Outcomes

Outcomes overview

In SM-Marks Online the Outcomes tab shows the outcomes stored in a markbook. This view together with the Outcome descriptors in the Preferences command allows you to store and work with outcomes to determine a level of achievement for each outcome for each student.

The commands that can be used with outcomes are:

  • Edit|Outcome
  • Edit|Note|Outcome
  • New|Outcome
  • Print|Outcomes
  • Action|Move|Outcomes

To use the first group of commands you must be on the Outcomes view by first choosing the Outcomes menu below the toolbar.

Adding outcomes

Outcomes are added to the markbook by choosing the New|Outcome command.

  1. Choose the Outcomes menu below the toolbar.
  2. Choose the New|Outcome command.
  3. If required, enter the code for the outcome in the Code field.
  4. Enter a short name for the outcome in the Name field.
  5. Enter the complete outcome in the Outcome field.
  6. Click on the Create Outcome button.

Repeat steps 2 to 6 for each outcome of the course. Outcomes stored in a markbook should only be for the classes stored in the markbook.

The code may be the education department code for the outcome, or a code used at the school. You can leave the Code empty if such identifiers are not used in the school or later in the reporting process.

For convenience, SM-Marks Online stores a short name or abbreviation for each outcome. This is for easy on screen viewing and to allow printing of compact pages of outcomes and levels of achievement.

If an outcome is short the complete outcome may fit in the Name field.

Editing outcomes

An outcome is edited by clicking on the Edit icon in the first column.

  1. Choose the Outcomes menu below the toolbar.
  2. Click on the Edit icon next to the outcome.
  3. Edit the fields.
  4. Click on the Save Changes button.

Outcome descriptors

The Level column in the Outcomes view is where the level of achievement appears according to the descriptors set in the Edit|Preferences|Outcome descriptors command. By default these are:

  • Outstanding
  • High
  • Sound
  • Basic
  • Limited

The Descriptor cut-offs are set in the Edit|Preferences|Descriptor cut-offs command to allow you to set the minimum percentage required to achieve the level. You can change these values to suit the reports at your school.

In the Outcome descriptors and Descriptor cut-offs commands the default descriptors and default cut-offs must be ordered from the highest level to the lowest and the cut-offs must be percentages, so between 0 and 100. (You should not enter the % sign.)

Once you have set these up you are ready to let SM-Marks Online assign a level of achievement based on the tasks you specify as contributing to each outcome.

Levels of achievement

When you select the Outcomes view the list of tasks in the markbook are shown with one column per task. For SM-Marks Online to put a descriptor in the Level column, you must select the tasks that affect each outcome.

Click on the result in the outcome row of the task that contributes to the outcome. When you click on a mark, a tick appears next to the mark to indicate that this mark will be averaged with the other ticked marks to determine the level of achievement. The marks that you see are those for the student who is currently selected, the name of who is shown above the Outcome name heading. Clicking on a tick or the result for second time removes the tick from the task.

If when you click on a result the tick does not appear, it means the outcomes are locked in the File|Lock command. In this case, the markbook password is needed to do this action.

  • The tasks that are ticked for each outcome apply to all students in the markbook.

The selected tasks do not need to be out of 100, SM-Marks Online automatically converts them when calculating the level of achievement.

Mathematically, SM-Marks Online converts the result of each ticked task to a percent, out of 100. The mean (average) of these percentages is then calculated. The level of achievement is the highest outcome descriptor that has a cut-off that is smaller than or equal to the average.

If a student does not have any results for the tasks that are ticked for an outcome then n.a. appears in the Level column.

Changing the cut-offs

The default cut-offs set in the Edit|Preferences|Descriptor cut-offs command apply to all outcomes in the markbook. This means that the tasks that are selected for each outcome need to have a distribution of marks that are spread across the cut-off marks.

If necessary the cut-offs for an outcome can be adjusted by tagging the outcome and choosing the Edit|Calculation command, or with the calculator icon on the Outcomes toolbar.

The changed cut-off marks affect all students in the markbook for that outcome.

Printing outcomes

The Print|Outcomes command prints a summary of the level of achievement for each student in the current class. To do this:

  1. Choose the Outcomes menu below the toolbar.
  2. Choose the Print|Outcomes command.

This command normally shows all the students in the class with one column for each outcome.

Tagging outcomes allows you to restrict the outcomes that appear on the printed page.

The Print|Outcomes command only shows the Outcome name on the page, and not much of it will fit in the table.

For a page that shows the full outcome, turn on the Show alternate view button on Print preview toolbar.

When using the Show alternate view you can also turn on the Show detailed view button to include the outcome code and name on the page.

 

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