Standard 10: Organizing grades
Course requirements, important dates, evaluation criteria, instructions, and grades remain clear and easy to access.
Checklist Items
10A
iCollege allows students to access their grades anytime via the gradebook tool. However, having access to a gradebook that is not well-organized and up-to-date does little good for students looking to track their progress in your course. When building the gradebook, use Grade Categories and Grade Items to organize the gradebook in a meaningful manner. Also, if you provide a grading scale in your course syllabus, be sure that the terms used in the syllabus match those used in the gradebook to minimize confusion on the part of the student. As for updates, be sure to grade assessments in a timely manner so that students receive prompt feedback. This will help minimize learning gaps as students move through the course. For assessments that can be graded within the LMS, ensure that they are set to export grades to the gradebook. For assessments that take more time to grade, set a course policy for turnaround time so students know what to expect.
Resources
- OSCQR #49 – “Learners have easy access to a well-designed and up-to-date gradebook.”
- Quality Matters 3.2 – “The course grading policy is stated clearly at the beginning of the course.”
- Quality Matters 3.3 – “Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work, and their connection to the course grading policy is clearly explained.”
- iCollege – Grades
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 19: Feedback on assignments: Being timely and efficient. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-19/
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
10B
10C
Course goals and student learning outcomes are important because they drive the design for the rest of an online course, specifically the assessments and assignments in the course. As part of the backward design process, goals and outcomes tell the student what they will learn in a course and the assessments tell them how they will demonstrate whether or not they have learned those items. All other content (i.e., learning activities, instructional materials, and technology tools) should all work in concert to help the student be successful on the assessments and assignments in the course. So long as the assessments and assignments directly reflect the actions of the goals and outcomes then a course is in alignment, which works to provide an optimum educational experience.
Resources
- Quality Matters 2.1 – The course learning objectives, or course/program competencies, describe outcomes that are measurable.
- Quality Matters 2.2 – The module/unit-level learning objectives or competencies describe outcomes that are measurable and consistent with the course-level objectives or competencies.
- Quality Matters 2.3 – Learning objectives or competencies are stated clearly, are written from the learner’s perspective, and are prominently located in the course
- Quality Matters 2.4 – The relationship between learning objectives or competencies and learning activities is clearly stated.
- Quality Matters 2.5 – The learning objectives or competencies are suited to the level of the course.
- Quality Matters 3.1 – The assessments measure the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies.
- Quality Matters 4.1 – The instructional materials contribute to the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies.
- Quality Matters 5.1 – The learning activities promote the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies.
- Quality Matters 6.1 – The tools used in the course support the learning objectives or competencies
Examples
Examples of this can be pulled from course maps and alignment tables that we all might have from our courses.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 44: Planning assessment at course beginnings. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-44/
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
- Guerrero-Roldán, A. E., & Noguera, I. (2018). A model for aligning assessment with competencies and learning activities in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 38, 36-46.
Reeves, T. C. (2006). How do you know they are learning? The importance of alignment in higher education. International Journal of Learning Technology, 2(4), 294-309.
10D
Communication is a key piece in an online course. When we are in the traditional, face-to-face classroom, we can provide students with regular reminders on upcoming assessments and assignments. Additionally, we may offer regular reminders of due dates, presentation dates, and group project benchmarks. In the asynchronous, online course, however, this regular communication has to be built into the course in order to provide the students with this similar experience. In addition to providing students with a course schedule that may be located in a syllabus or as a stand-alone document, adding dates in the learning management system, scheduling regular announcements, and using intelligent agents to prompt students are all effective strategies to help ensure that students don’t fall behind or miss something in the course simply because of date.
Resources
Examples
Many of the online BBA courses as well as some other courses have great examples of IAs and scheduled announcements.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 22: Texts, announcements, emails: Which tool should I use for what?. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-22/
- Hodges, J., & Nelson, B. (2014, March). Learner engagement–The lasting effect of announcements in online courses. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 334-340). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
- Martin, F., Wang, C., & Sadaf, A. (2018). Student perception of helpfulness of facilitation strategies that enhance instructor presence, connectedness, engagement, and learning in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 37, 52-65.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
10E
Even at the undergraduate level, students today are busier than ever. Many of them are working full or part-time jobs and some may even be supporting a family or loved ones, and doing so while attempting to carry a full class load. In fact, many of our online students do fit this description and are taking online courses to maintain flexibility in their school schedules. As a result, it is important for us to help them schedule and prioritize their time commitment to our classes by providing time estimates to complete assessments, assignments, and learning activities. For quizzes and tests, this is straightforward because we can place time parameters on these assessments. Written work, projects, and discussions, however, are a bit more challenging. For discussions, think about how much time may be used in a face-to-face class for discussion and consider the out-of-class prep that may be needed (i.e. reading). For other assessments, try to develop a strategy to estimate the time it might take to complete the assignment at a level to which you want the students to aspire.
