Blog Entry 9: Online Gradebooks

Almost every school system currently uses an online gradebook software that allows parents to view their childs grades at any time.  This is a great tool if used properly. 

One benefit to the virtual gradebook is that parents now have continuous access to their childs grades.  When this was not available it was easier for students to do poorly without their parents knowing until the end of the term, which of course is too late to do anything about.

Another beneift is that teachers can access the gradebook from any computer that has internet access.  It also automatically calcualates grades, instead of teachers having to do it by hand or using excel.

However, there are some negatives to virtual gradebooks.  One of these is the fact that many teachers are not trained on how to properly use the software.  I have become one of the goto people that other teachers come to when they have questions about the gradebook.  I have noticed how little many of the teachers really know about the software, and many times the teachers have incorrectly set up the grade setup.  Causing grades to be completely off.

Another negative is the fact that parents are not propertly trained in how to read the gradebook and end up not using it or freaking out about every single grade that goes into the gradebook even if the grade is exempt or missing, etc.  This ends up causing parents to email or call teachers regularly about why their child has a certain grade.  Instead of asking their child.  Sometimes it gets frustrating as a teacher to continuously have to answer these questions.

I try my best to leave feedback on each assignment and comments on each students grade if it is missing or they have time to make it up etc.  But again many parents are not aware of how to find this information.