Thank You!

I am appreciative for all the words of wisdom and suggestions on how I may still employ the easier commenting technique, but have it look "normal" (or as normal as any of the stuff I do may be)!  I will be practicing and trying out the suggestions until I find the one that works and easy enough for my befuddled brain to remember.  I feel hopeful that I will have a viable solution!

But, I am not able to do much fiddling with computer things of that sort today.  Today will be a full day of number crunching and fussing and fidgeting with grades.  With the use of the U's LMS ("Learning Management System.... aka the gizmo-ey electronic storage site/pseudo classroom) each of my courses has.... grades are stored and housed within what... in a general way... amounts to an Excel file.   Excel is NOT my forte, but I manage.

Historically, we have had a U sponsored LMS for courses for perhaps 15 years now.  I ignored the LMSs I had for the first 3-4 years, not seeing much value in them.  In some ways this turned out to be fortunate, as our U swapped out LMS systems after the first three years and adopted a new system.  The original was called "Blackboard" which I believe still exists, and the current one is called "Canvas".  By not using the LMS for those first 3-4 years, I fortunately did not have TWO different learning curves as both LMS types were reported to me (by colleagues) to be quite different from each other.   

And, for the next ~6 years (the first six years I began using the LMS), all I did was STORE files on the site for student access.  90+% of what I stored were simply my PowerPoint slides.  

Hell.... this is a brief aside I had to put in here..... I did not really use PowerPoint for a long time either.  When I came into U teaching 40+ years ago..... we had CHALKBOARDS and CHALK..... and if we WERE "gizmo-ey" inclined, folks would "tart up" their lectures additionally with an overhead projector allowing them to show images draw on acetate sheets!

But, the reality of PowerPoint being beneficial to ME as a teacher eventually occurred to me.... when I realized that if I used PowerPoint for the images I wanted to show.... they would NOT get all mixed-up and out-of-order like the hundreds of laminates (acetates) I would carry around with me from class-to-class. As I went from topic to topic, I would change laminates perhaps a dozen times or more in a class, and I had a habit of tossing them loosely aside after I talked about something.... and then would have spend a helluva long time putting them back in order (usually a few days before the start of the next semester I taught that class in).

But.... with COVID.... I was forced to FULLY adopt the LMS when the only way to teach was THROUGH THE LMS when face-to-face classes were not permitted.  But, learning to navigate the system of this LMS helped me to find some valuable aspects even beyond simple storage.  And, even though I do not "like" spreadsheets.... having that system.... instead of the paper gradebook I was used to.... actually decreases some work and also ends up "forcing" me to input grades more regularly instead of having them laying all about my office to "get to later".  

So.... to shorten this up a bit.... I am spending most of this day fussing with my LMS's "Excel-like" system to make sure things are copasetic with the student's scores from the entirety of the semester (average of ~50 entries per student.... across all 225+ students).  Once I have the scores managed, I can then begin the process of transferring the points each student has earned across the semester into another program that I like a lot (but is ~30 years old) that lets me manipulate far more readily than the LMS's "Excel-like" program.... a whole host of things... including putting students in rank order, creating more esthetically readable and interpretable print-outs.  This then allows me to then eventually determine a students FINAL GRADE in the class.  And then FINALLY, I can transfer these grades into the U's official system (which until Covid) had to be reported on physical, paper scantron sheets to the Registrar.... but now has become its own electronic system that is non-compatible with the U's chosen LMS.  

* * * * *

Upped my miles again this morning.  I am glad the pain is staying at bay.

I have been working from home this morning until now, as my dog had a "spa" day (grooming appointment) and I was her chauffer to and from the gala event.  I must say she did turn out very cute, and the groomer added a festive, Holiday, kerchief to her neck.... using a fabric showing bears, Christmas Trees and reindeers.  

After my last final exam yesterday, I quickly scanned the exam and then took my steed across town so I could attend the Retiree's Cigar Group.  Because of all the snow we had, it was again a bit of a smaller group (5 of us total)..... but it was wonderful, calming, and very mentally refreshing!  

I am now going to pack up my things and head to the U so I can double check a few grades, then eventually print out some of the grading documents I have created and then work with my rats if time permits.

PipeTobacco