New features and recent enhancements to the Grade Performance Status system have made the university’s online academic feedback tool easier and more efficient for instructors to use.
Improvements include a cleaner GPS roster with more space for student comment boxes and the ability to sort and filter groups of students and order them by academic level, name or grade.
“This targeting of specific sets of students allows for more efficient messaging, which can be especially useful in larger classes,” said Zane Shewalter, senior business analyst for University College at NAU.
The system’s new message-builder allows instructors to quickly select the students—or their entire class—they wish to message. Instructors can use the feature to enter a comment once and send it to the selected students in one click.
The message feature can be used to send various types of constructive feedback to students, such as attendance or grade concerns or to provide positive comments.
“Our research shows that all students benefit from instructor feedback, and instructor use of the GPS system correlates to an increase in retention,” Shewalter said. “This application makes it easy to reach out to students to let them know how they’re doing, address concerns or offer encouragement.”
With midterm grades due this week, instructors can use GPS to send midterm grades to students and then, with the click of a button, import those grades directly into the official grade roster. As an incentive, instructors who use GPS this term are automatically entered into a drawing to win an iPad or an iPod Touch.
Information on the GPS system is available online, by calling Shewalter at (928) 523-8205 or email gps@nau.edu.