By: Amelia Dibert

Sapphire Software, a virtual gradebook, recently updated their site, and this change has been met with mixed reviews. However, students’ responses have been mostly negative with 44.7% of questionnaire respondents saying that they did not like the new update, and only 36.8% of respondents saying they like it. These responses come for a variety of reasons, but most share a common theme.

Majority of respondents that said “no” mentioned their biggest issue with the site was navigation. Before, Sapphire showed all of one’s percentage grades at the top of its homepage. With the update, this has been moved below multiple other sections. On the topic of navigation, Ruthie Saylor, a sophomore, noted that she didn’t favor it and said, “You have to look for your grades instead of them being [at the top] when you open up Sapphire. It was something to get used to.” This change made it harder for students to monitor their work and maintain their grades. 

Multiple students disclosed that their biggest struggle was finding out what work they’d missed and needed to turn in. Among these students is freshman, Daniel Black, who shared that, “I was not able to know what I was missing, therefore, I never turned in anything missing. Which resulted in my grade dropping.” This combined with the end of the marking period creates stress on students that may need to catch up on previous assignments. 

In the wake of Sapphire’s update, many found it to be confusing, difficult, or downright annoying. Considering all the negative comments students had made about said update, it makes one wonder whether change actually means improvement.