Expanded Grade Context Record: An innovative and comprehensive approach to grade reporting at Indiana University

Abstract

In 1994, the Indiana University Bloomington Faculty Council (faculty senate) passed a resolution calling for the development of an indexed grading system. The mandate led to a discussion of grade inflation that culminated in a decision to present course grades so they were understandable and meaningful to the student, advisor, and all external recipients of transcripts. This challenge led to the development of the Grade Context Record that includes elements from a traditional transcript (e.g., course title, academic department, grade, etc.) as well as additional elements that place the grade into a broader context. This paper provides a description of the Grade Context Record, the general design of the record and new academic history system, the application architecture, the partnership between the user office and the computing organization and how the overall team was structured. The authors also describe this system in the article, "The Expanded Grade Context Record at Indiana University," CAUSE/EFFECT, Volume 21, Number 4, 1998: http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/cem9840.html