Many instructors already use WordPress to run course websites. Now they can also use WordPress to let students securely check their grades online.
Students are frequently more concerned about their grades than they ought to be. Reduce some of their academic stress by letting them see what you've recorded for them in your grade book. If you're like me, you'll be surprised how frequently your students notice that you mis-recorded a grade. Includes an optional widget.
You upload a CSV file (from Excel or some other spreadsheet) containing your students' grades. One column in the spreadsheet contains student (or parent) email addresses. The plugin generates a random password for each email address (or you can use WP logins; see FAQ). Students use this password with their email to check their grades. To update the grades, you just upload a new CSV.
After uploading a CSV, you type up a generic message that will be personalized for each student. For example, if one of the columns in your spreadsheet is called "midterm" and another is called "final," your message might be something like this:
Dear [student], you got a [midterm] on the midterm and a [final] on your final.
Obviously, individual students would see their grades substituted in for
[final]. If you don't feel like typing out a message, you don't have to; when a student logs in, she'll just see an automatically generated table showing her all the grades you have recorded for her.
After uploading a gradesheet, create a page containing
[KB Gradebook] somewhere in the body. That's where your students will go to check their grades. There's also a sidebar widget included if that's your thing.
If you post your support questions as comments below, I probably won't see them. If the FAQs don't answer your questions, you can post support questions at the KB Gradebook plugin page on my site.