Navigate 3.1.4 – LMS Reporting Quest

What are the options for grade reporting? Are there various levels? Which levels remain most valuable for the online instructor in regard to student performance?

Because students and parents are often embedded in the traditional form of grade reporting, I tend to keep my ,online grading consistent with the traditional classroom.  Essentially, I like to map out a list of assignments, and their point values.  From there I craft rubrics/scoring guides and then set up the student dropboxes.  Students then complete the work in a manner similar to an independent study with a tradition class.  I do allow for revision, and if students are willing and able to revise their work, I will modify their grade.  As for as grade reporting goes, I tend to keep the grades in real time and present the grade as soon as the work has been assessed.  The more immediate the feedback to the student, often the better their chances for success and their willingness to revise the assignment if necessary.  
Based upon the distinctions listed in this lesson, I have commented upon the usefulness of each level and its practice applications. 

• Student Level – Student data can result in a report view that indicates the number of times a student accesses a course, attempts a quiz, visited content, or used a particular tool. The reports can aggregate across students in a course, and this data can be informative about the effectiveness of the online course.  Generally important when students are struggling with the course; often this type of data can inform the instructor on whether or not the student is attempting to engage in the course, or if the student is failing because of neglect. 
• Teacher Level – A report may look at course grades per course offering or across semesters/sessions to indicate positive or negative results per teacher, as well as overall material within the course’s effectiveness. A teacher may look at their own data or their students’ data for differentiation or evaluation of their teaching methods.  For the online instructor, the most essential document because this is the record of student achievement. 
• Course Level – Course level analytics are helpful to evaluate and re-design course materials and assessments.  Less useful for the online instructor, but more important for the course designers.  Can be useful when trying new assignments out or if there is a tendency for students to either score too high (i.e. all 100s) or too low on a particular assignment.  The online instructor should be aware of these, but the teacher level ones will probably be more useful for day-to-day student engagement. 
• Program Level – Program level data is used to evaluate the effectiveness in aggregate of the successes and failures of programs to inform administrators of areas for improvement.  Less important for the individual online instructor during the course of teaching a particular course; more important when reviewing overall performance or the connections to the course.