Abstract:
An electronic grade book is described. The method includes electronically receiving from a student enrollment management system student information and class information wherein the student information includes student names and wherein the class information includes a name of a class and student identifiers for students within the class, receiving from an instructor of the class a selection of an overall grading method for a plurality of categories associated with the class, receiving from the instructor of the class a grading scale, receiving from the instructor of the class a weighting method for each of the plurality of categories associated with the class, receiving from the instructor a plurality of assignment descriptions for assignments, receiving from the instructor a score for each of the students for each of the assignments, calculating a grade for each of the students, and displaying the grade for at least one of the students.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to maintaining a grade book which provides a record of student performance within a class. Grade books are generally known in the prior art. In paper grade books, instructors record student names, assignment information, and scores to track the progress of the student. In addition to paper-based grade books, some electronic grade books are disclosed in the prior art. Such electronic grade books typically automate the paper-based grade books through adding features such as automatically calculating grades from a set of scores. Examples of electronic grade books include U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0038807 to Porter, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0046239 to Allen et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,678,500 to Helmick et al. Despite the existence of grade books and electronic grade books, problems remain. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Therefore, it is a primary object, feature or advantage of the present invention to improve over the state of the art. 
         [0003]    It is a further object, feature or advantage of the present invention to provide a web-based grade book that reduces the efforts required of an instructor. 
         [0004]    It is a still further object, feature or advantage of the present invention to provide an electronic grade book that encourages instructors to have their grades finalized and submitted in a timely fashion. 
         [0005]    Another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide an electronic grade book that is flexible in its application so as to accommodate instructor preferences or institutional preferences in grading. 
         [0006]    Yet another object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a grade book that can be used to track and report on attendance of students for grading purposes or other purposes. 
         [0007]    A further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a grade book that allows an instructor to report comments in addition to scores. 
         [0008]    A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide a grade book that allows a student advisor to access information about advisees so that the student advisor can check or monitor progress of his or her advisees. 
         [0009]    Yet another object, feature or advantage of the present invention is to provide an electronic grade book which allows students to access their scores, progress, or grade at any point in time without contacting their instructor. 
         [0010]    One or more of these and/or other objects, features or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specification and claims that follow. 
         [0011]    According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for administering a grade book system is provided. The method provides for electronically receiving from a student enrollment management system, student information, and class information. The student information may include student names, and the class information may include class names and student identifiers associated with the class. The method further includes receiving from an instructor of the class a selection of an overall grade method. The method further includes receiving from the instructor the grading scale and receiving from the instructor of a class a weighting methodology for each of a number of categories. The method further includes receiving from the instructor a number of assignment descriptions for assignments associated with the class. The method includes receiving from the instructor a score for each of the students for each of the assignments. The method contemplates that the score may be a zero or a blank if the student did not perform each of the assignments. The method further includes calculating a grade for each of the students and displaying the grade for each of the students. The method allows for the overall grading method to take into consideration different categories of assignments. Examples of categories may include class work, clinicals, discussion, essays, finals, forms, homework, investigation, labs, midterms, papers, participation, performances, presentations, projects, quizzes, readings, reviews, seat work, tests, and instructor-defined categories. The weighting method may be of various types. In addition, access to each of the student&#39;s may be provided so that each of the students can view their own scores for each of the assignments. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing an overview of one system of an electronic grade book. 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a pictorial representation of a login screen display according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a pictorial representation of a screen display of a main menu according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a pictorial representation of a one embodiment of a menu the faculty using a grade book system. 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a pictorial representation of one embodiment of a screen display allowing an instructor to select a term. 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a pictorial representation of one embodiment of a screen display to allow an instructor to select a course. 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a pictorial representation of one embodiment of a screen display for a course using one embodiment of a grade book system. 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is a pictorial representation of one portion of a screen display which allows an instructor to select an overall grading method and provides an explanation of the different types of overall grading methods. 
           [0020]      FIG. 9  is a pictorial representation of a portion of a screen display which allows an instructor to set the minimum percents associated with various letter grades. 
           [0021]      FIG. 10  is a representation of a portion of a screen display which allows an instructor to specify the manner in which different categories of work are graded. 
           [0022]      FIG. 11  is a representation of a portion of a screen display which allows an instructor to define categories of work and determine their effect on overall grading. 
