Chat Log: March 1, 1992 : Apple // Education Forum : Guest: Bob Ridenour, author of TURBOGRADE ------------------------------------------------------------ AFL Gayle Well, we have a small group, but very interested people. :) Our guest tonight AFL Gayle is Bob Ridenour, one of the programmers who wrote TurboGrade 5.0. He's here to AFL Gayle answer any questions you might have about his program. Also, we have one free AFL Gayle hour to give away tonight to the person who says the secret word. Our rules AFL Gayle for the hour are you must say the word in context and you must stay until the AFL Gayle end of the chat. AFA Bard Welcome, Coupe! Teacher pk Could you please give a brief overview...I've been using other programs. Coupe hi there...what is being discussed? TurboGrade Howdy Coupe. AFL Gayle TurboGrade can be found in our Teacher's Tools Library. (but get it AFTER the AFL Gayle chat. ) I'll turn the floor over to Bob (TurboGrade) now to answer your Troubador Yeah, an overview. AFL Gayle questions. Paul's is first. TurboGrade Shall I give an overview first guys? Teacher pk Yes...please. AFL Gayle Yes, please, Bob! :) Troubador Go for it. AFA Bard Yes! TurboGrade Well, I'll skip most of the history since I can't type all that fast... TurboGrade But, the interface is based on Appleworks. At least it was. TurboGrade I haven't seen Appleworks in a few years, so it may look different now TurboGrade but TurboGrade is based about hierarchical inverse bar menus. TurboGrade It was designed to be used in a high school so it works most efficiently with 7 classes TurboGrade Each class can have 50 students, 100 assignments. TurboGrade Grade scale is user set-able... TurboGrade Extra credit is handled correctly... TurboGrade And it keeps track of missing assignments. AFL Gayle (Still looks like AppleWorks, Bob.) TurboGrade All of this may be fairly standard now... TurboGrade But when we originally wrote the program in 1986, it was pretty neat. AFA Bard Welcome, Mary, Ragen! TurboGrade Hello, Mary and Ragen. MaryEz Hi, I can't stay. Have guests. Just wanted to check in! TurboGrade Should I keep going, or open the floor at this point? AFL Gayle Any one have questions at this point? TurboGrade Well, I'll keep going and you can interrupt when you want. RagenT Hello, Bard and friends. AFL Gayle Sure. We're really flexible here, Bob. :) Troubador Yes, if you don't mind... I'd like to ask how it compares to what I have now. TurboGrade A friend and I decided to write the program to replace the one TurboGrade used at our high school at the time. TurboGrade Well, Troubador, what are you using now? AFL Gayle What program was used at your high school, Bob? TurboGrade It was a program written by a teacher in the district. Troubador Oops. Gotta problem. Be right back... TurboGrade Hi James. JamesB9219 hELLo all :) AFA Bard Welcome James! TurboGrade The major complaints TurboGrade was designed to overcome JamesB9219 I was recommended this room for a question. AFA Bard Just a second, James. :) TurboGrade were difficult score input, extra credit handling TurboGrade and stability. The old program crashed alot - taking data with it. TurboGrade What's up James? AFA Bard (We're working on it through an IM, Bob.) :) AFA Bard How about security in TurboGrade, Bob? TurboGrade Okie Dokie. TurboGrade How exactly do you mean? TurboGrade You want encryption? AFA Bard Or just controlled access. TurboGrade Well, there is no password required for use. JamesB9219 HI turbograde.:) was sending IMs TurboGrade Howdy, no problem. AFA Bard Welcome Andy, Joel! AFA Andy Hi Bard!! TurboGrade So, since I've been out of the loop for a while... TurboGrade What are the big requested features nowadays? JamesB9219 thanks AfA Bard,is there a keyword for it? Teacher jn Evenin' one & all! :)) TurboGrade Hi. JamesB9219 Hello :) AFA Bard (Try keyword PAP, James) Teacher jn Turbo you mean for Grading/marking sftwr. ??? TurboGrade You betcha! AFA Bard Flexibility is the key. Some use points, others percentages. A real AFA Bard hodge-podge. :) JamesB9219 thanks again .nite :) AFA Bard Nite, James. Stop in again! Teacher jn Need to be able to compose & compile stats in "Letters to Parents!" etc. etc, TurboGrade So, do teachers want everything integrated into the program... AFA Andy That helps. :) TurboGrade or are they comfortable using multiple programs for different tasks. Teacher jn Have to have the 'flexibility' to correspond home with their indiv. progress Teacher jn or lack there of! :((( Troubador He's baaaaaaaaak! Ahem, well, sorry.... say, is this a 'spreadsheet' prgm? AFA Andy I find with teachers new to computing that one program is easier. TurboGrade Not a spreadsheet, Troubador. Teacher jn Definitely an integrated pkg. All in one!! TurboGrade I was thinking about the integration problem a few years back. Troubador Bummer. Am using a pgm now which is DOS 3.3 with lots of machine lang. subrtns Troubador and is spreadsheet