Keep students informed about their performance
At a recent meeting about technology support for SAS students, several student pointed out that they would like to see their instructors make better use of the Grade Center function in Blackboard. In particular, they were urging their instructors to use the Grade Center to track all graded assignments – not just mid-term or final exams. By having a complete picture of how they’re doing in the course, they’ll know if they need to get help or make adjustments to how they approach their coursework.
The Grade Center in Blackboard is a very versatile tool for recording and communicating grades, but it can be a little intimidating to instructors because there are so many options. A good place to start is the Blackboard Quick Start guide, which offers an overview of the key functionality and brief summaries of how to perform common tasks.
On December 1, 2008 Penn Library courseware support specialists will be offering a workshop for faculty on how to use the Grade Center. See http://wic.library.upenn.edu/workshops/#SBBG for details.
Or contact the instructional support staff for your School for help in learning how to use the gradebook effectively. SAS faculty can contact instructional-support@sas.upenn.edu
