How do I setup a high school teacher "Assignments" database?

[Jammer]

Hello,

I am a high school teacher that teaches several subjects during different
periods and want to set up a database for my students that includes their
Assignments.

There would probably be two tables, one for "Assignment" and another for
"Classes" that would be linked together through a relationship. Any help in
getting this setup would be helpful.

I know I can pay for this service like www.gradebookwizard.com but want the
challenge of doing my own where students can later query the database or I
can use pivot tables or data access pages.

Thanks.

 

[Allen Browne]

There's a bit more than just those 2 tables.

Typically, you teach the same subject multiple times (e.g. in different
years). This means you have a Subject table, and a Class table (one subject,
many classes over time.)

Each time you teach a class, the assignments may be different. Therefore
assignments relate to classes, and not subjects. One class therefore has
many assignments (assuming that you don't mind treating them as different
assignments if you do reuse an assignment later.) Therefore, you have a
one-to-many between classes and assignments.

You also have a table of students. There are many students enrolled in a
class, and over time a student takes many classes. This is a many-to-many,
so you need a table of enrolments.

Finally, students enrolled in a class submit work in response to the
assignments.

So, the tables you need are (at minimum):
Student table: one record for each student, with these fields:
StudentID AutoNum
Surname Text
...

Subject table: one record for each subject e.g. Math101.
SubjectID AutoNum
SubjectName Text
...

Class: One record for each instance of a subject:
ClassID AutoNum
SubjectID foreign key to Subject.SubjectID
StartDate when this subject was run
TeacherID foreign key to Teacher.TeacherID

Enrol: One record for each student in a class:
EnrolID AutoNum
ClassID foreign key to Class.ClassID
StudentID foreign key to Student.StudentID

Assign: One record for each assignment
AssignID AutoNum
ClassID foreign key to Class.ClassID
MarksPossible Number (possible marks for this assignment)
DueDate Date/Time (when due)

Work: One record for each assignment submitted by each student.
WorkID AutoNum
AssignID foreign key to Assign.AssignID (which assignment)
StudentID foreign key to Student.StudentID (who submitted)
SubmitDate Date/Time (when submitted)
Result Number (number of marks earned)

 

[Fred Boer]

Dear Jammer:

Funny thing, I've just started to work on creating a "Teacher's Daybook"
application for myself... I wanted to be able to track attendance and lesson
notes. I hadn't thought of tracking assignments, though. I'll be taking a
close look at Allen's table suggestions!

I thought I might add that there is a classroom management template
available from Microsoft.

There are useful templates here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT011439441033.aspx


And a classroom management template here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010184071033.aspx

HTH
Fred Boer