Does This Sound Familiar 2 U

How To submit Grade Using The Portal

The last time I did this video I was recovering from a hangover, so here is another attempt.

Submiting Your Grades On El Portal

The end of the semester is sneaking up on us, and this year we have to use "El Portal"!
Here is a how to video created by me, myself and I.

Pick a Prof has arrived!

Everyone forget about ratemyprofessor.com! There is a new site that will send shivers up your spine. There is a new site called Pickaprof.com. This site posts grade histories, the number of A-F's given by every professor in every course, directly from Rio Hondo College records. I have blogged about this site before but due to Rio's grading being low tech, I did not expect them to have our grades for awhile. Well they have our grade history now and so do the students.

November 28 Morning Session

This morning I got here at 7:30 AM and thought about the faculty role in submitting grades at Rio Hondo. The meeting started at 8:30 and I let the consultant know that I had to be in class by 9:40 AM.
The consultant wanted to finish up the registration process which we did not finish up yesterday. This was a useful exercise for the people involved in the registration process. Unfortunately faculty is not involved in the process. Around 9:18, I objected to doing a BPA that does not involve faculty and discussing the BPA which concerns faculty (Grading) while the only faculty involved is out of the room.
The consultant quickly stopped the registration BPA and switched to Grading BPA. He started with asking for "hindrances" (usually in the middle of BPA). I offered the hindrance to faculty is walking or driving down to A&R and submitting the grades in person. Also I reported that some faculty take offense at having to stand around while their grades are being checked by A&R staff. This comment got some A&R staff upset and they wanted to defend the practice. I did not have much time and wanted to end their justification, so I asked them not to shoot the messenger.
Also I pointed out that students want their grades as soon as it is submitted.
At this point it was 9:38 AM and I left.
I have a break between 11:00 AM and 11:15 AM, so I went up to see where they are on the grading BPA. They had finished the Grades BPA and were back on Registration, so I left!
It is 1:00 PM (no make that 1:45) and I am sitting in the back of the room watching the Degree/certificate/ed plan evaluation BPA. The participants are mostly counselors, A&R, and IT. Our very own Rene is here too. I can not figure out her role in this BPA. Actually I have nothing to do with this BPA. So why am I here?
I am hoping they will take a break so I can take picture of the Grades BPA.

Pick-A-Prof

You can forget about Ratemyprofessor, now we got Pick-A-Prof. This site demands professors grade history from colleges and puts it up online. I found out about this site from my friends at Saddleback college. The rumor is that the school tried not to share the data with this site but was overruled by the lawyers.

As you can see the site lets students review the professors and also shares the professor's grading history. I look at the site and even registered as a user. Rio Hondo is not on their list. I assume it is because our grade history is on paper. However once the MIS goes in will this site come knocking at our door?

B.I.G. Writing the B.P.A.

I attended the first B.I.G. (Banner Implementation Group) meeting on Monday. I replaced Jim N. on this committee. B.I.G. is the committee that will implement our new MIS system. The other faculty on the committee is Belen. There are two consultants, one works for Rio Hondo and the other works for Banner/Sungard (the software company). Our consultant seems like a no nonsense type of a man. He is in the process of figuring out Rio's business practices.
He asked each group to come up with business practices that we can implement. The software is very flexible and robust. However, it has to be customized to fit our business practices. Once the system is programed, it will be hard to go back and make changes. We have to decide on our procedures before we start implementing the system. The software is flexible but having contradicting procedures can lead to failure of the MIS. We need a road map before uploading any features because it will be messy to change anything midway through the process.

So here is my homework: I have to sit down and write down how teachers submit grades, Add/drop, and get our roster now. I need to get the Curriculum people to walk me through the curriculum process, so it can be duplicated in the software. I may have to consult with the SLO people too (I hope not. They are so slooo) if the software can track these tedious forms. I will have to consult with A&R and the Academic Senate to come up with acceptable procedures.

This is going to be a big change and people do not seem to realize how big! It will end all back door channels and the software will enforce the procedures. Before we write anything down please contact me and relay your concerns. As I write these BPAs I will post them here and send them out to faculty before presenting them to the Committee. If you see anything you do not like please hit the reply button or post your comment on this blog.

March 15 Make Time To Attend

The following is the agenda for March 15. The Datatel people will come to Rio Hondo. They are a software company that wants to sell us the capability to submit our grades online, add and drop online and download our roster from online.
The other software company Banner, came and presented their product. I did not see many instructional faculty there, because it was scheduled during popular teaching hours.
Please show up in between classes and ask questions!


Presenters
Sales Account Manager: Doug Currie
Senior Sales Consultant: Suzanne McCool
Senior Sales Consultant: Von Maxy
Sales Consultant: Michelle Clifton
Sales Consultant: Tricia Score
Product Manager: Susan Hallenbeck


Colleague Demonstration Agenda
March 15th 2007
Introduction to Datatel
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Overview/Introduction
(All are encouraged to attend)
• Introduction to the Datatel Enterprise Solutions

10:00 am – 10:15 am
Break

Introduction to Datatel Colleague Student
10:15 am – 11:15 am
Instructional Management and Schedule Administration
(Registrar, Curriculum Committee, Bursar are encouraged to attend)
• Developing the Curriculum
• Scheduling People and Facilities
• Web Access and Reporting (Including MIS)
11:15 am – 12:15 pm
Admissions and Records
(Admissions and Records Staff are encouraged to attend)
• E-Recruitment
• One-to-one Marketing
• Coordinating Articulation Agreements,
• Reviewing Applicant Assessments & Test Scores
• Enrollment Management

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm

Lunch

1:00 pm – 2:15 pm Admissions and Records (continued)
(Admissions and Records Staff are encouraged to attend)
• Registering Students Anytime, Anywhere
• Simplifying Attendance Accounting
• Processing Grades
• Posting Degrees and Certifications
• Responding to Transcript Requests (Academic History)
• Web Access and Reporting (Including MIS)

2:15 pm – 2:30 pm

Break

2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Counseling and Advising
(Counseling Center Staff are encouraged to attend)
• Reviewing Student Academic Information
• Administrating Education Plans
• Tracking EOPS, DSPS and VATEA Information
• Utilizing Contact and Relationship Management Tools
• Web Access and Reporting (Including MIS)
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Continuing Education
(Continuing Education Staff are encouraged to attend)
• Creating Continuing Education Offerings
• Instant Enrollment
• Integrated Billing
• Web Access and Reporting



Q & A Session

Students' View of Intelligence Can Help Grades

This is an interesting story from NPR. I find it interesting because I have memories that connects to this story. In the late 80's I took a biology class for GE requirement and I remember thinking about the Neurons in my brain making connections as I read the chapter on neurons. Anyway back to this NPR article which states:
"A new study in the scientific journal Child Development shows that if you teach students that their intelligence can grow and increase, they do better in school.