The Grading Module in my.Eskwela for Faculty Members

This module is responsible for recording student's performance on class activities like quizzes, assignments, major exams, and other items supported by my.Eskwela. It is also the responsibility of this module to compute the grades based on entries and distribution specified ahead of the faculty member for the class.

To activate this module,  the 'G' button must be clicked on the popup when the subject button is clicked in the dashboard (See Figure A).

Figure A. Popup button on a Subject Entry.

Once done, the Manage Grade dialog will appear (see Figure B). This dialog as with any other dialog contains information for the subject and buttons to represent actions that can be done. The functionality of these buttons will be discussed in the succeeding sections. One thing to take note of in this view, is the presence of class list along with associated colored buttons labeled by numbers. These numbers represent the accumulated results out from applying the distribution percentages as set up by the faculty members. Clicking on the individual buttons will open a dialog for the report card (See Figure C). 

Figure B. Manage Grade dialog.

The report card is the one seen by the students when they open their  my.Eskwela account. It is filled with visualization of pertinent information for them to easily keep track performance.

Figure C. Report Card

Encoding Grades

 my.Eskwela provided different ways of encoding grades: online and offline modes. Each of these methods will be discussed shortly.

To successfully enter student's grades, the faculty member has to follow the steps outlined below for every semester:

    1. Set Up Grade distribution.
    2. Set Up Transmutation Table (if necessary)
    3. Input Grades through
           i. Desktop Web
                   a. Online
                   b. Offline
           ii. Mobile Web

Set-Up Grade Distribution
To understand how  my.Eskwela compute the grades, a formula is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1.  my.Eskwela's formula for computing the grade.

The result of this formula will then be mapped to the Transmutable Table for equivalence. One would then come to realization that, as implied  by Figure 1, grades will not be computed when the grade distribution is not fully set-up.  my.Eskwela has error-detecting capabilities to inform the users on missing pre-requisites while doing Grade Entry. For example, if faculty has incomplete distribution,  a message would appear on the Grade Entry dialog (see Figure 2), a complete distribution will sum to 100%.

Figure 2. Entry Record dialog with error messages. 

my.Eskwela provided a quick fix for error messages appearing on entry record and that is the availability of the Setup Grade Distribution button (see outlined Orange Button in Figure 2). Clicking on this button, makes the Grade Setup Dialog appear (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Grade Setup Dialog.

The dialog in Figure 3 consists of course information and toggle-able boxes (Figure 3 labels as 1 and 2). 

Weight Distribution

The Weight Distribution toggle button is for item weight distribution like quizzes, etc. Clicking the Weight Distribution button toggles the input interface along with relevant information (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Weight Distribution Dialog.

The input interface in Figure 4 consists of two input boxes and a table showing the categories with corresponding values. 

To input a category (see Figure 4 label 1), type the first two-three letters and an auto-complete box will appear below, clicking on the suggested word will save you from typing the whole word. Moreover, my.Eskwela has a predefined set of acceptable categories, to view all, press the space bar and the list will be displayed.

One will then proceed to typing the numeric value (see Figure 4 label 2) of the percentage for that category in the distribution (without the %). Pressing the enter key will cause the category and percentage be part of the weight distribution and will be reflected on the table below it.

In case of changes, click the DEL (see Figure 4 label 3) button first to remove that entry and do the previous steps for the new entry(ies).

Clicking on the Weight Distribution button will hide the input interface and the Grade Setup dialog will look like Figure 3 again.

(NOTE: The values encoded in this dialog is used by the Report Card for visualization, see Figure C.)

Period Distribution

The instructions to input period distribution is just the same from that of weight distribution, only this time one has to activate the input interface by simply clicking on Period Distribution toggle button (see Figure 3 label 2), the result is shown in Figure 5. 

Figure 5. Period Distribution Dialog.

Completing the setup distribution for both period and weight will result for an "All Clear" message in the Grade Entry dialog (see Figure 7 label 1).

Set-Up Transmutation Table

 my.Eskwela already has a predefined transmutation table and a passing rate of 50%. However, the passing rate and the transmutation table of all faculty members varied, so, a utility is provided for this purpose.

