ANGEL Tip #4: Setting Up the Gradebook

It is the beginning of week 7 of the fall semester; a great time to reflect on what the semester has been like.  It is also a great time for students to analyze how they are doing in class.  A great tool for them to use when doing this is the ANGEL gradebook.  It gives the student the insight on how they are doing at any particular point in the semester.

The ANGEL gradebook is available for all courses; it doesn’t matter if it is online, hybrid or a face-to-face course.  Any faculty member can choose to use it.

First thing to consider when doing the gradebook is whether you want to use the point or percentage system.  The gradebook is set up by categories that reflect what percentage of the total grade that category is worth.  Then each category will contain the total assignments that make up that category.
For example – you could have 3 categories:

• Homework worth 25 % of the total grade
• Quizzes worth 25% of the total grade
• Final Exam worth 50% of the total grade

For assignments you could have:

• 10 homework assignments (each with the best achievable grade being 100)
• 3 quizzes (each with the best achievable grade being 100)
• 1 final exam (with the best achievable grade being 100)

The ANGEL gradebook will automatically do the calculations for you as you enter your grades.  No more spreadsheets and formulas to figure out!
Technology is great but it is always a good idea to have a printed or saved copy of your gradebook.  Not only can technology be fallible, but, if, for some reason, a student questioned their grade in the future you would have your own copy of the gradebook even if you were no longer using ANGEL.  It is very easy to do.

1. Go to the manage tab, then gradebook.
2. On the left side you will see the print option.
3. Click on it and generate a pdf. You can even change the font if you would like to view it in a larger size.