Main MenuSIS 2000+ Course Request Editor
Course
requests are the heart of the student scheduling system. Both mass scheduling
and individual scheduling systems are based on students' requests that
may be imported into the system, entered manually, generated from career
plans, or entered via a combination of these methods. The Course Request
Editor works on a per student basis and is used to consolidate request
data for various reports that are used for designing in the Master
Schedule. The Master Schedule is then designed in the Master
Schedule Editor according to requests vs. resources. The Student
Loader application then uses the same course request data to load students
into the Master Schedule. An optional priority system in the Course Request
Editor may be used when automatically building a schedule to ensure that
the students who need a specific course the most are the first ones to
be scheduled into the class.
Prerequisites:
Course requests are typically processed between the end of one
school year and the beginning of the next school year. Students requesting
courses for the upcoming year must first be enrolled in a valid track for
the target school and target year via the Student
Editor. Furthermore, all courses to be offered must have been defined
in the District Courses database and
then assigned to the target school/track via the Track
Course Selection program (although courses need not be scheduled yet
in the Master Schedule).
1. Open the Course Request Editor program
From the Schedule Menu, click on the Course Requests icon button.
Fig. 1
Program Screen Layout
The opening screen displays a summary list of a single student's course
requests in the read-only mode (Fig. 1). Any course requests previously
generated by the Career Plan Editor or the Student Schedule Editor will
be displayed in the Course Request Editor screen, as will course requests
that were scanned or imported into the database. Details of each course
request can be viewed in the edit mode (See Step 7).
Fig. 2
Synchronize Button
This command will synchronize all other open program windows to
the currently selected student.
(See document titled "Student Banner"
for more information.)
2. Find a student
The opening screen of the program will default to the first "currently
active" student record in the database of the school site that is
logged on, alphabetically by last name.
2.1 Select a group
In the upper right hand corner of the screen is the Group field
(Fig. 3), displaying the current group of student records that is selected
for viewing or searching.
Fig. 3
To activate a particular group, click on one of five Student Group Selection Buttons in the Student Banner in the upper right of the screen. Selecting the appropriate Group will facilitate a more organized and efficient user interaction with the program and will narrow the search time when finding a student record.
Student records will be available in groups only for the school site that is currently logged on unless you are logged on to the district server, in which case student records for all school sites will be available.
Student Group Selection Buttons are only available in the read-only mode of the host program. They are deactivated when in the edit mode of the program.
"User-defined
group"
is a shortcut to open the Group Editor program from which a list of
user-defined student groups can be viewed. Make a selection from the list
and return to the host program.
"Currently
Active Students"
selects only those students who currently have a Student
Status of "Active".
This is the default group selected whenever the host program is first opened.
"All
Students this Year (active and inactive)"
selects active and inactive students of the current school year.
"Future
Students"
selects only those students who have a Student Status of "Future",
such as student records that are being prepared ahead of time for next
semester or next year enrollment.
"Inactive
(withdrawn) students for this year"
selects only those students with a Student Status of "Inactive"
in the current school year.
2.2 Three search methods
Once the target group has been selected using the Student Group Selection
Buttons, there are three methods available for finding a student record:
Student records are stored alphabetically by student last name. Scroll forward or backwards through the selected Group of student records using the VCR buttons at the bottom of the screen.
This command button will open the 'Find Student' screen. Using this method, a student record can be found by entering the student's identification number and clicking on the List command button within the form to initiate a search. If the ID number is not known, a search can be conducted by entering search strings for Last Name, First Name, Gender, Track, Grade, Birthdate, Social Security number, or any combination thereof.
Use the List command button to open an alphabetical list of all
students in the selected Group. To open a student record, double click
on the target entry or single click the entry until it is highlighted in
gray and then click on the Select command button.
See
Student Banner, 'Navigational Command Buttons' for more information
on the three search methods outlined above.
| Important: When executing a search for a student using the VCR buttons, List command, or Find command, only the records from the currently selected Group will be available for the search. If the record is not found, widen the search criteria by selecting a larger, more inclusive group. |
3. Add an individual Course Request
In this method, a single course is selected, assigned attributes, and
added to the student's course request list.