To personalize the transmutation table,  click the Transmutation Table button (see Figure B), and the Transmutation Table dialog will appear (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. Transmutation Table Dialog

The user must first set the passing rate by typing a number in the input box (see Figure 6 label 1),  by default zero, and click the Set! button (see Figure 6 label 2). On successful operation, the entries in the grid (See Figure 6 label 4) will reset to nothing. This means that it is now ready to be personalized with your desired entry. Entries for this table must be set to avoid future problems in computing student's grade displayed in their Report Cards (see Figure C). Keying in entries is just like what one do in Spreadsheet program (Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Spreadsheets). After the entry, do not forget to save by clicking the Save button (see Figure 6 label 3).

Input Grades using Web Desktop (Online Mode)

To start encoding student's grade using the default interface, click the Grade Entry button (see Figure B color blue), figure 7 will then be loaded.

Figure 7. Entry Record Dialog.

To input the details of a single entry, click the Toggle Entry Setup button (see Figure 7 label 2). An input group will then be displayed (see Figure 8), clicking the same button will hide them.

Figure 8. Input Groups

These input groups associates an entry in the class record. The period, category, entry name, and max score should be filled so any entries will be associated with it.

Take note though, that after typing an Entry Name, this interface will automatically find any saved record related to the info. If there is, the Max Score and the entry list will automatically be filled. Otherwise, the Max Score field has to be filled up.

It is a good practice to toggle the group entries before a score entry is done to individual students for a compact view.

By default, the first student in the class list is the one displayed. To navigate student entries in the class list, use the up and down arrow keys making sure that the cursor is currently positioned at the score text box (see Figure 7 label 3). Typing a numeric value of the same text box followed by pressing the enter key will cause the  my.Eskwela  to record that score to the student and update the entry list below it (see Figure 9 label 2). 

 Figure 9. Entry List

To modify an entry, click EDIT (Figure 9 label 1) button and the score text box will be updated to the value of the encoded score along with the student information. Typing the corrected numeric value followed by the enter key will cause the entry to be modified and the entry list will be updated.

Input Grades Offline Mode

my.Eskwela  supports offline mode. To be able to understand how it can be achieved, click here.

Input Grades using Mobile Interface

While there are many available options to input grades in Desktop Web, there is only one option for the Mobile Web. To activate the grade input interface, in the Dashboard or in the My Class View, tap a subject and tap the Grade menu item (see Figure 9). Once done, another interface will be loaded that resembles the interface in Figure 8 but is rendered using mobile elements (See Figure 10).

 Figure 9. Current Load Listing.

Figure 10. Mobile Grade Entry Interface (expanded).

Figure 11. Mobile Grade Entry Interface (collapsed).

The input group is toggle-able using the Grade Entry Information button (see Figure 11 label 1). Each input element has an associated help button, a sample is outlined in Figure 10 label 1. Tapping on any of these buttons will cause it to display important message to describe the input element. The values in the drop boxes (Figure 10 labels 2 and 3), are dependent of the values encoded in Grade Setup (see Figure 3). The drop boxes will be empty if the Weight Distribution (Figure 4) and Period Distribution (Figure 5) are not yet encoded with required information. 

To start encoding a class record entry, select the appropriate values in the drop boxes (Figure 10 labels 2 and 3). Then type the entry name (Figure 10 label 4), if the entry name is already encoded click the Retrieve button (Figure 10 label 5). Proceed to typing the max score (Figure 10 label 6) and tap the Set button (Figure 10 label 7).  

When all the entry information has already been complied, tap the Grade Entry Information button (Figure 11 label 1) to hide the input elements (see Figure 11). Only one student can be displayed at any time, to browse through the class list choose from the possible options. First, browsing to the previous and next student can be done by tapping the previous (Figure 11 label 3) and next button (Figure 11 label 4). And second, if the browser supports, browsing to the previous and next student are done by swiping left and swiping right, respectively, in the picture area.

To input a score, activate the text area (Figure 11 label 3) and type the student score, once done, tap the OK button (Figure 11 label 6) and the entry will be saved. The next student in the class list will not be automatically loaded to make sure the faculty member can review the given score. Browse the next (or previous student) and continue encoding until the last student is reached. The last student is determined by the number found in Figure 11 label 7. If the number in the white box is just the same with the number in grayed box then the last student has been reached.

Fin.