Grades and the Canvas Grade Book (2)

0:00hello everyone this is professor

0:01fratello and in this brief video i'm

0:03going to review with you grades

0:04information about grades and the canvas

0:06grade book my goals for this video are

0:09firstly to demystify the grading process

0:11and answer the question what is my

0:12professor thinking after you submit an

0:14assignment secondly how to earn a grade

0:16in the course in general thirdly why my

0:19students figure their own grades and you

0:21and i want you to know you can do it and

0:23fourth why deadlines matter fifth the

0:25timeline for grading and what to expect

0:27and sixth i want you to do well and use

0:28the tools that i provide well as well

0:32right so firstly

0:34i want you to know that when you so

0:36demystifying the grading process what am

0:38i thinking when i open up an assignment

0:40that's from you that's to be graded i am

0:42rooting for you i want you to do well i

0:44am hoping that you submitted work that

0:46is quality work and thoughtful work and

0:48that you followed all of the

0:49instructions precisely when you've done

0:52that i am so proud of you

0:54now on the rare occasion when you submit

0:56work that is hurried or unthoughtful and

0:58didn't follow the instructions i'm going

0:59to be honest with you i am disappointed

1:02but

1:03i want you to know that i'm not

1:05judgmental i understand that life

1:06happens sometimes and throws us

1:08curveballs at the worst at the worst

1:10possible moments and it has a way of

1:12doing that

1:13so

1:14let's just say that it's 10 minutes

1:16before an assignment is due and you

1:18recognize you haven't done it yet and

1:20it's not going to be good submit it

1:22anyway okay

1:24submit your work even if it's rushed and

1:26make this your mantra for those rare

1:28occasions

1:29better some points than none okay i want

1:31you to get some points towards your

1:33grade i want you to submit what you can

1:34better some points than none and then

1:37make sure that you do better on the next

1:39assignment and you can bet your bottom

1:41dollar i'm going to be looking at your

1:43next assignment to see that you've done

1:45better

1:46okay

1:47all right secondly how to earn a high

1:49grade in this course in general

1:52firstly submit quality work early or on

1:55time

1:56secondly earn top scores on all

1:58assignments now that might seem obvious

2:00uh but in order to leave these class

2:03with a high grade you need to be earning

2:05high scores on the assignments that lead

2:07up to the grade

2:09last but not least get bonus points

2:11bonus points are like an insurance

2:12policy let's just say that life does

2:14throw you a curveball and you submitted

2:16an assignment that earned a low grade

2:18well you can make up for some of that

2:20with bonus points so get those bonus

2:22points in kind of like you know an

2:23insurance policy to help mitigate the

2:25effect of anything

2:27negative that happens with regards to

2:29your grade during the course

2:33third why my students figure their own

2:35grades

2:37something to be aware of in all of your

2:39courses is that canvas in my experience

2:42and i've been using campus for a few

2:44years now canvas has issues with

2:46displaying grades accurately until

2:50the entire

2:51until all the assignments are in for the

2:53entire semester at the end of the

2:55semester it displays an accurate grade

2:57until that time canvas can artificially

3:00inflate a displayed grade or

3:02artificially deflate a displayed grade

3:04now there are reasons for that having to

3:06do with how professors have different

3:09settings for their courses how

3:10assignments are hidden or not hidden and

3:12how those are treated by canvas

3:14whether

3:15a professor has something hidden while

3:17they're updating it and then canvas is

3:19acting like it doesn't exist when it

3:20does and so on and so forth so there are

3:23reasons for this

3:25but you don't need to be a victim of

3:26that so firstly i want you to know that

3:28i have disabled canvas's ability to

3:30display that letter grade because i

3:32don't want you to think that you've

3:34earned more than you have or earned less

3:35than you have

3:37so what what i do instead is i disable

3:39that until until all scores are in for

3:41the semester you leave the semester

3:42knowing your grade in the course there's

3:43no question

3:45but you also know where you stand

3:46throughout the semester because

3:47periodically i have you do what i call

3:49reflection assignments and in these

3:51reflection assignments

3:53i have in addition to other prompts i

3:55also have you figure your grades so far

3:57in the course and don't panic i show you

3:59how it's not that difficult and this is

4:01a skill you can use in all of your

4:03courses and my point is number i want

4:05you to keep this in mind

4:07one never rely on canvas to display a an

4:11accurate letter grade for any of your

4:13courses secondly check your own grade

4:16and you can do this

4:17all right so maybe that's thirdly

4:20all right why deadlines matter so

4:22firstly you have uh from day one of the

4:25class a course schedule that lists for

4:27you all graded assignments their point

4:30value well the point values are listed

4:32in the syllabus but uh it lists all of

4:34the

4:35all of the graded work and the dates

4:38that they are due

4:39so there's not no surprises here

4:41secondly

4:43what i'd like you to do is to place

