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SIS 2000+ Master Schedule Editor

Sec. 3, Schedule Classes

Scheduling is carried out in two ways: by the drag-and-drop method or by the key entry method. Both methods accomplish the same thing; to schedule course sections (classes) in the desired time slots (meeting times), one faculty member at a time.

A single course may have to be offered in more than one period in a day because of the load of the students requesting that course; these classes are called "sections." A course section will likely have more than one meeting time per week. These meeting times are called "segments" (even if there is only one meeting time per week). Segments usually have the same teacher and same students, though not necessarily.
 

3.1 DRAG-AND-DROP SCHEDULING:

3.1.1 Drag and drop
In the 'Show by Faculty' screen, after selecting a Faculty member and setting parameters (Sec. 2), use the mouse to drag and drop the course to be scheduled to the cell representing the desired period/cycle (meeting time). Click on a course description in the Available Courses list on the right until the entry is highlighted in gray, drag it to the target cell until the target cell is highlighted in blue, and drop by releasing the mouse button (Fig. 7).


Fig. 7

3.1.2 Edit Course Section/Segment attributes
If this is the first time the course has been scheduled in the selected track, after a drag-and-drop action, the 'Section/Segment Information' screen (Fig.8) will appear with default data about the course being scheduled. Much of the default data displayed in these fields are the course attributes that were defined for the course in the Course Editor and Course Selection Editor. Some of this default data may be edited at this time, as the course section is created. Data fields that are available to edit will appear with a white background. Data fields that are read-only will show a gray background. Use the Tab key or the mouse to move from field to field. Edit data if necessary.
 
 

If this there is an existing section(s) scheduled for this course, the 'Add New' dialog screen (Fig. 9) will appear before the 'Section/Segment Information' screen. See inset at the end of this step titled "If sections already exist".

 


Fig. 8
 

• EDITABLE SECTION INFORMATION
 
• Status -

Select a school-defined status to describe this section, such as Active, Inactive, No Credit/Auditing.
• Team -

The teams available for selection in this field have been defined in the Team Editor application. Team assignments in the 'Section Information' portion of the screen are used by the Student Loader's automatic scheduling sessions keep a group of students together with a group of teachers. Only teams assigned to the current track will be available for selection.
• Section -

Section numbers are generated automatically and sequentially in this field, starting with the first unused section number for the course. If this is the first time the course has been scheduled, the value will be "1", and so forth. The number may be edited at this stage, however, once a section number is saved it cannot be used again - duplicate numbers will not be allowed for the same course.
• Section Size -

Maximum number of students allowed in this section.
• TA Size -

Number of teaching assistants allowed
• Mark Definition -

Select a mark reporting period to be used for this course section. Selections are defined in the Mark Definitions application in the Mark Reporting program module.
• Scheduling Course? -

Put a check this field to enable the course section to be scheduled by the Student Loader or the Student Schedule Editor. If this is unchecked the Student Loader will skip over this section when loading students into the Master Schedule. If a school is being scheduled one term at a time, The Prepare for Midyear Scheduling application will automatically uncheck this field (set to zero) during the process of locking down (prescheduling) certain student schedule records.
• Conflict OK? -

Put a check in this box if a student can be scheduled in this section at the same meeting time as any other section without conflict restrictions.
• Assign Grades? -

Check here if grades will be assigned to this section.
• Post To History? -

Check here if this section will be recorded in student transcripts.
• Variable Credit? -

Check here if variable credit is allowed in this course.
• Scan Gradebook? -

Check if section marks will be included in the Gradebook program.
• Scan Report Card? -

Check if section marks will be included on the Report Card scanning application.
• Scan Progress Reports? -

Check if section marks will be included on the Report Card scanning application
• Flag 1, Flag 2 -

User-defined markers. Defined in the Preferences application.
 
• EDITABLE SEGMENT INFORMATION
 
• Term -

Select the term to schedule this segment.
• Classroom -

Select a classroom number for this segment from the drop-down list. The room numbers available for selection are defined in the Classroom Editor program.
• Take Attendance? -

Check if attendance will be taken for this segment. This integrates with the Attendance module. If checked, teachers will receive an attendance sheet for this segment. If this field is left unchecked the attendance results will default to all present in a negative attendance track or all absent in a positive attendance track.
• Count Attendance? -

Check if attendance will be counted for ADA funding purposes.
• Scan Attendance? -

Check if attendance is to be scanned.
• Is Homeroom? -

Check if this segment is a homeroom.
 