           [0023]      FIG. 12  is a portion of a screen display which allows an instructor to determine the sections to include with the grade book. 
           [0024]      FIG. 13  is a representation of one embodiment of a screen display showing course information. 
           [0025]      FIG. 14  is a representation of one embodiment of a screen display showing course information. 
           [0026]      FIG. 15  is a representation of one embodiment of a screen display showing assignment information including scoring and comments to students. 
           [0027]      FIG. 16  is one embodiment of the portion of a screen display allowing an instructor to select different screens. 
           [0028]      FIG. 17  is one embodiment of a screen display showing performance of students in the classes on various assignments. 
           [0029]      FIG. 18  is a representation of one embodiment of a portion of a screen display showing student information. 
           [0030]      FIG. 19  is a representation of one embodiment of a screen display showing attendance for various students. 
           [0031]      FIG. 20  is a portion of one embodiment of a screen display showing attendance records for various students. 
           [0032]      FIG. 21  is a representation of one embodiment of a screen display showing a summary of grading and attendance information according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0033]      FIG. 22  is a pictorial representation of one embodiment of a grade book report for a student. 
           [0034]      FIG. 23  is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a grade book system and its interaction with a student enrollment management system according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0035]    The present invention relates to a grade book system.  FIG. 1  shows an example of the information flow associated with one embodiment of a grade book system. In  FIG. 1 , a system  10  includes a student enrollment management system  12  in operative communication with the grade book system  14 . An instructor  16  can interact with the grade book system  14  and a student  18  can receive information from the grade book system  14 . Thus, it is to be understood that the grade book system  14  can be populated with instructor, class, and student information from the student enrollment management system  12 . One example of a student enrollment management system is Colleague available from Datatel, Inc. Where Colleague is used, the grade book system may be implemented in the Envision language used in Colleague. Of course, as would be recognized by one skilled in the art, the grade book system may be implemented in numerous languages using many different types of development tools, and may be developed using various different platforms. Thus, the instructor  16  need not independently provide this type of information to the grade book system  14 . The instructor  16  interacts with the grade book system  14  to provide information regarding how the instructor grades the class, attendance information, and related information which will be discussed in greater detail. In addition, the student  18  can access the grade book system  14  for the purpose of viewing their own grade or attendance information. The interaction with the student enrollment management system  12  provides a number of advantages. In particular, the instructor  16 , in order to manage their classes with the grade book system  14  need not re-enter course information, student information and related information. In addition, at the end of the class or at reporting periods associated with the class, the student enrollment management system  12  can access the grade book system  14 . Thus, an instructor  16  need not spend time or effort re-entering grading information into a system different from what they use to track or compute student grades. This reduces the likelihood of any data entry errors which may affect student grades while also providing increased convenience and time savings for the instructor. This may also result in more timely reporting of the grades by the instructor. In addition, note the benefit to the student  18  who can access the grade book system  14  and independently check their grade, scores, attendance, or other information. Thus, the student  18  need not maintain a separate accounting of their progress in the class. The student  18  also need not directly contact the instructor  16  to determine their progress in the class nor does the instructor receive inquiries from the students in the class and need to respond to the inquiries regarding their grades. Thus, the present invention may be used to save time for both the instructor and the student and may also encourage the student to more frequently check their progress in their classes. It is to be understood that the grade book system  14  provide numerous and significant benefits to the student, the instructor, and the institution. 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  illustrates a login screen display  20 . The login screen display  20  includes a field  22  in which a user enters their user name and a field  24  in which the user enters their password. Upon completing this information, the user may select to login by selecting the login button  26 . Of course, the present invention contemplates that a user may login in a number of other appropriate manners. 
         [0037]      FIG. 3  illustrates a main menu  30 . Note that the present invention contemplates that faculty, employees, students, and advisors are assigned varying levels of access to the system. For example, faculty members are allowed to determine grading methodologies for the classes and provide grades. Employees may be allowed to enter grades on behalf of an instructor. For example, a departmental administrative assistant or a teaching assistant, or grader may be able to enter grades on behalf of an instructor. Students are allowed to check their own grades. Advisors are allowed to check the progress of their advisees. Of course, the level of access provided to any of these categories of individuals or others is dependent upon the features they need to access. 
