Web Based Attendance/Grading

[syntax]

I'm currently writing web based server powered attendance and grading software for schools to use, but I have come here to ask those that are in school administration and teaching what features would like to be seen on such software.

In my opinion the biggest thing is everything working as quickly and efficiently as possible, as well as easy to find links to teachers to manage grading/attendance, manage classes, post announcements, and etc.

Asside from grading/attendance, what would you like to see on a system like this to help your daily functions, or rather, what would you like it to do, or look like?

All suggestions will be highly regraded and probably coded into the software, so let me know, and all feedback is appreciated.

thanks

[Unregistered]

After signing in, it's helpful if the page displays a list of the teacher's classes, links to class rosters, grades, and attendance, and icons indicating whether or not attendance has been submitted for each class. Our previous software was set up like this and it was very easy to navigate and to quickly see if you had submitted attendance for all of your classes. Also, on the attendance pages, to the right of each student's name were three buttons labeled P (present), T (tardy), and A (absent). The labeled buttons by each name made it easy to submit attendance correctly. Good luck with your endeavor!

[annettemcd]

My daughter's school uses Power School, as do some other schools in the area. It seems to work well. I like being able to check my daughter's grades and attendance on-line at any time and receiving an e-mail of this information weekly. I know that the teachers do not have much trouble with it. I have also talked to the system administrator and she has talked about being able get technical support. I know that there are other program also available. How would yours be different from what is already available?

As a parent, I appreciate being able to see whether my daughter was absent, tardy, or gone on a school activity (not present, but not counted as absent). I also want to see what her current grade in a class is and, on each assignment, the points possible and the points earned. Power School also enables the teachers to list assignments due in the future and to make comments on the student's progress. E-mails can also be sent to the teacher by the parent.

[syntax]

Well, thank you for both of your inputs. As a teacher ease of use, yet everything being right there when you login is what I've been hearing...

and as a parent, obviously checking grades and getting an email report of those is very convenient as well as messaging teachers.


AS to what makes mine different, so far I'm unsure, aside from low costs because this isn't being developed by a business, just an individual. Obviously I am as well contacting teachers and parents and administrators asking what features would be liked in such an application. I'm still looking for some special function that others do not have.

I'm currently a junior in high school, writing this fully featured web server application in PHP programming with a MYSQL database, and already have over thousands of lines of code into the project, so I plan on finishing this one out, and seeing if I can help out schools by offering it for a really low price.

[annettemcd]

I can see a few problems with trying to develop such a program as an individual.

First of all, marketing is going to be very difficult.

Secondly, tech support is a big issue with most schools. The local system administrator is often someone like the principal's assistant who may not be a computer tech. When there is a problem, they are going to want easy and fast answers to their question(s) with an 800 number that is answered by a tech at least 40 hours/week. For example, my daughter's school recently changed policy on honors, AP, and university course so that a 4.0 in one of those courses was recorded as a 5.0 and it turned out that their grading program had to be revised to allow the entry of a 5.0 into it. One of the reasons that big companies do charge more for their programs is that they are offering tech support, and all programs will require tech support and upgrades. It will have to run smoothly on a number of different set-ups as far as hardware and operating systems. Can you think of a single computer program which does not have any gliches in version 1.0 and does not need upgrades and tech support?

Thirdly, you might be liable if the system security is easily breached by a student who gets in and changes grades. You are going to have to guarantee that the program is secure. You might even need insurance to cover you if a student breaks into the program and the school sues you.

It is a great exercise that you are undertaking, but realize that it may will be difficult to make money from this. Look at this as a fantastic learning experience and a showcase for your talents and skills.

As far as the low cost, I know that my daughter's school bought such a program based on price and after months of frustration, they threw it out. There are issues much more important than cost to most schools.