About Markbook Group Calculations

Markbook Group Calculations enables you to:

• Configure pre-set calculations within 3sysACADEMICMarkbooks at the beginning of an assessment period, rather than having to wait until all tasks have been completed.
• Analyse real-time, period to date, academic data.
• Set up group calculations that include ALL tasks associated with a chosen task type (and other filtering criteria), and which provide the total/average mark for that task type. For example, you could set up a group calculation that includes all English homework for semester one.
• Set up group calculations that include multiple task types with overall total marks, with weightings and normalisation applied where required. For example, you could set up a group calculation for a specific subject where the overall total marks are comprised of the following: Homework - 15%; Projects - 25%; and the Exam - 60%.
• Specify whether the ‘qualifying’ tasks are automatically added to the appropriate group calculations, or are manually added.
• Specify whether overall total marks are converted to a grade and whether they have a credit score applied to them, from which a Grade Point Average (GPA) can be calculated. (Additional calculated columns ‘Credit Applied Total’ and ‘Grade Total’, are added to the resultant group calculation data set.)
• View and perform functions and calculations against group calculation data, using Group Calculation Academic Profiles. (These are automatically generated by a batch process for each group calculation.)

You use the Markbook Group Calculations module to set up the necessary group calculations. For each group calculation you can specify a range of criteria with which to filter the tasks included within the calculation, such as subject, subject sets and task types. You can optionally set weightings for those calculations which include tasks from more than one task type, and you can opt to have specific types of tasks automatically included within the group calculation.

You can also set up group calculations so that any new ‘qualifying’ tasks which are added to the system, are automatically included within existing group calculations. After adding new ‘qualifying’ tasks, you need to run the batch run for these new tasks to appear in the linked Group Calculation Academic Profile.

The Group Calculation Batch Run automatically generates linked Group Calculation Academic Profiles, and updates existing Group Calculation Academic Profiles. You use the Group Calculation Academic Profiles within the Mark Inquiry function to analyse the resultant group calculation data, or you could use the ODBC views in Report Builder. If necessary you can perform further functions and calculations on that data. For example, you could use the Target RAG (red, amber and green) summary or the Column by column RAG summary to view pupils’ progress over the tasks included within a Group Calculation Academic Profile.

Once the Batch Run has initially created Group Calculation Academic Profiles, if you subsequently add or alter marks against pupils for tasks already included within these linked Group Calculation Academic Profiles, then those updated marks are automatically reflected in the task columns and the calculated columns in the relevant linked Group Calculation Academic Profiles.