GeneratingOptionBlocksusingVSAnupdatedOptionBlockgeneratorisnowavailableinVSwareMIS.Indevelopingtheoriginalfeaturein2015,wetriedtosimplifythisimportantprocessbyreducingittofoursimplescreens.Eventhoughwehavenowaddedafifthscreen(aClassListManager)inthisupdatedversion,wehavenotover-complicatedthesoftware.Wehavetriedtoreducetheamountofinputrequiredtogeneratetheblocks.Thisfeaturewillbeavailabletoanyuserlogged-onintheRoleofPrincipal.However,ifcanalsobemadeavailabletoanyuserbygoingtotheirprofileandunder“Account”,tickthebox“EnableAccesstoOptions”.1.StudentSetupInthisscreen,youselectthestudentsthataretobeallowedprovidepreferencesforsubjects.Whenyouhaveselectedthestudentstobeinvolvedintheprocess,youclickonthe‘≫’symbolandthiswillmovetheselectedstudentstotheRHSofthescreen.Itisveryimportantthatthedropdownlistforthe‘StudentsChoosingSubjects’isusedtoselecttheyearthatthesestudentswillbeselectingpreferencesforinNextYear’stimetable.Whenthisentireoptionblockprocessiscomplete,thenewlycreatedoptionblockswillbeimportedintoVSware’sTimetableConstructionfeature.

2.SubjectSetupThisscreenallowsyoutosetthenumberofpreferencesthatyouaregoingtoacceptfromeachstudent.YouthensetthenumberofOptionBlocksthatyouwishtogenerateanditisthisnumberofsubjectsthatthestudentwillstudy.Thesubjectsthatyouwishtobeincludedaspreferencesarealsoaddedonthisscreen.Subjectscaneasilybeaddedorremovedasnecessary.Ifasubjectissubsequentlyremovedafterithasbeenselectedbyastudent,ablankspacewillappearinthepreferencesofthosestudentsandtheycanthenselectanothersubjectinstead.

Inthescreenshotabove,thestudentsarebeingaskedtoselect4preferencesandtheywillstudy3ofthesesubjects.Allofthesubjectsareinonepool(orset)ofsubjectsandthissubjectsetupusuallyproducesahighstudentsatisfactionrate.Beforegeneratingoptionblocksusingthismethod,itisimportantthatstudentsarewelladvisedintheirsubjectselectionorsomestudentscouldstudyanunbalancedcurriculum.Ifrequired,youcancreateanadditionalsetofsubjectsbyclickingontheActionsbuttonandthenclickingon‘CreateNewSubjectSet’.ThiscanbeusedtocreatealanguagelineorperhapsasetofSciencesubjectstoensurethateachstudentwillstudyasciencesubjectandalanguage.Someschoolsdothistoensurethattheirstudentwillhaveabalancecurriculum.Thedisadvantageofthismethodisthatyouaremostlikelytohavealowerstudentsatisfactionandinsomecases,theshortageofspecialisedroomscouldbecomeanissueassimilarsubjectareonatthesametime.ThiswillbediscussedinmoredetailattheendofthisguideClickingon‘NextStep’willmoveyouontothePreferencesScreen.

3.PreferencesScreenInthisscreen,weenterthestudents’preferences.Thishasbeenmadeverysimpleasthestudentsarealreadyenteredinthetableandthesubjectspermittedarebuiltintothedropdownlistwhenyouclickonanyofthepreferencescolumnsinthetable.Ontherighthandsideofthispageyouwillseeastatisticaltablethatwillautomaticallyupdateasthepreferencesareaddedormodified.

Wehavenowaddedafeaturewhichwillallowparentstoentersubjectpreferencesfortheirchildren.Thisismanagedbytheschool.UnderActions,youwillsee‘PublishtoParents’.Thiswillthenshowapopupscreenwhichwillallowyoutocreateatimeframeforparentstoenterpreferences.

