Panel:�Dealing with Data

Do you have questions for our final panel?�Join Slack and ask in #higher-ed-conference by 4:00 Eastern

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Resources, schedule, Zoom: thegradingconference.com �Slack community: tinyurl.com/join-alt-grading

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The Grading Conference is hosted by

college-bridge.org

Today: Time to start building

Now Parallel sessions

Rethinking Assumptions� Dealing with Data� Managing Workload� Generating Reassessments�

2:45 - 3:30 More parallel sessions

3:30 - 4:00 Coffee break (offline)

4:00 - 5:00 Keynote speaker: Robert Talbert

5:00 - 5:15 Tea break (offline)

5:15 - 6:15 Town Hall & Wrap Up

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Today’s Panelists

Debbie Gaydos�Penn State University

Jacquie Rische�Marymount University�

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Rebecca Reck�University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Nathan Fox�Canisius College

About Me

• Canisius College
• Buffalo, NY
• ~2000 undergraduates, mostly local, not many math majors
• Department of Mathematics
• 📧 fox42@canisius.edu
• Typical Class Size: 10-20 (100-level), 5-15 (upper level)
• Started using alternative grading in Fall 2020 (mostly Standards-Based)
• LMS: Desire2Learn (D2L)

D2L Basic Info

• Gradebook is feature-rich but unfriendly to technical users
• “User experience” prioritized
• Customizability and automatability deprioritized
• Creating a gradebook is time consuming and rage inducing
• Changing the grading scheme in the middle of the term is time consuming and rage inducing
• Once everything is scaffolded well, everything else can go smoothly
• What the students see is customizable

Tip for alternative grading: By default, don’t plan to link grade items to course content (Dropboxes etc.)

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Summary of Data Tracking Process

• Set up entire D2L Gradebook before term starts.
1. Define “Schemes.”
2. Work through “Setup Wizard.”
3. Create “Categories.”
4. Create “Items.”
• Use spreadsheets as auxiliary tracking tools.

Case Study: Spring 2022 Differential Equations

• 200-level course, 5 students
• Standards-Based Grading
• P: “Proficient”
• R: “Revision/Reattempt Needed”
• R*: It’s an R, but you’re really close to a P. You can meet with me and attempt to correct orally.
• 20 “Learning Targets,” each with:
• A homework assignment (can revise and resubmit unlimited times)
• Two in-class quizzes
• A midterm exam question
• A final exam question
• Need 2 P’s out of those 5 opportunities to get a P on the Learning Target
• A few other items influence grade too (e.g. engagement, Python activities)

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Grade Schemes

Setup Wizard

Keys:

• Step 1: Choose “Points” Grading System 🤮
• Step 2: Do not “Automatically Release Final Grade”
• Step 4 (recommended): Set a custom Scheme as “Default Scheme”
• Step 6: Students see only “Grade scheme symbol”
• Step 6: Do not “Display final grade calculation to users”

Setup Wizard, Step 6

Categories

• I use one category per “Learning Target.”
• (If did Setup Wizard right), mostly default settings
• Check “Override display options for this item.”
• Uncheck all boxes below that.

Items

• “Selectbox” to use custom Schemes
• Assign Item to Category
• Choose a “Grade Scheme”
• Otherwise: Default settings

Doesn’t matter

What Students See

Shortcomings of D2L Gradebook

• Bulk creation of Items… 😡
• Create one of each Item template
• Export the Gradebook
• Copy/edit the Items in a spreadsheet
• Import, and “Create new grade item when an unrecognized Item is referenced”
• Fill in some missing info on each Item
• “Manage Grades” and patch everything up
• Can’t import/export feedback on grade items
• Aggregating raw data is convoluted
• “Formula” Item type
• External spreadsheet
• How do students know if their pace is sustainable?

