Stop the in-between when it comes to grading program

October 2, 2015 — by Elizabeth Lee

Constantly having to check for my grades between Canvas and Aeries is bothersome, especially when many teachers are already using Canvas for everything except grading and marking attendance. To prevent further inconveniences, more teachers should fully transition to Canvas starting next semester.

 

After I was bombarded with texts exclaiming that my math quiz score had been updated, I logged onto Canvas and immediately clicked on the grades tab. It wasn’t until I saw “no grade” that I realized my math grades were in fact on Aeries. Annoyed, I opened a new tab and typed in my Aeries username and password to view my updated grade.

Constantly having to check for my grades between Canvas and Aeries is bothersome, especially when many teachers are already using Canvas for everything except grading and marking attendance. To prevent further inconveniences, more teachers should fully transition to Canvas starting next semester.

This school year, the administration has asked teachers to begin the transition from keeping grades on Aeries to Canvas. Starting next school year, teachers will all be expected to use Canvas as the new grade portal. Although Aeries is convenient for students since it displays the grades and assignments for each class on one page, many teachers dislike this old platform.

Canvas, the learning management system introduced last year, functions as an all-in-one tool for grading and displaying assignments and enrolled classes. With its user-friendly and straightforward interface, this system is sure to be popular with both students and teachers once all the teachers have fully transitioned.

For some teachers, a lack of training with the new system is what prevents them from transitioning. With some adequate training provided by the school, all teachers should become fully capable of using the new platform.

Being a student who constantly checks for updates in all my classes, I find it to be a hassle to have to use multiple websites to get the information I need. Eventually, I get too lazy to write down all the assignments in my planner and decide to figure the work out later. With the calendar feature in Canvas, I can easily view all my assignments, exams and projects and their respective due dates.

In addition, the site’s discussion feature allows me to submit homework without writing down a single word on paper. Canvas also allows students to predict their scores on assignments and see how these scores will affect their overall grades. This addition will be especially useful during finals week, when I will be frantically calculating the lowest possible score I can get on my exams to earn the grades I want.

With Canvas’ many useful features, I am confident that once every teacher transitions to the new grading system, many will agree that Canvas is the better platform for grading.

 
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