This daily ranting is getting to be addictive. I may never stop. There should be a full time job on campus—Professional Ranter. I could write a column for the Tribune every day telling people how to do things. There are so many subjects—people who park outside the lines, people who put staples in grade rosters, people who talk too loud, people who expect me to work…the list is endless. Now back to the grade roster Do’s.
DO write in the letter grade in the grade column as well as bubbling in the grade. If the scanner rejects a roster, if a roster comes in after the due date, if a roster is too damaged to scan, if there is an emergency and we have to input rosters manually, we NEED that grade written in. Data input is slowed waaaaay down when we have to input by interpreting and translating bubbles rather than looking at letter grades. Interestingly, swearing is increased in proportion to the amount of bubble interpretation we need to do.
DO write in the letter grade in the grade column as well as bubbling in the grade. I know I just said this but there is a second reason to do this. I give every roster that is scanned a quick review to make sure it scanned completely. During this quick once over I frequently spot a discrepancy between the written grade (e.g., B+) and the bubbled grade (e.g., B). Catching this before we send out grade reports makes us all look good.
DO remember that a “W” is not a legitimate grade on the grade roster or the 115 screen. Course withdrawals were due on 11/24/04. Writing in a “W” in the grade column won’t give the student a “W” grade. If you turned in a Faculty Initiated Withdrawal form or signed a student withdrawal form, make a note on the back of the roster and we will check it out. It may be as simple as the “W” being put on the student’s record AFTER the grade roster was printed. Remember, students have until 12/17 to do a complete withdrawal from the college and the grade rosters were run on 12/8.
DO remember to make sure you have access before deciding to grade online (115 screen). Currently on line grading is only available to full time faculty, so if you are an adjunct, please don’t throw out that bubble sheet in anticipation of grading on line. Full time faculty are given access on an individual basis through their department chair who then contacts Betsy Ripton. Access to input grades is not automatic with general SIS access.
Blah. Blah. Blah. OK. I just thought of some more things I could rant about in a daily column! How about people who run over your feet with their grocery cart. Or the people who chat for 20 minutes blocking the diet coke aisle, forcing you to smash into their rear ends with your shopping cart over and over and over again. That’s really annoying. Or people who find out their grocery total and then start methodically removing items to get the bill down to a certain amount. JUST CHARGE IT. Christmas decorations up in October. Forty year old men trick or treating (without kids!). People who talk through an entire hockey game. People who sit right smack in front of you at the movies…
Deborah Benjamin
Registration and Records
12/08/2004 |