3.1 Initiate
Click on the Add command button at the bottom of the screen.
This action opens the Add Course Request screen (Fig. 4). Click
Done to exit this screen without making any entries.
Fig. 4
3.2 Select Type
Select "Course" in the Type field. This action is
required in order to enable the entry mode for the other data fields; signified
when the gray fields turn to white (Fig. 6).
3.3 Select a Code and Description
Enter the ID code of the course to add, if known. A valid code will
automatically display the name of the course in the Description
field. If the ID code is not known, make a selection of available courses
from the drop-down list in the Description field (Fig. 5). The ID
code of the selected name will be retrieved and displayed in the Code
field.
Fig. 5
All courses assigned to the target school and track will be available as selections, whether they have been scheduled or not.
| Shortcut for rapid entry: If you have a long list of course requests to enter, you know their course ID codes, and you do not need to define attributes at this time simply enter "C" in the Type field to retrieve the Course type selection. Then press ENTER to move the focus to the Code field. Type in a valid course ID code and press ENTER. This action will cause the corresponding Description data to be retrieved and the request to be saved automatically, moving the focus to a new Add Course Requests screen. |
3.4 Define Attributes of Request
Fig. 6 - entry mode
3.5 Save or Add Another Course request
Click on the Save command button to post the course request
to the database and exit the Add Course Request screen, or Undo
to cancel. Click on the Add Another command button to automatically
save the current request and open a new Add Course Request screen.
Repeat steps 3.2 - 3.5 to add another request.
3.6 View Course Requests
After the last Save command the view will revert to the summary
list on the main screen (or click Done to go return to the main
screen if the previous step was an automatic save). The course request(s)
added will be displayed in the list (Fig. 7). The columns in the list are
equivalent data fields from the Add Course Request screen, as follows,
from left to right:
Fig. 7
4. Add a Group Course Request
Groups of related courses are defined in the Group
Editor application and given a group name. By selecting a group name
in the Add Course Request procedure, all of the component courses within
the group will added to the student's course requests list simultaneously
(bulk-assigned).
4.1 Initiate
Click on the Add command button at the bottom of the screen.
This action opens the 'Add Course Request' screen (Fig. 8). To exit this
screen without making any entries, click the Done command button.
Fig. 8
4.2 Select Type
Select "Group" in the Type field (Fig. 8).
4.3 Select a Code and Description
Enter the ID code of the group to add, if known. A valid code will
automatically display the name of the group in the Description field.
If the ID code is not known, make a selection of available groups from
the drop-down list in the Description field (Fig. 8). The ID code
of the selected name will be retrieved and displayed in the Code
field (Fig. 9).
Fig. 8
4.4 View Group Components
Whenever Group Type is selected, the Courses in Group field
will appear. Click on the field button to view a drop-down list of all
the courses in the selected group (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9
4.5 Define Attributes of Group request
Most of the data fields (such as Faculty, Alternate For, Term, etc.)
in the group request dialog are disabled during this step because they
refer to attributes of individual courses only. After the courses in the
group are posted to the course request list via the Save command,
their individual attributes may be entered by using the edit mode (See
Step 7). At this stage, attributes for only two fields are required, as
follows:
4.5 Save or Add Another Group request
Click on the Save command button to post the group request to
the database and exit the 'Add Course Request' screen, or Undo to
cancel. Click on the Add Another command button to automatically
save the current request and open a new 'Add Course Request' screen. Repeat
above steps to add another group request.
4.6 View Course Requests
After the last Save command the view will revert to the summary
list on the main screen (or click Done to go return to the main
screen if the previous step was an automatic save). The course requests
within the group request will be itemized at the end of the summary list
(Fig. 10). The columns in the list are equivalent to data fields from the
'Add Course Request' screen (See Step 3.6 and Fig. 7 above for details
on columns). All courses from a group request are bulk-assigned the same
Priority and Lock status from the Add procedure. They cannot
be bulk-assigned such attributes as Faculty, Alternate For, Term, Status,
etc. Use the edit mode to edit these kinds of individual course attributes
(Step 7).