4:45those due dates on your own calendar and

4:47set your own reminders so let's say

4:49something is due a week from monday for

4:51myself on my own calendar i have a

4:53reminder set for the week before that

4:55monday before

4:56then i would have another reminder set

4:58for that wednesday then this is how i do

5:00it friday saturday sunday and monday i

5:02have reminders for each of those days

5:04you may or may not do it that way but

5:06however you do it make sure that you

5:08keep your own calendar write these due

5:11dates in your own calendars whether it's

5:12a wall calendar that's a whiteboard that

5:14you keep in your office or your room or

5:16wherever it is that you're studying

5:18um or whether it's a paper and pencil

5:20calendar or whether it's a calendar on

5:22your phone place these due dates in your

5:25calendar and place reminders in your

5:28calendar as well and use your calendar

5:30so that you know when things are due

5:33now

5:34in addition why deadlines matter is that

5:36in my experience people who are

5:38successful attend to deadlines um

5:41research in education also shows that

5:43students who get in the habit of

5:45submitting work earlier on time tend to

5:46have better quality work submitted they

5:49tend to be less stressed out and then

5:51this is also my experience once you get

5:53something done you're free let's say

5:55that something's due on a monday you

5:56submitted it the thursday before have a

5:58great weekend you don't have to think

6:00about it at all okay

6:01so um so you know the

6:04submitting work earlier on time getting

6:06in that habit contributes greatly to

6:08your quality of life and can contribute

6:11to a higher grade according to research

6:13in terms of people who submit work

6:14earlier on time

6:16all right

6:17now

6:18in terms of consequences of missing a

6:20deadline it can be dire not just in my

6:21course but in life in general i'm going

6:23to give you just a brief story

6:25uh when i worked in a non-profit many

6:26years ago it was a grant funded program

6:29and again deadlines matter in all kinds

6:31of places in real life but let's just

6:32talk about this one experience that i

6:34had um and

6:36it was a grant funded program the grant

6:38was due every single year on the same

6:40date

6:41and

6:42the person that was supposed to submit

6:44it one year submitted it five minutes

6:46late this was a program that had been

6:48going for 20 to 30 years so did you

6:50think they say oh you've been around for

6:5220 to 30 years it's just five minutes

6:54late we'll just go ahead and take it

6:56no so i want to make this clear

6:58deadlines like really really really

7:00matter in in the real world

7:02and so what happened as a consequence is

7:05that placed our entire program at risk

7:07the families that were relying on our

7:09program

7:10were at risk for not getting their needs

7:11met because there was nobody else doing

7:13what we were doing

7:14they couldn't take up the slack

7:17any other programs out there had their

7:19own

7:20were already overstressed

7:22and so

7:23so now these children their parents

7:25these families were at risk in addition

7:29um many of my colleagues i was new i was

7:31young um

7:33i was going to get another job if i

7:34needed to but some of my colleagues had

7:36been there for the entire time 20 30

7:39years that this program had been there

7:40they were nearing retirement it was

7:42going to be very difficult for them to

7:43find another job this was going to

7:45affect their retirement so on and so

7:46forth big big deal just five minutes

7:50late

7:52again

7:53had she gotten it in a week early this

7:55wasn't a surprise it's due every year

7:57same time same place

7:59um she gotten it in a week early no

8:01issue gotten i mean you don't want you

8:03know don't stress yourself out don't put

8:05yourself at risk by getting things in

8:07right at the deadline or in that

8:09instance just after i think she was

8:11shooting for that deadline right and she

8:13missed it

8:14um so just so that you know

8:16what happened as a result was my

8:18executive director ended up spending the

8:21next nine eight to nine months

8:23contorting herself trying to get

8:25alternative funding so that she didn't

8:28have to

8:30she didn't have to cut

8:32resources from these families and so

8:34that she didn't have to fire anyone

8:37and there were some changes that had to

8:39be made for that next year um in terms

8:42of what we were able to do but we but

8:44she was able to make it work but i want

8:45you to know she was already overworked

8:48as the executive director and then she

8:50had to work

8:51doubly triply hard

8:53trying to get funding sources

8:55because our grant was not being funded

8:59because it was submitted five minutes

9:01late all right so something to keep in

9:03mind deadlines do matter now in this

9:05course

9:06quizzes and exams have a due date and

9:09there's no late period and there's no

9:11makeups they are available for many days

9:14you have all the days they're available

9:16right now in your course schedule um so

9:18again no surprises plan for it and pick

9:20one of those days for quizzes pick more

9:22than one day because you can take the

9:24quizzes repeatedly until they're due but

9:25for the exams you take it once it's open

9:27for a five day period pick one of those

9:30days in those five days once that five

9:32days is over it's over okay and you will

