Generating Option Blocks using VS
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Generating Option Blocks using VS An updated Option Block generator is now available in VSware MIS. In developing the original feature in 2015, we tried to simplify this important process by reducing it to four simple screens. Even though we have now added a fifth screen (a Class List Manager) in this updated version, we have not over-complicated the software. We have tried to reduce the amount of input required to generate the blocks. This feature will be available to any user logged-on in the Role of Principal. However, if can also be made available to any user by going to their profile and under “Account”, tick the box “Enable Access to Options”. 1. Student Setup In this screen, you select the students that are to be allowed provide preferences for subjects. When you have selected the students to be involved in the process, you click on the ‘≫’ symbol and this will move the selected students to the RHS of the screen. It is very important that the drop down list for the ‘Students Choosing Subjects’ is used to select the year that these students will be selecting preferences for in Next Year’s timetable. When this entire option block process is complete, the newly created option blocks will be imported into VSware’s Timetable Construction feature.
Transcript of Generating Option Blocks using VS
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.
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