Student Pacing Tool - Mentor View

Important: The "Student Pacing Tool" feature will not be available in all Michigan Virtual courses. If mentors do not see this option in their course, they should refer to the student Pacing Guide article for guidance on classes without this feature.

Intended Audience: Mentors

About

The Student Learning Portal (SLP) pacing guides are being phased out and replaced by a new feature within Brightspace courses. This feature will be gradually introduced in select courses throughout the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year, with the goal of full implementation across all Michigan Virtual Brightspace courses by the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

This article explains how mentors can use the Brightspace Pacing Tool to support student progress monitoring. It covers how to access student schedules, interpret progress metrics such as the "Grade To Date," and use sorting tools and pacing flags to identify students who may need intervention.

Instruction

1. First, from the Brightspace homepage, select a course from the “My Courses” section.
   
2. Next, tap the Student Pacing Tool option from the top navigation menu on the Classroom Homepage.
   
   At this point, the “Student Pacing Tool - Mentor View” will display a list of students, their submissions to date, grade to date and status.
   
   1. Submissions To Date: The number of included activities the student has submitted.
   2. Grade To Date: Calculated by dividing total points earned by total points attempted.
      Formula: Grade To Date = (Points Earned) ÷ (Points Attempted)
   3. Status: Displays a pacing status flag—either “Overdue” or “On Pace.”
3. Next, tap the linked name in the “Student Name” column to open the student’s Individualized Pacing Schedule. 

   Note: Schedules can be sorted, filtered, and searched using built-in tools to quickly locate specific students or identify those falling behind.
   

Individualized Pacing Schedule Details

Note: Michigan Virtual holidays are factored into pacing automatically, but not shown visibly on the schedule.

1. Course Start Date: Determined by the course start date or the student’s enrollment date, whichever is later. (Exception: AP courses always use the course start date.)
2. Course End Date: The student-specific course end date.
3. Target Submission Date: Automatically calculated deadline based on the course start and end date. This feature cannot be used to extend the term beyond the end date. Mentors must apply for an extension and Michigan Virtual administration must approve any such requests.
4. Submission Date: The date the activity was actually submitted.
5. Items Completed: Encompasses all course content that students engage with, including both graded and ungraded components. This includes assessments such as assignments, tests/quizzes, and discussion boards, as well as instructional materials that support student learning.
6. Grade To Date: Reflects real-time performance using completed and graded work. Displays “Not Available” if no graded work has been submitted.
7. Days Off Pace: Number of days an activity is late beyond the target submission date. This will appear blank if the due date is today or in the future.
8. Flags: 
   • Due Today: Indicates an activity is due within the next 24 hours.
   • Overdue: Triggered when at least one required activity has passed its target date without a submission. Note: This flag remains for the rest of the course as a record of the missed deadline.
   • On Pace: All required activities are submitted on time; no overdue items are present.

Interacting with the Individualized Pacing Schedule

1. Use the flags to identify whether support or intervention may be needed.
2. Tap the Download button to export the personalized schedule as a PDF.
   

Troubleshooting

• ERROR: Something Went Wrong
  This error message may appear when attempting to access the Student Pacing Tool. Please refresh the browser window. If the problem persists, please submit a customer care ticket.
• Incorrect Course Start and End Dates
  If the Course Start Date and Course End Date displays a date in the 1800s or 1900s it is likely due to an API error. Please submit a customer care ticket.

FAQs

• Why does "Grade To Date" show “Not Available”?     
• No activities have been submitted or graded yet.
• What happens when a student receives an automatic zero?
  If a deadline passes without submission, an automatic zero is added and affects the Grade To Date. If the assignment is later submitted and graded, the zero is replaced with the actual grade.
• Why does the "Overdue" flag remain even after submitting late work?
  This is by design to maintain a clear record of pacing throughout the course.
• Why don’t Discussion Based Assessments (DBAs) have a submission date listed?
  DBAs, as well as other assessments are conducted outside the Brightspace submission system, so no date is shown. 
• What if student schedules don’t appear?
  Refresh the page. Initial load time may vary based on the number of schedules being generated.
• Why do some students have start/end dates in the 1900s?
  This indicates a data retrieval issue. A customer care  ticket should be submitted to resolve it.
• Is the Pacing Tool accessible?
  The tool meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. However, it is not compatible with ReadSpeaker due to iframe limitations.