you do not give final exams at all, you can simply ignore these options.


Grading Options

Gradebook Manager gives you a variety of grading options. You may choose to compute quarter grades using total points earned or using category weights. You may also choose to drop the “worst” score from one or more categories when grades are computed (the score itself is not changed). The “worst” score in a category is the one which, when dropped, will most improve the grade for that student.

When computing grades using category weights, grades are determined by a weighted average of the percent correct in each category. When using total points earned, grades are determined by the percent of total points possible earned that quarter.

New classes will compute grades using total points earned. To set your own grading options, choose the Grading Options command from the Gradebook menu.


When You Make Mistakes

If you make a mistake or change something in a way you did not intend to, you may be able to cancel that change. Choose the Undo command from the Edit menu. This will restore the gradebook to the way it was before your last action.

Only your most recent action can be undone. If you cut a student from one class and paste that student into another class, only the paste can be undone. There are also a few actions which cannot be undone. Gradebook Manager will warn you before you take any action which cannot be undone.

You may also discard all the changes you made since last saving your document. Choose the Revert command from the File menu. This is equivalent to closing the document without saving changes and opening it again.


Using Total Points Earned

By default, Gradebook Manager determines grades using each student’s total points earned. For every student, the sum of their scores on every assignment is divided by the sum of the points possible for every assignment. This result is converted to the nearest whole percent, which is used to determine a letter grade based on the current letter grade percents.

For example:

        It All Adds Up                                 9/  10
        Orient Express                            10/  10
        Bulgarian Solitaire                    9/  10
        Spirograph Special                    9/  10
        Chapter 1 Homework         35/  35
        Chapter 1 Test                            93/100

        Total                                                    165/175  =  94.29%  (rounds to 94%)


Using Category Weights

If you want to guarantee that certain categories (such as tests or homework) contribute a fixed percent to each student’s final grade, then you should compute grades using category weights. Grades will then be determined by a weighted average of the percent correct within each category. The category weights could be the desired percent of the final grade, but this is not required.

For example:

        Tests                                            94%  x  50  =  47.00
        Homework                         100%  x  30  =  30.00
        Problem Solving            92%  x  20  =  18.40

        Total                                            95.40%  (rounds to 95%)


What Is Shareware?

Shareware is a way of distributing software which allows you to try before you buy.  If you try a shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to pay for it. Shareware exists because people like you continue to pay on this honor system. You win because you can try programs before you pay for them. You also pay a lot less than you would for an equivalent commercial product. And you get the kind of personal support that most corporations can’t or won’t provide.


Programmer’s Notes

I wrote Gradebook Manager because I was unable to find an inexpensive grading program that did what I needed and was also easy to use. I hope Gradebook Manager will fill that void for you as well.

Special thanks to my fellow teachers at Mounds Park Academy for their many comments and suggestions, which have helped to make Gradebook Manager so friendly and powerful.

Your comments and suggestions are also appreciated.

        Daniel Ethier
        P.O. Box 600322
        St. Paul, MN 55106

        Dan Ethier (America Online)
        [e-mail] (Internet)