Utilizing the engrade software was a great experience! I really liked how easy it was to use the software and that they provided pretty much step by step instructions. Even creating a username and password somehow seemed easier. I liked how as you created the password, entered your email, and came up with a username the software told you if each step was okay. Most sites that require you to create a username and password don't tell you that are taken until you go through all of the step! The software made it very easy to input the student and put them in any order that you wanted without you doing the leg work. Inputting the assignments and grades was also made easy with a drop down menu of multiple choices.
The only thing that i did not like about the software was the attendance tool. I thought that it took a very long time to move from student to student to input some kind of mark to identify who was there or who was absent. I think that it would be beneficial to create some sort of tool that enables you to simply double click on the day to indicate that all of the students were in attendance and simply make changes to the students that were absent. This part probably took me longer than the grade book for the same amount of days!
I think that this software would definitely be beneficial for teachers, however, i do not know how realistic it is. Unless teachers have constant access to a computer in the classroom, it would be difficult to rely solely on this gradebook. Oftentimes, teachers are able to input grades into their paper gradebook as the students are doing silent reading, taking a quiz, etc. The teacher would have to have this software accessible in her classroom in order to utilize classroom time. The attendance tools also has the same problem of accessibility and many schools have their own means of taking attendance that the teacher cannot deviat from. This may be a good school wide attendance policy, but there are also other online attendance tools that are much more user friendly. When i student taught, an online software was used for attendance and the teacher simply had to click on any students that were absent (it was assumed all students were there from the get go) and hit send and the attendance went straight to the main office. It was great!
I think that both students and parents would like this software as they would be able to see how they are doing in a concrete and up to date manner. It would also allow them to see if their are any trends in the students progress of lack of progress. (e.g. the student always performs poorly on the quizzes). Parents and students utilizing this software would also ensure that parents are kept up to date, so there are no "surprises" report card time.
Overall, i really liked this software and thought it was extremely easy to use. Aside from the user friendliness, this site is also a great way to go green! (this would cut down on a lot of paper usage!)
My easily created grade book:
http://www.engrade.com/teacher-gradebook.php?c=1
The only thing that i did not like about the software was the attendance tool. I thought that it took a very long time to move from student to student to input some kind of mark to identify who was there or who was absent. I think that it would be beneficial to create some sort of tool that enables you to simply double click on the day to indicate that all of the students were in attendance and simply make changes to the students that were absent. This part probably took me longer than the grade book for the same amount of days!
I think that this software would definitely be beneficial for teachers, however, i do not know how realistic it is. Unless teachers have constant access to a computer in the classroom, it would be difficult to rely solely on this gradebook. Oftentimes, teachers are able to input grades into their paper gradebook as the students are doing silent reading, taking a quiz, etc. The teacher would have to have this software accessible in her classroom in order to utilize classroom time. The attendance tools also has the same problem of accessibility and many schools have their own means of taking attendance that the teacher cannot deviat from. This may be a good school wide attendance policy, but there are also other online attendance tools that are much more user friendly. When i student taught, an online software was used for attendance and the teacher simply had to click on any students that were absent (it was assumed all students were there from the get go) and hit send and the attendance went straight to the main office. It was great!
I think that both students and parents would like this software as they would be able to see how they are doing in a concrete and up to date manner. It would also allow them to see if their are any trends in the students progress of lack of progress. (e.g. the student always performs poorly on the quizzes). Parents and students utilizing this software would also ensure that parents are kept up to date, so there are no "surprises" report card time.
Overall, i really liked this software and thought it was extremely easy to use. Aside from the user friendliness, this site is also a great way to go green! (this would cut down on a lot of paper usage!)
My easily created grade book:
http://www.engrade.com/teacher-gradebook.php?c=1
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