         [0038]      FIG. 4  provides one embodiment of a screen display  40  for a faculty member. One of the selections for the faculty is “grade book”.  FIG. 5  is one embodiment of a screen display  50  that allows the selection of a term. A faculty member may select the term associated with a course and section they wish to access.  FIG. 6  is one embodiment of a screen display of the present invention that allows for the selection of a course. Each course may have one or more sections. 
         [0039]      FIG. 7  is one embodiment of a screen display for a course. A faculty member uses a drop down list box  72  to select an overall grading method for the course. In addition, the faculty member or instructor can use the region  74  of the screen display  70  to associate letter grades with minimum scores. The region  76  of the screen display  70  allows a faculty member or instructor to determine the categories they choose to use in grading and related information for each category. There is a column  75  for an instructor to indicate the categories the instructor wishes to use. There is a column  77  which shows the number assigned to the category for each type of category they wish to use. Column  78  provides a name for each of the categories. Column  80  provides for the instructor to enter the weight they wish to assign to each of the categories. Column  82  allows an instructor to indicate the number of assignments they wish to throw out. Column  84  allows an instructor to select whether they wish to factor blanks into the scoring. Column  86  allows an instructor to enter the default points. Column  88  allows an instructor to enter sort order for each category. Column  90  allows an instructor to provide a weighting method for each category. Column  92  shows the number of assignments entered in each category. 
         [0040]    In addition to the categories provided in column  78 , a faculty member or instructor may enter additional user-defined categories using region  94  of the screen display  70 . Also, region  96  allows an instructor to enter information if they would like a first number of categories for a student to have a minimum percentage. The instructor may set the number of categories and the minimum percentage they would like the students to have. In addition, where a course has multiple sections, the instructor can select the sections they wish to include with the grade book using the portion of the screen display  98 . Once completed, the instructor may select the submit button  100 . 
         [0041]      FIG. 8  shows one embodiment of the screen display  102  with a drop down list box  72  from which an instructor can select an overall grading methodology. Examples of the type of grading methodology can include a Weight Each Category (CW) overall grading method, a Category Score Equally (%) (CS) grading methodology, Each Score Equally (%) (ES) overall grading methodology, and an Each Point Equally (EP) overall grading methodology. The manner in which these different categories can be applied is provided through the illustration of representative examples. It is to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to these grading methodologies as other grading methodologies may be implemented. 
         [0042]      FIG. 9  illustrates the portion  74  of a screen display which allows an instructor to associate minimum scores with grades. Note that in  FIG. 9 , a letter grade of “A” requires a minimum score of 90.00 as shown in row  104 . A grade of “B” requires a minimum score of 80.00 as shown in row  106 . A grade of “C” requires a minimum score of 70.00 as shown in row  108 . A grade of “D” requires a minimum score of 60.00 as shown in row  110 . An instruction can modify the minimum scores necessary for each grade. If the institution reports grades with pluses and minuses, than the instruction can also enter or modify the minimum scores necessary to receive a plus or minus for each grade. 
         [0043]      FIG. 10  illustrates portion  76  of screen display allowing an instructor or faculty member to select the categories that they wish to use as well as associated information.  FIG. 11  provides a region of the screen display  94  where an instructor or faculty member can define additional categories. There is a column  112  for the other categories, column  114  for weight, column  116  for throw out, column  118  for citing a preference regarding whether blanks are factored, column  120  for setting default points, column  122  for setting sort order, and column  124  for setting the weight method. 
         [0044]      FIG. 12  illustrates a portion of screen display  98  where multiple sections are listed and an instructor can select the sessions which the instructor wishes to include within the grade book by checking boxes in column  126  corresponding with sessions listed in column  128 .  FIG. 13  provides a screen display  130  which includes a region  132  showing the categories associated with a particular course as well as the assignments associated with each category. A portion  134  of the screen display  130  provides the instructor with other options including but not limited to grade book setup, looking at current grades, looking at and entering blank grades, attendance entry, attendance summary, move to midterm, and move to final grades. 
         [0045]      FIG. 14  provides a portion of a screen display. As shown in  FIG. 14 , there is a column  141  for categories, column  142  for weights, column  143  for throw out, column  144  where instructor has indicated whether blanks are factored or not, column  145  indicating the weighting method, column  146  indicating the selection of one of the assignments for score entry, column  147  providing a description of an assignment, column  148  for providing the possible points associated with an assignment, column  149  for indicating the due date associated with an assignment, column  151  for indicating a weight associated with an assignment, and column  153  for indicating the number of scores that have been entered for the assignment. 
