Generating Option Blocks using VS
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.