As the semester winds down and much student learning has taken place, there is a common question being asked, what’s my grade? The answer should not come as surprise because a final grade is comprised of many smaller grades earned throughout the semester. Having an organized and well maintained gradebook communicates that much need feedback to your students. During a semester “grades” factor into decisions like to whether a student chooses to drop or withdraw from a class and instructors may look at grades to help identify students who need additional outreach and support. Maintaining an up to date and accurate gradebook is also a item on the Leeward CC DE Guidelines for sound course design (Leeward DE Guidelines 5.6). We recently held a webinar on this subject and are able to share the presentation, “What’s My Grade? Laulima Gradebook (12:48).”
Lastly, here are some summary points to remember:
Dashes don’t equal zeros.
As we approach the end of the semester, missed scores for Gradebook Items should be converted to zeros to provide the most accurate calculated grade to the student. There is a button in Course Grades (scroll to bottom of that page) to convert all dashes in your Gradebook to “0”s. (Best practice tip: Throughout the semester as assignments are graded, put in zeros for those who did not submit their assignments so students can see their actual course grade at any point during the semester since dashes do not count against their course grade.)
Three steps to successfully publishing (final grades).
- Use the Publish tab to submit final course grades from Laulima Gradebook to MyUH Banner.
- Identify the last date of attendance for students who have not passed your course.
- Log into MyUH Final Grades. For students who have not passed the course input date of last attendance and submit grades.
If you are in doubt on your successful submission you can email LeeCC campus Registrar, Grant Helgeson (helgeson@hawaii.edu). Include: Subject & Course Number CRN (e.g. ENG 100, CRN: 12345)