9:35earn a zero score if you don't do the

9:37exam before it closes so keep that in

9:40mind all right

9:41next written work i do allow a three day

9:44late period for written work but if you

9:46try to submit it on day four i'm not

9:48even looking at it you have a zero score

9:50okay the late penalty for written work

9:52is an eleven percent

9:54um reduction just a flat eleven percent

9:57not eleven percent per day just a flat

9:58eleven percent um so the highest grade

10:00you can earn on a late uh essay for

10:03instance is 89

10:05okay

10:06so just so that you are aware deadlines

10:09in fact do matter in my course and also

10:11in real life

10:13all right

10:15um also be aware that when a due date

10:17passes canvas automatically places a

10:20zero score in the gradebook so

10:23if there's

10:24written work that has and the due date

10:27has passed it's going to put a zero in

10:29the grade book but you still have that

10:30three days to submit for a late grade so

10:32don't let that zero scare you okay for

10:35exams and quizzes

10:37the due date has passed that zero that

10:38that canvas puts in automatically stands

10:41all right

10:43now

10:44in terms of the timeline for graded work

10:47um i always announce when i've started

10:49grading an assignment and i i gave you

10:51an estimate about when i intend to be

10:53done

10:54in terms of quizzes those are

10:55automatically graded by canvas so the

10:57highest score that you earn on quizzes

10:59you can take those repeatedly while

11:01they're open highest score goes into the

11:02gradebook for exams you take an exam in

11:05my class the exam period closes

11:08i am now doing an item analysis

11:11and

11:12and then going through everything and

11:14then i will announce a day or two after

11:16the exam is done that i finalized the

11:17scores

11:18um with regards to written work i need

11:20at least a week sometimes more and i

11:22will let you know in announcements um

11:24how long i expect to take on grading

11:26that written work

11:27for bonus points um those are last on my

11:29priority list so if you submit bonus

11:31points and it's been a week and it's and

11:33you still haven't gotten any feedback

11:34from me that just means i'm grading

11:36other things um and i will get to it

11:38okay

11:39all right so bonus points at the very l

11:41at the very least will be graded by the

11:44end of the semester okay but they would

11:46and they will be graded periodically and

11:48i'll and you'll get an announcement or a

11:50notification when that is done

11:52now um

11:53i want you to do well in this course and

11:56i've provided tools for you to help you

11:58to do well so i've designed the course

12:00to support your learning i've been

12:02teaching online for 20 years

12:04and not just online but i've also been

12:06teaching in person as well and i'm

12:09well versed in the field of education

12:11and how it is that adults learn and what

12:13supports adult learning so firstly i

12:16provide for you weekly quizzes

12:18you can retake those until the due date

12:20research shows that this kind of

12:22practice is really good for you

12:25and then people who do this kind of

12:26practice tend to do well on the exams as

12:28well so retake the quizzes as many times

12:32as you want but make sure that you get

12:33in the habit of retaking them until the

12:35due date and time

12:37when you and you can read retake them

12:39until you earn the top score which is

12:40five out of five points and you'll get

12:42different questions when you retake it

12:44okay

12:45look up any information you missed and

12:47then take it again don't just hit

12:48refresh and just pick a different answer

12:50the next time that's not learning you

12:52know it i know it if you want to use the

12:54tool well

12:56take the quiz stop

12:59look at the question that you missed if

13:00you can't figure out why you missed it

13:02look up the information

13:04and then go back and take the quiz again

13:07so that will help to

13:09reinforce that information in your brain

13:12also again as i stated before on day one

13:15of the class make sure that you write

13:16down all the due dates for graded work

13:18listed on the course schedule and set

13:19reminders in your own calendar i have

13:21discussion boards as well they are

13:23available 24 7. use those to ask

13:25questions i can answer your questions

13:27you can also answer questions for each

13:29other nobody in my class takes this

13:30class alone we are all here together and

13:33you are supported in your learning so

13:35use those discussion boards if you have

13:37a question and you haven't asked it i

13:38don't know that you have a question so

13:40use those discussion boards ask your

13:42questions and i will absolutely help you

13:45all right so i hope during the the this

13:48short video i was able to demystify the

13:50grading process um explained you how to

13:53earn a high grade in the course and help

13:55you understand why you figure your own

13:56grades uh your own scores and grades in

13:59the course why deadlines matter the

14:01timeline for grading assignments and

14:02what to expect and then that i've

14:04provided tools to help you to do well

14:06and i hope you understand i want you to

14:07do well and i hope that we have a great

14:09semester do you have questions where

14:12will i see you on those discussion

14:13boards all right see you soon bye