Outcomes

Using outcomes

So far, methods have been shown to work out a single grade for each student, but another part of the reporting is showing outcomes and indicating the level achieved in each one. SM-Marks Online can help with this as well. Here is a summary of the main steps for setting up outcomes in a markbook.

  1. Choose the Outcomes menu below the toolbar.
  2. Choose the New|Outcome command.
  3. Enter the fields.
  4. Click on the Save Changes button.
  5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for each outcome.

You are now ready to calculate the level of achievement in each outcome for each student. To do this you need to first set the different descriptors and the percent result needed to achieve each level.

  1. Choose the Edit|Preferences|Default descriptors command.
  2. If necessary, edit the list of descriptors, with the highest achievement at the top.
  3. Click on the Save Changes button.
  4. Choose the Edit|Preferences|Descriptor cut-offs command.
  5. Enter the cut-off for the first descriptor. This number should be out of 100.
  6. Repeat step 5 for each descriptor, with cut-offs going from highest to lowest.
  7. Click on the Save Changes button.

Now the Outcomes view is ready to calculate the level of achievement for each outcome. This assumes you have a set of tasks in the markbook which measure outcomes. The calculation used to determine each outcome level is a simple averaging, so if you need to combine tasks in a more complicated way, you will need to first set up some calculations that give a single result for each outcome.

  1. Choose the Outcomes menu below the toolbar.
  2. If necessary, scroll across to the first task that measures the outcome.
  3. Click on the result to be included in the outcome.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each task.
  5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for each outcome.

As you click on each cell a tick appears to indicate it will be averaged with the other tasks for that outcome. For an outcome where you have made a task that has a more involved calculation than just averaging to calculate the level, then only that task should have the tick on that outcome row.

Changing the descriptor cut-offs

The steps in the previous section let you set the minimum mark required for each descriptor, i.e. the cut-off mark. The cut-offs set in the Edit|Preferences|Descriptor cut-offs command applies to all outcomes. In some cases you may need to alter the distribution of the levels for an individual outcome. You could do this by setting up an additional calculation that changes the distribution of the results so the marks are better grouped across the outcome cut-offs.

Another way to change the cut-offs for a specific outcome. To do this:

  1. Choose the Outcomes menu below the toolbar.
  2. Tag the outcome that needs adjusting.
  3. Choose the Calculation icon on the toolbar.
  4. Change the cut-off for a descriptor.
  5. Repeat step 4 for each descriptor as necessary.
  6. Click on the Save Changes button.

 

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