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“Formula” Grade Items

Spreadsheets

• Offer more fine-grained control of data
• Can export from D2L and import into D2L
• Let you verify that D2L is calculating correctly
• Can give students tools to explore grade scenarios

Tracking in Canvas for Standards Based Grading

Debbie Gaydos�Lecturer in Mathematics

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Penn State University Greater Allegheny

dmg34@psu.edu

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My SBG Format in Calculus 1

30 Learning Targets, of which:

• 13 Checkpoint Targets completed via online assessments (MyOpenMath LTI)
• 17 Challenge Targets completed via in-class exams/office hour reassessments
• Of these 17, 10 deemed “CORE” targets

BASE GRADE: determined mostly by LT completion

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• Base grade can be adjusted up/down based on “grade modifiers”: overall percent grade in “assignments” category and final exam

Canvas Setup

• Enable Learning Mastery and Student Learning Mastery gradebooks
• Create (or import) Outcomes for each Learning Target
• “Attach” each outcome to an assignment rubric

Tracking LT Completion in Canvas’ Mastery Gradebook

Compiling the Data and Communicating Progress

• Export the Learning Mastery results to Excel

• Export the Canvas standard gradebook to Excel

• Use spreadsheet to aggregate data:
• Total targets completed
• CORE targets completed
• Score in “Assignments” (% graded category)

• Estimate students’ “tracking toward” grade based on current progress

Mailmerge to “Learning Target Progress Reports”

Mailmerge to “Learning Target Progress Reports”

Tips… and Possible Pitfalls

• NOTE: Students can NOT view the Learning Mastery gradebook from the Canvas app
• Must use Canvas website in a browser

Tips… and Possible Pitfalls

• Want students to be able to see category average scores, but do NOT want an “overall total %” to be displayed (this can cause confusion)

• Used weighted categories with all category weights set to 0%

Tips… and Possible Pitfalls

• Communicating with students about where they stand in terms of progress on targets is key and will likely require repetition….

• …but this can start to feel like the focus is on “grades” over deeper learning.

Rebecca M. Reck, Ph.D.

Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Contact�Email: rreck@illinois.edu�Twitter: @rebeccaee�Or on the Alternative Grading Slack

Background�I use specifications grading in an upper-level required engineering laboratory course.�

Specifications Grading in Canvas

• Use built-in rubric tool with one row for each specification
• Set assignments to complete/incomplete
• Note: you have to manually change to incomplete. Canvas will set complete as long as the score of the rubric is greater than 0.
• Turn off the final grade calculation
• Revise and resubmit to the same assignment
• Pro: only one column in the grade book
• Con: hard to track if revisions are submitted on-time
• Final grade calculation in Excel

Specifications Grading in GradeScope

• I decided not to use it for specifications based assignments for the following reasons:
• Difficult to track assignments that can be revised
• Hard to split assignments by section (for dividing grading)
• Rubrics aren’t available to students before submitting the assignment
• I did use it for assignments that were still based on points (exams and pre-labs)
• Graded assignments as usual then exported scores from GradeScope and uploaded to Canvas

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Tip: Provide a Final Grade Calculator to Students

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16cTRCW4wQAMGi8txLa7gEnzHcR5uBES6K_MA_aK6nXU/copy?usp=sharing

Jacquie Rische

Marymount University

Assistant Professor of Mathematics

jrische@marymount.edu

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Using Canvas “Outcomes” and “Learning Mastery Gradebook”

Standards-based Grading in Calculus with Precalculus

• I break my class down into “Skills” that I want my students to learn during the semester
• Weekly quizzes
• Each Skill appears on three consecutive quizzes
• I grade each Skill out of 3 points
• To complete a Skill, students need to get a 3 on it on two different quizzes
• Once a Skill stops appearing on the quizzes, students can do retakes

Grading

• Skills: 60%
• Homework: 15%
• Cumulative Final: 25%

Keeping Track of Quiz Scores

• In Canvas I use
• “Outcomes”
• Rubrics
• “Learning Mastery Gradebook”
• I also use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of each student’s current grade on the Skills

Outcomes

Rubrics

Learning Mastery Gradebook

Excel

What’s next?

Now Parallel sessions

Labs

I came, I tried, I learned (I wish I’d known)

Blending ideas

What could reassessments look like?�

3:30 - 4:00 Coffee break (offline)

4:00 - 5:00 Keynote speaker: Robert Talbert

5:00 - 5:15 Tea break (offline)

5:15 - 6:15 Town Hall / Wrap Up