First Week of Consultations

1. Saturday 9/30 at 12:00 in 246N Burrowes with Maritza Davidson for 2 hours.

Maritza was interested in learning how to link her grade book with Excel in order to submit grades to the department. She teaches 6 sections of Spanish 003 and the department requires very rigorous standards for grading. There are over 100 online assignments over the course of the semester and it in necessary to weight and score each one in a separate spreadsheet. Unfortunately, Maritza must follow the strict format set by the department, and being uncomfortable with computers has prevented her from entirely understanding the process. On Saturday I worked with her to build her grading spreadsheet as required by the department and taught her how to import the data from ANGEL to Excel. I also showed her a number of accessibility settings on Windows to enlarge font and increase readability of the information on her screen. While it would be beneficial for Maritza to use the new grade book system, it is a change that must be made on the departmental level, and Maritza will most likely need some assistance during key points in the semester, when the importing and exporting of mass quantities of data are required. We have scheduled a second meeting for Saturday 10/7, at 12:30 in her office in Burrowes.

2. Monday 10/2 at 2:30 in 458 Moore with Mary Riddle for 30 minutes.

Mary has 3 sections of Psychology 001 with about 300 students in each section. She was interested in learning about the new grade book and its features. In one class, her teaching assistant accidentally set up the old grade book, so while at our meeting we submitted an e-mail to the Help Desk and also called ITS to remedy the situation. The person at the Help Desk said that the change should be enacted as soon as possible. On her other courses I introduced her to the new grade book and most of its features. Unlike Maritza, Mary is not afraid of computers and was able to pick up many of the aspects of the grade book. She was more inexperienced than anything and she achieved a level of comfort using the grade book very quickly. I also showed her how to make a drop box and how to link it to the grade book, and gave her some pointers on how to make electronic submissions easier to review and grade. Most importantly I introduced her to the ANGEL help page and step-by-step directions for the grade book and many other features. I doubt that she will need further assistance, but she said that she would e-mail me if she needs further consultation.