Resources
- OSCQR #19 – “Instructions are provided and well written.”
- GSU Assignment of Credit Hours Policy
- SACSCOC Credit Hours Policy Statement
- Course Workload Estimator
- TILT – Transparency in Learning and Teaching
Research
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass
10F
Even at the undergraduate level, students today are busier than ever. Many of them are working full or part-time jobs and some may even be supporting a family or loved ones, and doing so while attempting to carry a full class load. In fact, many of our online students do fit this description and are taking online courses to maintain flexibility in their school schedules. However, we must still provide an educational experience appropriate to the number of credits being awarded for successfully completing the course. Unfortunately, some strategies are to create more work in an online course because the course is asynchronous and students can work anytime and from anywhere. We must remember that institutional policy stipulates a minimum of 2.5 hours of work per credit hour per week. For a three-credit course that would be 7.5 hours per week of total time in the course, which includes reading time, videos, and engagement with other instructional materials.
Resources
- GSU Assignment of Credit Hours Policy
- SACSCOC Credit Hours Policy Statement
- Course Workload Estimator
Research
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
- Northrup-Snyder, K., Menkens, R. M., & Ross, M. A. (2020). Can students spare the time? Estimates of online course workload. Nurse Education Today, 90, 104428.
- Soffer, T., Kahan, T., & Livne, E. (2017). E-assessment of online academic courses via students’ activities and perceptions. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 54, 83-93.
- Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
Tynan, B., Ryan, Y., & Lamont‐Mills, A. (2015). Examining workload models in online and blended teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(1), 5-15.
Recommendations
R - 10.1
iCollege provides a comprehensive gradebook tool that can be viewed by students. Here, students can see as many or as few of the grade items that they want. With a fully customizable interface, the gradebook can be configured in a variety of ways to match your grading and assessment philosophy. Whether you use weighted grades, total point schemes, or even holistic grading, the gradebook can be configured to meet these needs. Also, because the gradebook can be arranged by both items and categories, many different data analytics tools are available to help track student progress, performance, and success in the course. Finally, external learning platforms including publisher platforms can be integrated with the iCollege gradebook so that any grade items completed in those platforms can populate the iCollege gradebook automatically. No more manual grade input!
Resources
- OSCQR #49 – “Learners have easy access to a well-designed and up-to-date gradebook.”
- Quality Matters 3.2 – “The course grading policy is stated clearly at the beginning of the course.”
- Quality Matters 3.3 – “Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work, and their connection to the course grading policy is clearly explained.”
- iCollege – Grades
Examples
I can provide examples from my own course and from the ENGL 1102 course to support a well-structured gradebook.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 19: Feedback on assignments: Being timely and efficient. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-19/
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
- Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
R - 10.2
One of the best ways to help ensure student success in an online course is to provide students with your expectations of their performance on assessments and assignments. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is through the use of a rubric. In addition, rubrics can be used to streamline grading, provide detailed feedback to students and make the overall assessment experience more enjoyable. While developing rubrics in programs such as Word and Adobe PDF, developing rubrics in iCollege allows you to associate those rubrics with assignments, use them grade assignments, populate the gradebook right away with those grades, and provide those rubrics easily to students in a format compatible with nearly all platforms. Students can then use these rubrics as guidelines and to self-assess their assignments prior to submission, which gives them another level of control over their learning process.
Resources
- OSCQR #46 – “Criteria for the assessment of a graded assignment are clearly articulated (rubrics, exemplary work).”
- Quality Matters 3.3 – “Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work, and their connection to the course grading policy is clearly explained.”
- TILT – Transparency in Learning and Teaching
- iCollege – Creating a Rubric
Examples
I haven’t had any GSU faculty use rubrics in their course builds. However, I have examples from my own courses that I can provide.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 82: Three scenarios for engaging students with rubrics. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-82/
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
- Haught, P., Ahern, T. C., & Ruberg, L. (2017). Student awareness and use of rubrics in online classes. Faculty Scholarship. 915. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1918&context=faculty_publications
- Reddy, M. Y. (2011). Design and development of rubrics to improve assessment outcomes. Quality Assurance in Education, 19(1), 84-104.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
R - 10.3
Apart from rubrics and detailed instructions, one other effective strategy to help ensure student success on authentic assessments and assignments is the provision of exemplars. These exemplars can be faculty-created items or works of past students. Providing these exemplars alongside the rubric can also help clarify expectations and grading criteria stated within the rubric, which can enhance the accuracy of the self-review process. While some faculty are reluctant to provide examples because of potential issues surrounding academic integrity, consider how you approach professional submissions such as grant applications and research papers. Were you not at one time (and possibly continue to be) provided with exemplars? Why should students be afforded anything less?
