I'm pretty slow, but what's the difference when setting up Categories and choosing "Using Total Points" vs "Using Percentages"? I've RTFM'd and can't see the explaination. When would I use one over the other? Thanks -- Gray Huggins Director of Technology Bishop Lynch High School

Hi Gray, If you give me a call and I can walk you throuch the differences. 301-320-1033 Larry Fullerton Dir. of Academic Technology Landon Schoo

Basically it is this. Total Points means you just total everything and deivide by the number of entries to get the average. You have to use your head to figure out how many points you want in each Category. Example: Total points = 600. Test Catergory would have 300, Homework would have 150, and Participation would have 150. You have to think this out ahead of time and then try to make sure you have the correct number of points in each category by the end of the quarter or semester. For Category Averges. you tell FAWeb how much percen that each Categoray is. You don't care, well FAWeb doesn't care, how many total points you have. You would set up the Test Category to be 50%, Homework would be 25% and Participation would be 25%. No matter how many points are accrued in each category, it will still be work the percentage of their grade. Hope this makes sense. We use total points because it gives the parents and students a very easy way to calculate their grade on NetClassroom. Norm Dunkin Director of Information Services Landmark Christian School [Email Removed]

The other thing to know is that if you are using Catagory averages, you can weight not only by catagory, but also by individual assignment. If you use Total points, you would can only weight at the assignment level. One last note, if you are using Catagory averages, until you have an assignment in each of the catagories you have set up, the system will average the grade in equal percentages until all catagories have an assignment. This can cause grades to look much worse initially. For instance if you have 4 catagories, Tests(40%), Projects (20%), Quizzes (20) and homework (20%)and only have assignments in Quizzes and Homework, but no other assignements in the other two catagories, the system will just average the two catagories represented at 50% each. Total points initially gives you a more accurate representation of how a student is doing intially but requires more work. Best practice would be to make sure that how you grade matches your syllubus or you will be getting a lot of e-mails.