Fig. 10
5. Add a Team Course Request
Teams are defined in the Team Editor
application. As the Master Schedule is being created, course sections
may be assigned to a team. By selecting a team name in the Add Course Request
procedure, the Student Loader will interpret all of the component course
sections of the team as course requests during an automatic scheduling
session.
Unlike the individual and group request procedures in the previous steps, a team request will not itemize the component course sections as course requests in the summary list. A team request is merely a flag that is set for an individual student in the Course Request Editor. This team request flag will be processed only by the Student Loader's automatic scheduling session.
5.1 Initiate
Click on the Add command button at the bottom of the screen.
This action opens the 'Add Course Request' screen (Fig. 11). To exit this
screen without making any entries, click the Done command button.
Fig. 11
5.2 Select Type
Select "Team" in the Type field (Fig. 11).
5.3 Select a Code and Description
Enter the ID code of the team to add, if known. A valid code will automatically
display the name of the team in the Description field. If the ID
code is not known, make a selection of available teams from the drop-down
list in the Description field (Fig. 12). The ID code of the selected
name will be retrieved and displayed in the Code field (Fig 13).
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
5.5 Define lock status
All of the data fields (such as Faculty, Priority, Alternate For, Term,
etc.) in a team request dialog are disabled except the Lock Request
field (Fig. 13). Set this field as follows:
5.5 Save or Add Another team request
Click on the Save command button to post the team request and
exit the Add Course Request screen, or Undo to cancel. Click on
the Add Another command button to automatically save the current
request and open a new 'Add Course Request' screen. Repeat above steps
to add another team request.
5.6 View Team Requests
After the last Save command the view will revert to the summary
list on the main screen (or click Done to go return to the main
screen if the previous step was an automatic save). The team names requested
will be listed at the end of the summary list. Because team requests are
only database flags there will be no itemization of the course sections
that have been assigned to the teams, as is the case with a group request.
6. Generate Course Requests from a Career Plan
A career plan can be applied to the selected student, without leaving
the Course Request Editor, as a means of generating multiple course requests.
The career plan selected will replace the career plan, if any, selected
in the student's Student Editor record. Furthermore, only career plan course
requests that match the selected student's currently assigned grade level
will be retrieved.
Prerequisites:
In order for course requests to be placed in a student's record
via a career plan, all of the courses in the selected career plan must
have been assigned to the student's current school/track using the Track
Course Selection program. Furthermore, the student must have been promoted
to their assigned grade level for target school year.
6.1 Initiate
Open the File menu and select "Generate Course Requests..."
(Fig. 14)
Fig. 14
6.2 Select Parameters
Fig. 15
6.3 Execute
Click on the Generate command button, or Cancel to abort.
6.4 View data
After the course requests are generated, the view will return to the
summary list on the main screen, displaying all valid course requests that
were generated. The columns in the list are equivalent to data fields from
the 'Add Course Request' screen (See Step 3.6 and Fig. 7 above for details
on columns). Enter attributes data in the remaining fields, if applicable,
via the edit mode (Step 7). Previous locked or unlocked course requests
that were selected to be cleared in the Select Parameters step will have
been deleted from the list.
7. Edit a Course Request
7.1 Select
In the summary list, select course request to edit by clicking on the
line until it is highlighted with a small black arrow in the leftmost column
(Fig. 16).
Fig. 16
7.2 Activate the Edit mode
Click on the Edit command button to open the 'Edit Course Request'
screen (Fig. 17)
Fig. 17 - edit mode
Navigation Shortcut:
Use the left and right arrows below the Term field (Fig.
18) to scroll forward or backward through the list of course requests in
the edit mode. These buttons will be disabled until changes for the current
request have been saved.
Fig. 18
7.3 Modify data
Use the TAB key to move from field to field. Make required changes.
7.4 Save changes
Click on the Save command button to save changes, or Undo
to cancel changes.
8. Delete a Course request
In the summary list, select a course request to delete by clicking
on the line until it is highlighted with a small black arrow in the leftmost
column (Fig. 16). Click on the Delete command button. In the dialog
box that appears (Fig. 19) answer "Yes" to confirm deletion,
or "No" to abort.
Fig. 19
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