By Benjamin Parke
Daily Bruin Contributor
Students who can’t wait until the next class meeting to
find out if they squeaked by with a C-minus on that last paper may
soon be able to turn to an electronic gradebook for the answer.
Beginning winter quarter, faculty will have the option of
sending final grades to the registrar electronically. Students will
be able to see how they did on a particular test or paper by going
to their My.UCLA Web page.
Instructors will have the option of including comments to appear
alongside the grade for any particular piece of coursework.
Jeffrey Lew, assistant resident lecturer of atmospheric
sciences, was one of the faculty members who tested the feature
over the past year. He said the gradebook made things easier for
his classes, which can contain up to three hundred students.
"We didn’t have to post scores in the hallway and get
confidentiality waiver forms and all that," Lew said.
"It really streamlined the process," he added.
The gradebook will be integrated with the calendar that is
already part of students’ My.UCLA page. Due dates for
assignments can be marked on the calendars of every student in a
participating faculty member’s class.
John Sandbrook, assistant provost of the College of Letters and
Sciences, said the electronic gradebook was designed with greater
efficiency in mind for faculty and students.
The University Records System Access ““ in which students
can register for classes, check their financial aid and access
final grades ““ has been around since Fall 1996.
My.UCLA, which provides students with a calendar and schedule of
classes, among other things, was launched a year later. As a result
of such changes, students no longer have to wait in long lines to
register for classes.
“Someone was saying how it was a shock to enter Murphy
Hall recently ““ compared to five or ten years ago ““
because of what URSA can do for you,” Sandbrook said.
Although the gradebook was developed by Information Services in
the College of Letters and Science, the feature will be available
to all UCLA faculty.
It will be up to the individual instructor whether or not to use
the gradebook.
Although it won’t be available for general use until next
quarter, Sandbrook said some students have already asked their
instructors why they weren’t using the electronic
gradebook.
It turned out that instructors in the students’ previous
classes had been involved in testing the feature.
Some final bugs are being worked out, but the main task now
facing developers is preparing for the questions about using the
gradebook. Since the software was developed entirely in-house,
College Information Services and the Office of the Registrar are
compiling their own user’s manual.
"Just like whenever anybody introduces new software, technical
support can be an issue," Sandbrook said.