The day is fast approaching when UC Davis faculty members will have to sit down at a computer keyboard and record their fall-quarter grades. (Final exams are given Dec. 13-18; grades should be submitted within 72 hours of each exam.) For about half the faculty, online grade submission is a big switch. Campus administrators are trying to make the transition as painless as possible.

Until online grade submission became available about four years ago, instructors recorded grades by filling in circles on pieces of paper with a No. 2 pencil. Unfortunately, those hard-copy "bubble forms" have gone the way of the mimeograph. The software used to read them isn't even available anymore. Online submission is the only way to turn in grades.

Interim Registrar Lora Jo Bossio said many major universities, including all of the UC campuses, have moved or are in the process of moving to online submission. "Online grade submission can't be postponed any longer," Bossio said. "But we promise to give you plenty of help."

The Registrar's Office staff members have worked with Information and Educational Technology (IET) and the Teaching Resources Center (TRC) to make the submission process "incredibly easy," Bossio said. Plus, training classes and individual support are widely available.

There are two ways at UC Davis to submit grades online: The one recommended for first-timers is the campus Final Grades Web site at http://classes.ucdavis.edu/grading. The other is Gradebook, a tool accessed via the Course Management Function of the MyUCDavis portal (http://my.ucdavis.edu).

Both contain all courses with all enrolled students' names already entered. Instructors simply record each student's grade.

Both sites require the teacher to enter a UC Davis LoginID and Kerberos password. And the instructor of record for a course is the only person who may submit grades -- this job cannot be delegated to a TA unless he or she is the instructor of record. This was the requirement with paper grades, too, but now will be enforced, to protect the privacy of electronic student records.

Here are some ways Davis faculty members can learn to submit grades online (and even find out how to get that login ID and password, if needed).

• Attend a 20-minute training session: The Teaching Resources Center will offer 10 such sessions on Monday-Friday, Dec. 6-10, in 25 Wellman Hall. The schedule is online at the Final Grades Submission Web site, http://classes.ucdavis.edu/grading.
• Be tutored: One-on-one assistance is available from department technology support coordinators (see the Web site for a list of TSCs) or the Educational Technology Partners Program (see the Web site).
• Go to a grade-submission clinic: The Teaching Resources Center and IET will have staff members standing by in 25 Wellman for 11 days, ready to help faculty log in and submit their grades on the spot. The clinic schedule is: Dec. 13-17 and 20-22, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 18, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

More detailed information is available at the Final Grades Submission Web site -- at http://classes.ucdavis.edu/grading -- including a complete list of electronic grading help resources. No password is needed to access the information.

Also, more background about the change to online grade submission is at http://classes.ucdavis.edu/grading/egradesmemo.pdf.