Thursday, June 1, 2017

Customizing Gradebook to Display Section Number

In Gradebook, the default display for sections is name and expression. This creates 2 issues. First, if you teach multiple sections of the same course, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the different sections. Second, some expressions are very long and cause the section view in Gradebook to be very messy.

Consider below, this teacher teaches two sections of Math 7. Yes, the teacher can check the expression for differences, but Gradebook allows you to display the section number which is often more useful.


Steps:

1. Click on Tools --> Preferences in the Menu Bar.


2. In the pop-up window, navigate to the Section tab, choose section number as the way to distinguish between sections and hit save.


The result is much easier to read and distinguish between sections.




Managing Categories in Gradebook

In Gradebook, categories will carry over from one school year to the next. As a result, your list of categories can eventually become extremely long and you may find that some categories are no longer needed and in the way. 


However, if you have used a category in the past, it cannot be deleted, but you can have moved it to the bottom of your list by editing the name to include "z-". For example, if the category name is ‘Health’, rename it to ‘z-Health’ and the category will sort to the bottom of the list. 

Steps:

1. Double click on the category name to open the edit window.
2. Add "z-" to the front of the name and hit submit.



Also, using a generic category like ‘Unit 1’ can be used in many classes thus reducing the number of categories needed.

Customizing PowerTeacher to Display Section Number

If you teach multiple sections of the same course, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the different sections. Consider below, this teacher teaches two sections of Math 7. Yes, the teacher can check the expression for differences, but PowerTeacher allows you to display the section number which is often more useful.



Steps:

1. Click on Personalize the left of the StartPage in PowerTeacher.


2. Select Display Section Number.


3. Select "Yes" and submit.
4. Sign-out of PowerTeacher and Sign-in again and the section number will be displayed making it easy to distinguish between the sections.