Office Grader

Deal with Textbook Publisher

2011-09-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Good news! I have begun licensing OfficeGrader to a textbook publisher for use as a computer applications textbook supplement.

Bad news! Due to our licensing agreement, I will no longer will distributing a freeware version of OfficeGrader programs.

11.08 Release

2011-07-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

New versions of all graders are now available HERE.

All versions should now work with 64 bit versions of Office.
They should still be compatible with Office 2007.

Summer 2011 Updates

2011-06-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Currently working to make all graders compatible with 64-bit Office.

Am adding grading for AutoShapes, pics, audio, and video objects to PowerPoint Grader.

Excel Grader Summer 2010 Update

2010-07-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

New update includes improved student grade report, cap for individual format error types, marking extraneous formatting, header grading, automated detection of symbolic.dll.

If you would like to test it before formal release, let me know your experience.

Download at
officegrader.com/Excel%20Grader.accdb

Excel Grader files Not Graded

2010-03-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

I had a good exchange with Mark Romine at Panther Creek High School in Valera, TX.
He was getting Excel documents kicked out when student assignments had formula errors.

I tracked the error down to a problem locating the Symbolic computer algebra system file.

I fixed his system and I will be releasing the update. Let me know if you have a similar error.

Word Grader downloads spike

2010-02-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

Word Grader downloads have spiked Spring Semester 2010 after release of 10.01.

Softpedia (only) downloads are charted below.

Word Grader 10.01 released

2009-12-31T06:17:00.000-08:00

Updates include:

Records revisions in an Access table for later processing;
Made character error count more accurate;
Added input to allow user to enter character count
(might be used in assignment where students enter one paragraph in a large document);
Fixed header/footer error count.

Excel Grader and Access Grader 10.01 Released

2009-12-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

Excel Grader changes:

Removed temporary database;
Option to not grade protected/locked cells/sheets;
Can now open graded files without closing Excel Grader;
Header/Footers now graded;
Handles longer formulas;
Malformed ranges (=B:B) do not hang;
Stopped dual deduction for missing formulas/incorrect data vals.
Excel Grader is now free.

Access Grader changes:

Checks off for extraneous fields in sql queries;
Removed temporary DB;
Deleted original file switch
Added grading form and report details: # of controls, data source, title background color;
Other bug fixes

Next Release

2009-07-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

Instead of releasing summer code changes now, I am going to do further testing.

When I complete teaching Word in my fall class I will release Word Grader updates (probably late Sept.) and Excel Grader probably late October.

If you want a preview let me know.

Summer '09 Updates

2009-06-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

I am updating all graders this summer. I am removing the temporary database.

Email any feature requests or bug fix recommendations to tomhill@dixie-net.com.

Regrading Access Assignments

2009-04-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

When students resubmit Access assignments, have them delete the ERRORS table before resubmitting. Next release will have a fix.

Bug Fix for Word Grader

2009-01-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

A bug fix kicked out documents with pictures in 09.01.

Download 09.02 from the OfficeGrader web site.

09.01 Updates; PowerPoint Grader Released

2009-01-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

09.01 updates have been released to download sites. All are currently on softpedia.com.
All graders should now work with Vista. Let me know if you have a problem.

The first release of PowerPoint Grader is available.

Large Spreadsheet Assignment

2008-12-26T18:37:00.000-08:00

I had a great interaction last week with Steven Neff, a high school instructor in Modesto, CA. He had an end of the semester assignment that includes 12 worksheets and over 7000 formulae.

The formulae referenced other sheets, which caused more problems when the sheets were misnamed by students.

I had to some change the data types of some Excel Grader error counters to longs to handle the large number of values.

We eventually worked out almost all errors. Thanks to Steve for the feedback.

Grader Winter Updates

2008-12-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

Updates to graders will be coming soon.

These include Vista compatibility, automatically moving kicked out documents to a NOT GRADED folder, and other bug fixes.

PowerPoint Grader is in the works and will be released soon.

WordGrader First Semester

2008-10-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

We have completed our first semester using WordGrader in our computer apps class.

There were few documents that could not be graded.
The grader is a bit too harsh.

A few bugs still exist. For example, [Any Text] does not always work.

But overall, a great time saver for our instructors.

Vista and Excel Grader

2008-10-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

I have been emailing Cassandra Thompson at Tuskegee University.

She is running ExcelGrader on Vista.

I am patching the program to run on Vista. The temporary database is being moved to C:\windows\temp. The Excel Grader.accdb has to be placed in a user data folder because "program files" is read only in Vista. The table links to the temp DB also must be updated.

Word Grader now on download.com

2008-10-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Word Grader is now available for download on download.com.

It works with XP (not Vista) and requires Word 2007 and Access 2007.