         [0046]      FIG. 15  provides portion  150  of a screen display showing the results of a class for a particular assignment. There is a column  152  for student names, column  154  for status of the student, column  156  for status date, column  158  for score, and column  159  for instructor to provide comments to each student. 
         [0047]      FIG. 16  shows a portion  160  of a screen display having a column  162  allowing the instructor to choose a row, column  164  indicative of other screens the instructor may go to, column  166  providing for options, column  168  providing for additional option descriptions, and column  169  for providing additional options. 
         [0048]      FIG. 17  provides a portion  170  of a screen display having a column  171  for students, column  172  for a description, column  173  for a method, column  174  for weight/throw out, column  175  for possible points, column  176  for score, column  177  for percent, column  178  for grade, and column  179  for comments. Thus, the instructor can look at the screen display  170  and see the progress of the students in the class based on their scores for different assignments. 
         [0049]      FIG. 18  provides a screen display  180  showing all blank grades for a class. There is a column  181  for city where the student is taking the class, column  182  for student name, column  183  for a category description, column  184  for an assignment description, column  185  for a due date, column  186  for possible points, column  187  for a score, and column  188  for comments to the student. 
         [0050]      FIG. 19  includes a screen display  190  showing attendance information associated with the students in the class. Column  191  for student names, column  192  for seat assignment for each student, column  193  for indicating whether a student is present on the date, column  194  for indicating whether a student is absent on a date, column  195  for indicating whether the absence is excused, column  196  for indicating whether a student is late, column  197  for indicating the last date of attendance for this student, column  198  indicating the number of absences associated with the student, column  199  indicating the number of excused absences associated with a student, column  200  indicating the number of times a student has been late, and column  201  in which an instructor indicates comments regarding the absence. 
         [0051]      FIG. 20  provides a portion of a screen display  210  having a column  212  for student names, column  214  for last date of attendance, column  216  for type of absence such as absent or excused absence, column  218  for the number of times the student has had such absence, and column  220  indicating additional details such as the date of the absence and whether the absence was excused or not. 
         [0052]      FIG. 21  provides a screen display  230  for a class including a column for student names  232 , column  234  for grade book percentage, column  236  for grade book grade, column  238  indicates the number of blank grades for a student, column  240  indicates if the grade is already in the student enrollment management system, column  242  for final grade, column  244  for last date of attendance, and column  246  for midterm grade. 
         [0053]      FIG. 22  provides a screen display  250  of a student&#39;s grade book report. Course information including course name and day is provided in region  252 . Student name or other student information is provided in region  254 . A number of columns are presented for each student which provides a description of categories and assignments  256 , a method for grading  258 , column  260  indicating whether the grade is weighted or thrown out, column  262  showing possible points, column  264  showing a score, column  266  showing a percent, column  268  showing a grade, and column  270  showing comments. In addition, attendance information is shown on this report, including a column for last date of attendance  272 , column  274  for type of absence, column  276  for the number of absences, and column  278  providing details regarding absences. 
         [0054]      FIG. 23  provides an overview of one embodiment of a grade book system of the present invention. In  FIG. 23 , grade book system  296  provides for interaction with a student enrollment management system  298 . In step  282 , faculty members are assigned to course sections by the student enrollment management system  298 . In step  284 , students enroll in the classes. In step  286 , faculty members setup their main grade book. This includes the manner in which student scores are calculated, including the weight given to different categories of work performed by the student. In step  288 , faculty setup individual assignments. In step  280 , faculty enters student grades for the assignments as well as notes where appropriate. In step  290 , faculty can examine the grades. In step  294 , students can view the grades. In step  292 , the faculty can move the final grades into the student enrollment management system. 
         [0055]    The present invention contemplates numerous variations, options, and alternatives. For example, the system can allow for organizing information in various ways either on screen or in printed reports. Thus, for examples, an instructor may want to see the scores of all students for a particular assignment or an average score for all students taking a course for a particular assignment or set of assignments. In addition, an instructor may want to print a listing of all students in a course in case the instructor wants to record by hand the scores for a particular assignment and then later enter the scores or have the scores entered by someone else into the grade book. These and numerous other variations, options, and alternatives are well within the spirit and scope of the claimed invention.