Resources
- OSCQR #46 – “Criteria for the assessment of a graded assignment are clearly articulated (rubrics, exemplary work).”
- Quality Matters 3.3 – “Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work, and their connection to the course grading policy is clearly explained.”
- TILT – Transparency in Learning and Teaching
- Academic Integrity Video
- Academic Integrity Best Practices
Examples
I don’t have specific courses that do this but I can provide examples from my own courses and from courses that I have taken in my own academic programs.
Research
- Carless, D., & Chan, K. K. H. (2017). Managing dialogic use of exemplars. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(6), 930-941.
- Carter, R., Salamonson, Y., Ramjan, L. M., & Halcomb, E. (2018). Students use of exemplars to support academic writing in higher education: An integrative review. Nurse education today, 65, 87-93.
Handley, K., & Williams, L. (2011). From copying to learning: using exemplars to engage students with assessment criteria and feedback. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(1), 95-108.
R - 10.4
In a traditional, face-to-face classroom, we have the opportunity to remind students of upcoming assessments and assignments in addition to providing them with a course schedule or course calendar in the syllabus. For online classes, we can also provide a calendar and include due dates for all assessments, assignments, and learning activities. However, with online courses, it is also important to include due dates for grade items provided in the student gradebook. Unlike a traditional classroom, online courses allow students to access and monitor their grades throughout the term. As a result, students need to be able to see when grade items are due so they can plan their workflow. Providing dates for grade items also helps you develop a well-constructed gradebook, which helps with data collection and analytics in the course.
Resources
- OSCQR #49 – “Learners have easy access to a well-designed and up-to-date gradebook.”
- Quality Matters 3.2 – “The course grading policy is stated clearly at the beginning of the course.”
- TILT – Transparency in Learning and Teaching
- iCollege – Grades
Examples
I have examples in my BBA courses and in the ENGL 1102 master course I developed.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 19: Feedback on assignments: Being timely and efficient. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-19/
Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 83: Tips for making your grading time efficient and formative for your learners. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-83/
R - 10.5
Communication is a key piece in an online course. When we are in the traditional, face-to-face classroom, we can provide students with regular reminders on upcoming assessments and assignments. Additionally, we may offer regular reminders of due dates, presentation dates, and group project benchmarks. In the asynchronous, online course, however, this regular communication has to be built into the course in order to provide the students with this similar experience. In addition to providing students with a course schedule that may be located in a syllabus or as a stand-alone document, adding dates in the learning management system, scheduling regular announcements, and using intelligent agents to prompt students are all effective strategies to help ensure that students don’t fall behind or miss something in the course simply because of date.
Resources
- iCollege – Announcements
- iCollege – Intelligent Agents
- Quality Matters 3.4 – “The assessments used are sequenced, varied, and suited to the level of the course.”
- TILT – Transparency in Learning and Teaching
Examples
- Many of the online BBA courses as well as some other courses have great examples of IAs and scheduled announcements. All courses also have examples of course schedules and I can include some of my own.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 22: Texts, announcements, emails: Which tool should I use for what?. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-22/
- Hodges, J., & Nelson, B. (2014, March). Learner engagement–The lasting effect of announcements in online courses. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 334-340). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
- Martin, F., Wang, C., & Sadaf, A. (2018). Student perception of helpfulness of facilitation strategies that enhance instructor presence, connectedness, engagement, and learning in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 37, 52-65.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
R - 10.6
Even at the undergraduate level, students today are busier than ever. Many of them are working full or part-time jobs and some may even be supporting a family or loved ones, and doing so while attempting to carry a full class load. In fact, many of our online students do fit this description and are taking online courses to maintain flexibility in their school schedules. However, we must still provide an educational experience appropriate to the number of credits being awarded for successfully completing the course. Unfortunately, some strategies are to create more work in an online course because the course is asynchronous and students can work anytime and from anywhere. We must remember that institutional policy stipulates a minimum of 2.5 hours of work per credit hour per week. For a three-credit course that would be 7.5 hours per week of total time in the course, which includes reading time, videos, and engagement with other instructional materials.
Resources
- GSU Assignment of Credit Hours Policy
- SACSCOC Credit Hours Policy Statement
- Course Workload Estimator
Research
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
- Northrup-Snyder, K., Menkens, R. M., & Ross, M. A. (2020). Can students spare the time? Estimates of online course workload. Nurse Education Today, 90, 104428.