looking, reaaaaal fast, like nothing commercial... TurboGrade And for a lot of reasons, I decided not to try and make TurboGrade a Swiss Army knife. AFA Bard Is the data in TurboGrade exportable? Teacher jn Included an element to be used to computer their indiv. Report Cards!! :)))) TurboGrade So, I added the ability to export to Appleworks instead. AFA Bard (Is Turbo reading our minds, or what?!?) :)) TurboGrade TurboGrade is most useful as a tool to input scores and print Troubador The main drawback to EVERY program I've seen is lack of speed. The one that I TurboGrade simple text reports. AFL Gayle What is the name of the program that you are using, Troubador? Teacher jn Have to get the voc. of Bard, (Exportable - nice use of terminology!) ;)) Troubador use takes about 15 seconds to enter a class of 30 with numeric keyboard. AFA Bard How is turbo on Speed, Bob? Troubador It was written by a local fellow in Education about 7 years ago. It's called Troubador the Record Book by a guy named Tom Brazee. TurboGrade Well, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by speed. Teacher jn Did we mention price ($) ??? AFA Bard Related to data entry, Bob. Troubador claims a 15 second grade entry for 30 AFA Bard numeric grades. Is the Turbo program just as friendly? (He asks AFA Bard knowing that it is!) :) Troubador The entire class is on-screen at once, names, scores, assignments with vertical TurboGrade Well, TurboGrade isn't a spreadsheet format... Troubador and horizontal scrolling. No backing out to a separate menu for every new Troubador command... TurboGrade so it probably wouldn't complete speed-wise for score entry with what you're talking about. TurboGrade But to enter scores for one assignment, I bet TurboGrade is just as fast. AFA Bard However, TurboGrade does have great error checking and, in my experience, TurboGrade And switching between assignments isn't difficult. AFA Bard TG grade entry is plenty fast enough. :) Teacher jn Unless the new ver. is called HYPER turbo Super Charge Grade! AFA Bard LOL! TurboGrade Say, remind me what LOL stands for. AFA Bard Laughing Out Loud TurboGrade Ha Ha Ha. Teacher jn HTSCG! How's that foran abbrev.! \ Troubador The problem is, I'm too ignorant to know how to convert it to ProDOS... TurboGrade You mean the program or the data? Troubador The program. AFA Bard Sounds like YOU need TurboGrade, Troubador. :))) The price is right, too! TurboGrade Programming a spreadsheet-like thing is tough, Troubador. AFA Bard What kind of improvements have you made to TurboGrade most recently, Bob? Troubador I might look, but my God, I've got about 8 commercial gradebooks, none of which TurboGrade Well, the program was pretty much done in 1986 and 1987... Troubador compare to this old one. Makes me darned irritable that no one can do it in Troubador ProDos. TurboGrade and over the years I've fixed a few bugs... AFL Gayle TurboGrade is in ProDOS AND not copy protected! TurboGrade but the biggest change has been the ability to export data. It's really fun! ;) Teacher jn did I miss the price tag?? TurboGrade $10 shareware. AFL Gayle Very reasonably priced at $10 shareware. $100 for site license. AFA Bard A MAJOR bargain! RagenT Where does one find this bargain? AFL Gayle Right here in AED, of course, Ragen! :) AFA Andy GMTA Ragen. :) AFL Gayle Look in the Teacher's Tools Library (AFTER the chat is over. :) Teacher jn Embarrassin' ... It sounded like a 349.50 pkg.! RagenT I have teacher's looking for a good program for grading. Might just take you RagenT up on it! TurboGrade Great! TurboGrade So back to recent changes... Teacher jn Ragen you dropped your Kleenex! Ragen sounds funny she has the FlU! ;((( AFA Bard Poor Ragen! I'll e-mail you some chicken soup. :)) TurboGrade There haven't really been any major functional changes in the last few years Troubador Okay, Turbo, does yours look at all like GradeBusters? RagenT Thanks. What hardware can we use it on? TurboGrade Don't know - haven't seen GradeBusters. Teacher jn So what are the MOST recent enhancements to TurboGrade!! TurboGrade Any and all Apple // hardware. TurboGrade Ok, back to changes... RagenT (Can't beat my Greek chicken egg-lemon soup, Bard. followed by Baklava!) TurboGrade I hate to say it, but there haven't been any TurboGrade changes recently since I'm away from home and my Apple //. :( AFA Bard Send THAT to ME, Ragen! Troubador How hard would it be to make Turbograde a GS-specific with GS/OS? AFL Gayle Do you have any plans to make any changes this summer, Bob, when you get back TurboGrade Don't know. AFL Gayle to your // (or will you be back to it?) Teacher jn TG, the enhancements are 'under developement' RnD!!! TurboGrade I don't have a GS. I guess that makes it tough. AFA Bard Will TG import data, too, Bob? Teacher jn GET an LC Mac!1 The GS has rigger mordess!! :((( AFA Bard Welcome Jed Rink! We're talking with the author of the popular TURBOGRADE AFA Bard program! TurboGrade