Paperless Web Grades gets an 'A'; ready for fall rollout

Faculty and students soon will benefit from a new Web-based grading system that will streamline the grade recording process.

Beginning in the Fall 2005 semester, all faculty members and instructional staff will submit their final grades via the Internet. Sponsored by the Provost's Office, Office of the Registrar and Michigan Administrative Information Services (MAIS), the system has been tested by a pilot group of faculty and staff from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, College of Engineering, LSA, and the schools of Nursing and Social Work.

Paul Robinson, University registrar, says the Web Grades process will replace paper forms that were submitted to the Registrar's Office at the end of each term. In fact, paper rosters no longer will be produced and distributed across campus.

"In December, instructors will enter grades directly into the system using the Internet," Robinson says. "They can log into Wolverine Access from anywhere, click Teaching Support, enter grades for each student, and—it's so fast and efficient—within an hour the student can see his or her grade for that class."

A new feature released in June will enable instructors to upload grades from a file rather than manually entering them on the Web page.

Jerry Davis, chair of the Management and Organizations Department at the Ross School of Business and a participant in the pilot program, says the process is easy and straightforward.

"You log in to Wolverine Access, open the Record Grades Web page, select the term and the class, and enter the grade for each student in that section," Davis says. "You can then review what you've entered and click Approve and Save. The system sends you an e-mail to confirm that the grades have been entered."

Although a proxy function that allows grade entry to be assigned to a non-instructor is available, the provost and the registrar strongly encourage faculty and instructors to enter grades themselves.

If a proxy is used, however, it is the instructor's responsibility to review all grades before they are entered.

In the coming months, instructors and staff new to Web Grades will receive detailed instructions about their roles and responsibilities.

A preview of the Web Grades process and Web pages, along with a project overview, job aids, frequently asked questions, and more information, can be found at: http://www.umich.edu/~regoff/webgrades.html.

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