Onthispopupbelow,youcanalsowriteanexplanatorymessageforparentstoexplainthepreferencesprocedure.

Inthescreengrabbelow,weseethattheparentofUnaByrneasloggedinandasentered4subjectpreferencesforhisdaughter.Theparentwillseeacustomisedmessageofinstructionfromtheschool.Whentheparentcompletesthepreferencesentry,theywillreceivean‘Optionsentrycomplete’confirmationmessage.

Thepreferencesenteredbytheparentwillthenautomaticallydisplayinthepreferencestableonthepreferencesscreen.

Thetotalsforthenumberofmainpreferences(andpreferencesincludingreserves)arecomputedallowingyoutomakeaninformeddecisiononthenumberofclassesyouneedtoprovide.

TheClashMatrixThismatrixwillprovidesomeinterestingstatisticsinrelationtotheexpressionofinterestinindividualsubjectsorinstudyingcombinationsofsubjects.Inthesamplematrixshownbelow,weseeforexamplethat9studentshaveindicatedapreferenceforbothFrenchandSpanish.BusinessandMusicarelistedamongstthepreferencesof9differentstudents.

Thecolouredcellswhichappeardownthediagonalofthematrixshowthetotalnumberofstudentindicatingthatsubjectintheirpreferences(notincludingreservepreference).

4.OptionBlocksTheOptionBlockscreencapturestheinformationenteredinthefirstthreescreens.Whenyoufirstviewthisscreen(beforepressingGenerateBlocks)itwilldisplayverylittlecolour.Thiswillchangewhentheblockgenerationisinprogress.NoblockswillbepresentbutyouwillseetheblanktableshowingOptBlock1,2,3etc.

Whenyouaresatisfiedthatyouhavethecorrectnumbersofclassesandthatthemaximumclasssizesarecorrect,clickonthe“GenerateBlocks”button.Inthetablebelow,wehaveaskedthesoftwaretocreate16Classes.

Adialogueboxwillappeartoshowyouthattheblocksarebeinggeneratedandyoucanstopthisatanytimebyclickingonthebutton‘GetBestNow’.

Somesolutionswillbefoundveryquickly.Asthesoftwaregenerates,itwilltrytoimproveyoursolutionbysatisfyingahighernumberofstudents’preferencesandalsotryingtobalancetheclassesifthereismorethanoneclassinanysubject.

TheOptionBlockswillappearandarecolour-codedtomatchthecoloursonthespreadsheet-styledtable.Theteachinggroupcodeswillbegivenautomaticallyandthiswillshowtheexactblockandpositionoftheclassintheblock.Ifyouexaminethecoloursintheabovescreenshot,youwillseethatstudentnumber3inthetable,UnaByrnewillbestudyingHomeEconomicsinOptBlock1(2HmEc1.2);FrenchinOptBlock3(2Fre3.1)andSpanishinOptBlock2(2Spa2.2).Youwillalsonoticethat16classeshavebeencreatedintheblocks.

Inthetablebelowweshowtheclasssizesforeachsubjectintheblocksanditwillalsoreporthowmanystudentshavemissedasubject(ifthishasoccurred)

AnewfeatureofthesoftwarenowallowsyoutoCreateSolutions/CloneSolutionswhilekeepingprevioussolutions.TocreateaSolutionorClone,usetheActionsbuttonwhileviewingscreen4(OptionBlocks).Whenyoucreateorcloneasolution,youwillthenviewthenewlycreatedscreen.Itispossibletoswitchbetweensolutionsusingthe‘SelectSolution’dropdownlistbox.Solutionscanalsoberemoved(deleted)usingtheactionsbutton.Youwillreceiveawarningifyou‘RemoveSolution’asthisisirreversible.Note: CreateSolutionwillresetthenumberofclassesandtheirsizesiftheyhavealready beenset. CloneSolutionwillmakeanidenticalcopyoftheexistingsolution

Someschoolsliketoexperimentwithsolutionsandtoviewtheconsequencesofmakingchangesinthefollowingareas:a) changingthenumberofclassestobecreatedinasubjectb) ensuringthatcertainclassesruninthesameblocktoallowstreamingc) toensurethatsomeclassesdon’truninthesameblockasthetwosubjectsinvolvedmay

haveonlyonequalifiedteacher.

