Every teacher has a gradebook that keeps track of grades and attendance, then tabulated into a grade at the end of the class. If schools use an online gradebook, the online gradebook should be easy to use, but it needs to have certain features as well. The article lists some important features for an online gradebook that are common in most online courses.
Online gradebooks have become popular due to online courses becoming more widespread than ever before.
An online gradebook has several advantages over traditional grading because it allows instructors to have more control over students and their grades. Instructors can constantly monitor student progress through the online gradebook, seeing which students are performing well or if something needs to be addressed with particular students. Online gradebooks also save time because they centralize all of a student’s grades in one place, making them easier for instructors to keep track of in a short period. For online courses that meet once every two weeks or so, an online gradebook offers quick instructor feedback on how each student is progressing toward meeting their goals and benchmarks at any given moment.
Important Features of an Online Gradebook
- Different ways for students to submit assignments
- Automatic calculation of grade percentages
- Review online right before grades are submitted
- Ability to edit or delete mistakes after they have been made
- Ability for an online program to track individual students
- Anonymous student submissions to prevent cheating on online tests and quizzes.
Different Ways to Submit Assignments
One important thing to look for in online gradebooks is that instructors have different ways for students to submit their work. Some online gradebooks only notify students they should go online or submit something because it is time. In contrast, other online gradebooks allow them to upload assignments through online storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive. Online gradebooks with online storage services automatically save the files online and submit them to instructors when students have finished their work, so they never lose access to what they have already submitted.
Automatic Calculation of Grade Percentages
Instructors need an online gradebook that calculates grades automatically, so they don’t need to input grades manually. With automatic calculations, online gradebooks divide a total score by the possible number of points to compute an average out of 100%. This means students will never have to guess their final score because online gradebooks automatically provide them with their percentage when all assignments are submitted.
Review Before Grades are Submitted
Another essential online gradebook feature is to have instructors review online assignments before they submit final grades. Frequently, online tasks require more work than traditional written assignments because students must complete them online and upload files for grading. If online assignment submissions are given a deadline, some online gradebooks allow instructors to see all submissions as they are being made online. This means instructors can go online and view assignments as students upload them, which is not a feature all online gradebooks have.
Ability to Edit or Delete Mistakes After They Have Been Made
Sometimes, instructors make mistakes when grading online assignments because online grading takes a lot of time. If online gradebooks allow for corrections and revisions, teachers can fix errors online. In online gradebooks that will enable editing, instructors can edit mistakes after they have been made. Some online gradebooks do not allow edits or corrections because it might be too time-consuming to correct errors students make from the beginning of the semester until the end.
Ability to Track Individual Students
Another online gradebook feature that is extremely useful for instructors is tracking individual students. This feature means online instructors can see exactly which students have completed their work and which ones haven’t. Suppose an instructor notices a student hasn’t submitted any online assignments. In that case, they can go online and see exactly which assignments are due and when to make sure students aren’t falling behind.
Anonymous Student Submissions
An excellent gradebook feature that prevents cheating on online tests and quizzes is the ability for programs to track individual students anonymously. This online feature means students never have to worry about having their online submissions graded by name or online by another student because their submissions are always anonymous to all students. This feature is beneficial for instructors since cheating can cause academic dishonesty when it’s not properly monitored online.
The online gradebook has many advantages over traditional grading because it allows instructors to control student’s grades online. Instructors can constantly monitor student progress through the online gradebook, seeing which students are performing well or if something needs to be addressed with certain students. Every online gradebook should calculate grades automatically, give instructors a way to review online assignments before they submit final grades, and allow them to edit or delete any mistakes after assignments have been submitted online.