To me, there really is no comparison between Mygradebook.com and Excel when working on grades. I feel that Mygradebook.com provides so much more to the teacher (though more work at times), the student, the parent, and yes, the administration. So what does this website actually provide? For the teacher, you are able to to input and access every student's grade through the internet. You can print out reports and summaries on the class as well as the individual student. There is also a place where the teacher can access the student's parents by phone number and email as long as you input the information. The teacher can also access the rank of the student within the class. This can also be given to the student if the teacher allows this. Grading sheets, final grade calculations, and attendance is also provided. Finally, it provides a calendar to everyone when assignments are due. This will help students who are sick or on an extended vacation.
For parents and students, this website provides the student's grades, what is missed, and what is to come. It is a great site for parents and students because the access is always there (as long as the teacher continues to keep up with it). The site is also very private. Each student is given a password that he or she has access to. It is just a good way for parents and students to see how well they are doing without constant contact with the teacher.
Administration can also gain access to this site to see grades of particular students. Within my school, it is very important to see how well the seniors are doing for graduation. Seniors who are in trouble can be targeted and given the extra help to get them through.
When I look at Excel, it just seems that you can calculate grades and print out a report. There is no privacy, there is no student and parent access, and to be honest, it seems a little "ancient" compared to the Mygradebook.com. Maybe I am not too familar with everything on Excel, but the other site seems to be better allows more to be done.
On a personal note, I truly believe that Mygradebook.com is a great site and very useful. The only problem I see with this site is that, at times, it is time consuming. If the teacher does not update the site daily, work will pile up and it will pile up rather quickly. It also seems to be more useful for grade school and middle school students. Most high students, as well as their parents, do not use it at all. Out of my 125 students, about 3 or 4 of them actually used the site. Maybe 1 to 2 of them used it on a regular basis. With that ratio, the site seems to be a waste. As long as it is used and looked at by the students and parents and actually kept up by the teacher, Mygradebook.com can be very useful.
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2 comments:
Great summary, Anthony. I have to agree about your label of "ancient" for Excel. It is a powerful program but it terms of it being a grade calculating and reporting tool, these other products leave it in the dust!
I really love the gradebook used in my school:Gradequick. We also export the grades to edline that parents can log onto. At the beginning, I thought parents would constantly contact us. Actually, the opposite happened. There was less need to contact parents and many told me at conferences they could monitor missing homework, tests, etc. I don't know how I could ever return to the old-fashioned grade book and calculator.
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