
I have to be honest and admit how excited I was to be evaluating a grade book website. I know of many teachers out there that still manually input grades into their green covered grade book and only use pencil because they always go back and fix mistakes. However, now teachers have the option to use online grading software, where all they have to do to record grades is click a few simple buttons.
* Tell what features you liked, disliked, and why.
I loved every feature that Engrade had to offer. I liked how there was a male teacher who gave a tutorial for others to follow on the how to's of this software program. I watch his 12 minute video and knew that this process was going to be easy and enjoyable. I liked how teachers have the option of converting numbers to percentages after they manually click on options such as custom, manual, etc...This gives teachers more freedom with how they want their grading criteria to look like. Engrade also offers teachers to separate assignments, depending on subject, and if an assignment is worth more, less, or even extra credit. When teachers put grades into their Engrade grade book, and have a student that was absent or one that missed an assignment, a simple "m" for missing, or "e" for excused is placed. However, those letters can be made up and put into number form if the assignment is submitted. It does it all for the teacher, no calculators or anything. I also really admired how to involve students and parents by giving each individual student a secret access code. This is for the student to access their grades, as well as their parents, and to keep the parents in the loop. This keeps both parents and students engaged and involved. By viewing grades online, may be an added incentive for students to do well or to work harder, especially when they know parents can view them as well!
I loved every feature that Engrade had to offer. I liked how there was a male teacher who gave a tutorial for others to follow on the how to's of this software program. I watch his 12 minute video and knew that this process was going to be easy and enjoyable. I liked how teachers have the option of converting numbers to percentages after they manually click on options such as custom, manual, etc...This gives teachers more freedom with how they want their grading criteria to look like. Engrade also offers teachers to separate assignments, depending on subject, and if an assignment is worth more, less, or even extra credit. When teachers put grades into their Engrade grade book, and have a student that was absent or one that missed an assignment, a simple "m" for missing, or "e" for excused is placed. However, those letters can be made up and put into number form if the assignment is submitted. It does it all for the teacher, no calculators or anything. I also really admired how to involve students and parents by giving each individual student a secret access code. This is for the student to access their grades, as well as their parents, and to keep the parents in the loop. This keeps both parents and students engaged and involved. By viewing grades online, may be an added incentive for students to do well or to work harder, especially when they know parents can view them as well!
The option of rounding is also given to teachers. I love teachers who round up to the next whole number and believe it is a fair way to grade. Dropping the lowest grade was another thing teachers can do on Engrade. I like this because some teachers give a lot of tests and quizzes, and by dropping the lowest grade can take some strain off of students.
I also loved the comment part of Engrade. Parents want to see how their child is doing by teacher-made comments. Seeing this can ease doubts and/or possibly schedule a conference to talk about why a student is struggling with school and what can be done to help.
After reviewing and looking at different links in Engrade and other grading sites, I realized that Engrade lacks some features. For instance, two other websites I explored were called Chancery and Powerschool. Both were more visually appealing and had more options to make a grade sheet appear better. The process was a bit more comprehensive and detailed. However, Engrade is still a wonderful user friendly grading site, and I will most definitely consider using it in my future as an educator.
I also believe that students may not be too keen with Engrade because parents can access grades and see what his/her child has been doing and not doing. Students may want the old paper, pencil, calculator way of grading used again by his/her classroom teacher.
* Provide some ideas or features that you think would improve Engrade.com
I tried the printing section of Engrade and found that even though I only wanted ONE assignment printed, every assignment was printed. I found this to be a waste of paper and ink. Maybe if there was a section at the top of the tool bar, like in a Microsoft Word document, where I can select a section that I want to be printed, would be more appealing. Changing grades also seemed time consuming. I only saw one student at a time, not the whole class. Maybe if there was a "Select All" button where every student was selected, I can then change grades there and then instead of closing and opening each student.
* Tell why you think this software would or would not be useful for classroom teachers.
I believe that by taking advantage of any technological advance is a wonderful opportunity. Engrade offers teachers just that. I think that by using Engrade can take a load off of teachers busy schedules and have more student involvement. However, one has to know how to use a computer. If a teacher does not have this prior knowledge, it may take a while for mastery to develop. I also think that the attendance section of Engrade is more time consuming than taking it manually and sending it to the office. A computer has to be turned on, then the teacher has to wait for the Engrade site to come on the screen. This can take several minutes. If a teacher is in a push for time one day, taking roll manually is faster. I will, however, take advantage of online grading. I like how it is fast, simple to use and user friendly. Engrade has the capability of engaging students and keeping them involved inside the classroom and at home.
* Tell why students and/or parents would like this online grade book software, or why not.
I am kind of on the fence with this one. I think online grade book software can be beneficial for any student, however, there are always going to be students who do not want his/her parents seeing their grade. Students may like this online grade book because it allows them to access their grades without asking the teacher. It allows the student to see their progress, or decline in grades. By assigning a special code to each student, gives ownership to that student. They may feel special and feel more inclined to do better and push themselves harder in school. Parents stay involved when they can view their child's grades online. Instead of waiting to the end of a marking period, they can see if their child needs help or not. However, not all students want their parents to see his/her grades. This can cause problems at home, which can result in bad behavior and/or bad grades in a school setting. However one looks at it, I do not believe online grading will ever be favorable by every student, but I do believe every teacher should take advantage of it and learn to use technology to his/her benefit.
Overall, I learned a lot by researching this online grade book site. I learned that doing grades online can be easy and fun. Involving students in the process of learning about technology by viewing their grades is a great way for them to stay engaged and enjoy school. I am looking forward to the day when I have my own classroom and can not wait to see if my school offers online grading.
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