- Soffer, T., Kahan, T., & Livne, E. (2017). E-assessment of online academic courses via students’ activities and perceptions. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 54, 83-93.
- Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
Tynan, B., Ryan, Y., & Lamont‐Mills, A. (2015). Examining workload models in online and blended teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(1), 5-15.
R - 10.7
In the traditional, face-to-face classroom, we have the luxury of providing students with announcements each time we meet. In the online environment, there are tools available and strategies that we can employ to simulate this same level of communication. First, we can use the announcement tool in iCollege to send out reminders of due dates, quizzes, exams, etc. These announcements can be developed and sent manually or be scheduled ahead of time and automated. Second, we have the intelligent agent tool available, which will send targeted reminders to students throughout the semester via an automated system. Regardless of the selected strategy, it is important that we go beyond simply providing the students with a course schedule or calendar at the beginning of the term and continuously reminding them through regular communication. This also works to reduce transactional distance and increase student-instructor engagement.
Resources
Examples
Many of the online BBA courses as well as some other courses have great examples of IAs and scheduled announcements.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 22: Texts, announcements, emails: Which tool should I use for what?. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-22/
- Hodges, J., & Nelson, B. (2014, March). Learner engagement–The lasting effect of announcements in online courses. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 334-340). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
- Martin, F., Wang, C., & Sadaf, A. (2018). Student perception of helpfulness of facilitation strategies that enhance instructor presence, connectedness, engagement, and learning in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 37, 52-65.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
R - 10.8
In the traditional, face-to-face classroom, we have the luxury of providing students with announcements each time we meet. In the online environment, there are tools available and strategies that we can employ to simulate this same level of communication. First, we can use the announcement tool in iCollege to send out reminders of due dates, quizzes, exams, etc. These announcements can be developed and sent manually or be scheduled ahead of time and automated. Second, we have the intelligent agent tool available, which will send targeted reminders to students throughout the semester via an automated system. Regardless of the selected strategy, it is important that we go beyond simply providing the students with a course schedule or calendar at the beginning of the term and continuously reminding them through regular communication. This also works to reduce transactional distance and increase student-instructor engagement.
Resources
Examples
- Many of the online BBA courses as well as some other courses have great examples of IAs and scheduled announcements.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 22: Texts, announcements, emails: Which tool should I use for what?. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-22/
- Hodges, J., & Nelson, B. (2014, March). Learner engagement–The lasting effect of announcements in online courses. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 334-340). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
- Martin, F., Wang, C., & Sadaf, A. (2018). Student perception of helpfulness of facilitation strategies that enhance instructor presence, connectedness, engagement, and learning in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 37, 52-65.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
R - 10.9
Cheating is one of the most voiced concerns from faculty when discussing online courses, online learning, and online assessment. While there are a number of assessment strategies that can be used to minimize the possibility or even the effectiveness of cheating, there are also tools available to you that can help minimize cheating and identify cheating when and if it occurs. For assessment strategies, consider authentic assessments, written assessments, projects, and presentations over objective-based assessments. When objective-based assessments are necessary, consider implementing time constraints and using technical solutions such as lockdown browsers. Unfortunately, cheating cannot be completely eliminated in any environment. However, we should also ask ourselves why students cheat and what we can do in our classes to minimize those reasons.
Resources
- OSCQR #19 – “Instructions are provided and well written.”
- OSCQR #46 – “Criteria for the assessment of a graded assignment are clearly articulated (rubrics, exemplary work).”
- Quality Matters 3.1 – The assessments measure the achievement of the stated learning objectives or competencies.
- Quality Matters 3.3 – “Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work, and their connection to the course grading policy is clearly explained.”
- Quality Matters 3.4 – “The assessments used are sequenced, varied, and suited to the level of the course.”
- TILT – Transparency in Learning and Teaching
- iCollege – Creating an Assignment (+ Turnitin Plagiarism Settings)
- Academic Integrity Video
- Academic Integrity Best Practices
- Alternative Testing Strategies
- Tools for Testing
- Proctoring
- Accommodation and Online Testing
Examples
- There are a number of objective-based and authentic assessment strategies occurring in most of our classes. We should be able to provide numerous examples here.
Research
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 28: Designing assessments that matter to the learners. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-28/
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 64: Three best practices in assessment. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-64/
- Boettcher, J. (2006). E-coaching tip 104: Favorite assessment strategies: What is yours?. Designing for Learning. http://designingforlearning.info/ecoachingtips/ecoaching-tip-104/
- Fenton, C., & Watkins, B. W. (2010). Fluency in Distance Learning. Information Age Publishing.
Stavedes, T. (2011). Effective online teaching: Foundations and strategies for student success. Jossey-Bass.