Inthescreenshotabove,wehavecreatedaNewClonecalled‘Clone1’andmanuallydraggedtheSpanishandFrenchclassessothateachlanguagewillbeinthesameblock.Someschoolsdothistoallowstudentsmovebetweenhigherandordinaryclasses.Whenyoumoveanyofthecreatedclassestoadifferentblock,apinwillappear.Ifyouclickonanyclass,thepinwillalsoappear.Thiswillfixtheseclassestothisblockandwhenyouthenclick‘GenerateBlocks’theunpinnedclassesarefreetomovewherevertheywish.Asyoucanseefromtheresults,thesolutiongivenfailedtosatisfyallofthestudentsonthisoccasion.3studentsmissedtheir3rdpreferenceandwillbegrantedtheir4thpreferenceinstead.

5ClassListsInthisupdatedversionofourSubjectOptionsGenerator,wehaveaddedaClassListManagerandthisworksinexactlythesamewayastheregularClassListManagerunderthe‘Timetable’TabinVSware.

ThiswillputyouinfullcontroloverthepopulationoftheclassescreatedbytheOptionBlockGenerator.TheClassListManagerwillallowyoutofiltertoalloftheblockscreated.

AMoreComplexSubjectSetupInanearliersectionwedescribehowsomeschoolsasktheirstudentstoselectsubjectsfrompoolsofsimilarsubjects.Thisistoensureabalancedcurriculumforeachstudent.Inthescreenshotbelow,thereisalanguagepool,asciencepoolandthentheremainderofsubjectsinamainpool.Pleasenotethatthismorecomplexsetupcanberestrictiveandwillnormallyresultinlowerstudentsatisfaction.Tobeginthismorecomplexsetup,youcreatethenewsubjectsetsusingtheActionsbuttonasinthescreenshotbelow.

Ifyouexaminethenumbersenteredinthescreenshotbelowyouwillnoticethatstudentshavebeenaskedtoselectpreferencesfor2languagesand2Sciencesubjects(Pool1&Pool2)andtheywillstudy1languageand1sciencesubject.Theyhavealsobeenaskedtoselect4preferencesfortheremainderofthesubjectsandtheywillstudy2ofthese(Pool3).Thatisatotalof4subjects.

Whenthesubjectshavebeensetupasinthescreenshotabove,thepreferencesscreenwilllooksimilartothethatofthescreenshotbelow.

TheOptionsScreenforthismorecomplexsubjectsetuplookslikethescreenshotbelowwhenthe‘GenerateBlocks’buttonwaspressed.Youcanseethatthecreationofthelanguageblock,ascienceblockandamainblockresultedin6studentsnotbeingallowedtostudytheirtoppreferences.However,pleasenotethatthesoftwaredidsatisfyallofthestudentsforthelanguageblockandthescienceblockandthosestudentswhomissedtheirpreferencesaremissingtheirfinalpreferenceineachcase.Mostofthestudentswhomissedtheirlastpreferencedidmangetogettheirnextpreference.

Thescreenshotbelowshowsanothervariationonthesamesubjectsetup.InthiscasepleasenotethatwehaveallowedthemainpoolofsubjectstocombinewiththesciencepoolbychangingthemainpooltoPool2.Doingthisproducedthesamenumberofblocksbutinthiscasethelanguageblockhasremainedbuttheotherthreeblocksareamixtureofsubjectsfromthescienceandmainpoolsofsubjects.Inmakingthischange,notethatthestudentsatisfactionisbetterwithonly4studentnowmissoneoftheirpreferences.