I get all ideas for enhancements from users Troubador Yeah, I guess so. Thanks anyway. I don't think there are many left....alas. RagenT Why not use it as-is on the GS, Troubador? Does it need to be GS Specific? TurboGrade so if I hear from people, I'll make changes. Jed Rink Thanks, we have Mac for all teachers, but don't use a gradebook program AFL Gayle (Hush your mouth, Joel! You can't say that in this room about a GS! :( Teacher jn Do you have any other hidden treasures that you've created besides TG ??? Troubador Naw, it doesn't have to be. Just the environment is sooooo nice. (rigger what? TurboGrade Nothing for the // series. AFA Bard (I think he meant rigor mortis) :) Teacher jn What other series IS there ?? TurboGrade Shortly after TurboGrade was finished I switched to database languages TurboGrade on the PC and the Mac. AFA Bard Oracle? 4-D? Which database languages? AFL Gayle (I KNOW what he meant, Bard! He can't say that about the GS here!) Teacher jn Opps! He said that two letter wrd.! PC ... TurboGrade Mostly dBase compatibles. Troubador The // series'l still be here when the Mac and PC get social diseases... AFA Bard A2 Infinitum! TurboGrade Don't lynch me, but I have a question? AFA Bard Sure! AFL Gayle Certainly, Bob! TurboGrade Which A2s does Apple still manufacture? RagenT I'm tuckin' my GS in for the night, bye all!:) AFL Gayle GOOD question, Bob! TurboGrade Bye Ragen. AFL Gayle Take care, Ragen! AFA Bard IIe and IIgs are still in production, as well as an Apple IIe emulation card AFA Bard for the Macintosh LC. But who knows for how long.... TurboGrade Actually the //e emulation card is one of the best selling cards for the Mac! Troubador The e's and gs's are still sellin' by the pile full. Apple is too smart to TurboGrade At least according to MacWorld. Troubador quit selling a sure money maker. Too bad no sales effort, eh? AFA Bard Right, Troubador. It's no surprise that it's the education market that's AFA Bard still buying A2 products. TurboGrade I wasn't sure since my high school was switching to PCs -gasp- when I left. Teacher jn Where's the sftwr. for the A2 ??? Where's the sftwr. None in the stores! AFA Bard There are lemmings in every district, Bob. ROTFL! ;) Troubador Even on my meager teacher's salary, I still buy every piece of software I can Troubador get my hands on... TurboGrade Well, they wanted a network I think. AFA Andy I must be off to work. Bye everyone, have a great week. :) AFA Bard G'nite Andy! Troubador Sftwr? Ever hear of America Online? Big Red Computer? The Alliance? Teacher jn You too! Andy!! Have a Happy! AFA Bard And don't forget the hundreds of public BBS's still out there. AFL Gayle And don't forget the libraries right here in AED! New uploads all of the time! TurboGrade Somebody asked a while back about importing data. Teacher jn OF COURSE Troub., I just palyin' "the devils advocate to add some ... to the Teacher jn conversation! ;)))) AFL Gayle Any last minute questions for Bob? AFA Bard Just a reminder... you can download the shareware version of TURBOGRADE from AFA Bard the AED/Teacher Tools library. Troubador Thanks, Turbo... we'll give ya a try... Teacher jn Truly Amazin! thanxs TG!! TurboGrade Thank you guys. TurboGrade Hope you like what you find. AFL Gayle Check it out! It really IS a great program! And you can't beat the price. :) Teacher jn Keep On Turbo when it comes to the caM at least! AFA Bard Hang on to your hats... it's FREE HOUR TIME!!!!! AFL Gayle First a commercial from the free hour sponsor. :) Teacher jn Turbo, turbo, turboTURBO! AFL Gayle Next week our chat guest will be the ever popular, AFC Tooter, telling us about AFL Gayle School to School Projects! AFL Gayle And now.... our winner tonight is.... AFL Gayle Troubador!!! for the word ProDOS! (See, now you HAVE to switch to TurboGrade!;) AFA Bard Congrats to T * R * O * U * B * A * D * O * R !!!!!! TurboGrade Congrats! AFL Gayle One free hour of nonprime time will be credited to your account later this AFL Gayle week. Troubador Sweet. Thanks. *kiss* AFL Gayle {S Applause} Teacher jn I was close Troubador troubador!! Way To Go!! Troubador!! TurboGrade Troub, Troub, Troub! AFA Bard ... and Special thanks to our guest!! AFL Gayle And a BIG thanks again to Bob for taking time from his busy schedule to talk AFL Gayle to us tonight! :))) TurboGrade Hey, it was fun. AFA Bard ()()()()()()()()()()()() Bob! Troubador Yep, thanks. Hey, see ya round! Bye. AFA Bard G'night Troubador. Visit AED again soon! TurboGrade Bye. Bye. Troub. AFL Gayle You can reach Bob under the screen name BobR32. TurboGrade I'm anxious for your comments/questions. AFL Gayle With that, I'm going to close this chat because I have another meeting to get AFL Gayle to. Thanks again, Bob, and to everyone who came! AFA Bard G'night, Gayle. :) AFL Gayle Good night! :) TurboGrade Thank you...and goodnight. AFA Bard Edited log will be posted very soon in the AED New Files library!