To begin using Grade Book, you first must be an instructor at the Section Level on the Teach tab.
When you click the Grade Book, link you will see the following page.
The Grade Book will automatically show all the instructors, designers, TA's, and students enrolled in your course. You will also have a student called Demo Student. This is the account used by Vista when you use the Student View tab. You can test your quizzes and assignments and give grades to the Demo Student and it will not affect your statistics in the Grade Book. Using the Demo Student prevents you from having to use a different ID to view your course as a student.
As shown in the previous figure, there are five sub-tabs in Grade Book: Grades, Members, View All, Custom View, and SCORM Grades.
- • Grades: Allows you to view all the people that are enrolled in the section, add columns, edit grades, and edit student information separate from the rest of the class.
- • Members: Shows you who is enrolled in your section and what role they are assigned.
- • View All: Is the same thing as Grades, but allows you to deny member access. This tab also reorders the student view.
- • Custom View: Allows you to view a subset of members.
- • SCORM Grades: Displays columns that are automatically added for gradable SCORM modules if you have such modules in your course.
The View All tab allows you to view, enter, or override values for every column in Grade Book (grade-related or not) for all Section Students and Section Auditors in your section. All default columns appear in the View All tab: (Last Name, First Name, User Name, Role, Midterm, and Final columns and columns for any quizzes or assignments created for the section). Grades from submissions are automatically entered in these columns. View All tab reorders the Student View. |
Grades
To add a column in the Grades sub-tab, click the Create Column sub-tab and select the type of column desired.
The types of column you can add are
- • Alphanumeric: Able to add numbers and letters to this column, but cannot be used in a calculated column.
- • Calculated: Can create a formula by using any numeric and calculated column and mathematical operations.
- • Letter Grade: Can create a percentage range to convert a numeric or calculated column to a letter grade.
- • Numeric: Able to add numbers to this column, which then can be used in a calculated for a letter grade column.
- • Selection List: Can create a drop-down menu to give feedback to students.
- • Text: Able to enter numbers and letters to provide students feedback or to relay information to them.
Each column has particular settings that you may decide to use or not. If you change your mind later regarding these settings, you will be able to change them (see “Column Settings” in this chapter). To learn more about how to add each particular type of column see the ITS handout "Adding Columns in a Vista Grade Book." Columns are automatically added in Grade Book when you create assignments and quizzes.
Column Display
To change the order of your Grade Book, click Reorder Columns.
To move a column, first select the column you want to move by clicking the box to the left of it and then click the arrow icon to the left of the column you want to move it above.
As shown in the following figure, Midterm will be moved above Role. This is also how you move the columns in the View All tab.
You also have the option of making the column visible or not in Grade Book. If you do not want to see a column, click Hide Column.
The following screenshot shows that Workshop Quiz, Chapter 1 Quiz and Chapter 2 Quiz will be moved above Group Presentation.
The following screenshot shows Short paper will be moved above Group Presentation.
Be sure to click Save when you are done moving or your moves will not take effect.
Column Settings
If you need to make any changes to the columns you created, select Grade Book Options and click Column Settings.
This link will take you to a page that includes all the columns in your Grade Book along with all the settings that you can change for each column.
As shown in the previous figure, the settings you can change depend on the type of column you create. If the column is Alpha (alphanumeric) you do not have options for Decimals or Maximum Value. In addition, the first four columns are built-in Vista columns; therefore, the only thing you can change is the "Alignment" and you are not allowed to delete it. Similarly, the Midterm and Final columns are also automatically generated by Vista to be used for sending grades to the registrar when the systems are integrated in the future.
If a setting can be changed, it is blue and hyperlinked. You can change one column at a time by clicking the option you want to modify. If you want to modify the same option for more than one column, select the box for the columns you want to change and click the option at the bottom, such as, "Align," "Decimals," or "Grade," and click the green arrow next to that option. You can also delete, release, and do not release more than one column at the same time.
Presently, column sizes cannot be changed in Grade Book.
|
When changing the column type, you can only change it to Numeric, Alphanumeric, or Text. For example, you can change a Calculated column to Numeric, but you cannot change it back to Calculated. You would have to delete the column and add it back as Calculated. |
Changing Grades
Vista provides the flexibility to enter grades for a student that did not submit an assignment or complete a quiz through Vista. It will also allow you to change a grade. To do this, select the old information or the placeholder dashes in the cell for that student.
Once you select the old information or the placeholder dashes, you can change the information and add a comment.
Once you click Save, the information will be changed in Grade Book.
If you change or add a grade for an assignment or quiz through Grade Book as demonstrated in the previous figure, a caret symbol (^) is added before the grade so that you know it was not graded in Vista or that it was changed in Grade Book. The students do not see the caret and it is not downloaded when you export your Grade Book.
Exporting a Grade Book
Once you set up your Grade Book, you can download it and open it with a spreadsheet program, like Excel. To download a Grade Book, click Export to Spreadsheet at the bottom of your Grade Book.
You will receive a screen that will ask you specific questions about downloading your Grade Book.
You will export all members in a Grade Book. Decide if you want to export all your columns or just the columns that are visible in your Grade Book and if you want to export as comma or tab-delimited text. Once you make your choices, click Export.
Vista will ask if you want to open or save. Click Save, choose the location and the name of the file, and click Save again. You can now open this file in Excel or another spreadsheet application.
Importing a Grade Book
If you need to upload grades or information into a Grade Book, click Import from Spreadsheet at the bottom of Grade Book.
To import information into Grade Book, you need a comma or tab-delimited text file that includes students' usernames and the grade(s) or information you want to import. You want as exclude as much extraneous information as possible. Delete all columns you are not required to upload into the course, as shown in the following figure:
When you select Import, you will be asked to browse for your file and select if it is a comma or tab-delimited text file, then click Upload. If the column is not found in your Grade Book, it will ask if you want it to match a column to one already in your Grade Book or if you want to add it as new column, as shown in the following figure. If you upload a column you later decide you do not want, you can select Do Not Import from the drop-down list. You can also add a comment.
When you add a new column, you must go to Column Settings and determine all the settings for the new column. If you want the column in a particular place in your Grade Book, you can go to Reorder Columns to put it in the correct order.
It is easier to create all the columns in a Grade Book first, then download it and use that file as the template to upload all information if you want to import data.
Now you can start creating your own Grade Book!