• EDITABLE FUNDING INFORMATION (if applicable)

 
• Job Code -
• Funding Code -
• FTE Fund Code -
• Program Code -
• Grant Code -
• Segment # -
 
 

If sections already exist -  If there are already some scheduled sections for the course being scheduled, the 'Add New' screen (Fig. 9) will appear before the 'Section/Segment Information' screen appears. Here, the user must decide if the course to be scheduled will be a new course section entirely or a segment of an existing course section.    Fig. 9    Add New Section - If the new schedule record is to be a new course section, simply click the Add New Section command button. The 'Section/Segment Information' screen (Fig. 8) will appear with the next available section number in sequential order displayed in the Section field. Use the Tab key to move from field to field. Enter Section/Segment attributes as detailed above. Then skip to Step 3.1.3 to Save.    Add Segment - If the new schedule will be a segment of an existing course section, i.e., another meeting time of an existing section, select the root course section in the list in the left (Fig. 10) and then click on the Add Segment command button.    Fig. 10  Since most of the attributes of segments are likely to be identical (but not necessarily), the 'Edit Master Schedule' screen will be skipped in this procedure and the view will revert directly to the schedule grid. The segment will be displayed in the target cell in the schedule grid, showing the same course ID number and hyphenated section number as the root course section selected (Fig. 13). The segment has now been successfully scheduled without any further steps required. However, if any segment attributes need to be edited, open the 'Section/Segment Information' screen for the target cell in the grid by activating the edit mode (See Sec. 8). For example, when adding a segment it is wise to verify via the edit mode that new the segment's Term value is the same as the other affiliated segments.

 

3.1.3 Save Course Section/Segment attributes
After completing Section/Segment attributes, click on Save to post the schedule record or Undo to cancel the scheduling. Use the Done command to exit the dialog with the option of saving or discarding the data.

3.1.4 View scheduled course section or segment
After saving, a section or a segment will now be created and displayed in the target cell in the grid. The hyphenated section number assigned will depend on the status of existing course sections and actions taken by the user, as follows:.
 

• First time scheduling for a course -

If there were no other pre-existing sections of the course being scheduled, the schedule record will be assigned the default section number of '-1' (Fig. 11).


Fig. 11
 

• New section added -

When there are scheduled sections already existing and the user chooses to add a new section, the program will generate a new section number in ascending sequential order (Fig. 12). Although it is possible to edit the section number in the 'Section/Segment Information' dialog as a new section is created, it is advisable to use the auto-generated numbers. If the user wants to deviate from the auto-generated section numbers, use the key entry method to reserve a range of section numbers.  See Step 3.2. below.


Fig. 12
 

• Segment added -

When there are scheduled sections already existing and the user chooses to add a segment, the program will create a schedule record in the target meeting time and assign it a section number identical to the root course section selected in the 'Add New' dialog (Fig. 13).
 
 
Fig. 13
 

3.2.1 Select a Track
In the 'Show by Faculty' screen, select a Track to be scheduled. It is not necessary to select a Faculty at this point because the Faculty can be changed during the procedure that follows. Likewise, it is not necessary to select a cell in the schedule grid before starting.

3.2.2 Open Add New Sections dialog
Click on the Add button. The 'Add New Sections' dialog box will appear (Fig. 14). This screen is especially designed for rapid 10-key entry. No mouse is required.


Fig. 14

3.2.3 Enter Data
After entering data in a field, simply press the Enter key to move to the next field. Use Shift+Tab keys to go in reverse direction. Selections in a drop-down list can be selected with the UP or DOWN arrow keys, then entered into the field by pressing the Enter key.
 

• Faculty Name -

This field will default to the faculty selected in the Master Editor screen. Select the target faculty member to teach the course.
• Course Number -

Enter a Course ID number of the course to be scheduled. The Course Description will automatically appear in the field to the immediate right.
• Course Description -

If the Course ID number is not known, select a course name using the drop-down list in this field. The ID number of the course selected will automatically appear in the Course Number field.
• Section -

The next available section number for the course being scheduled will automatically appear in this field. When saved, these will appear in the schedule grid as sequentially hyphenated suffixes of the Course ID number (0022-01, 0022-02, 0022-03, etc.). SIS 2000+ will always assign the next highest available section number when scheduling a course section. Once a section number has been saved it cannot be used again.
• Term -

Term to be scheduled
• Cycle -

Cycle day to be scheduled
• Period -

Period to be scheduled. This the last field. If you need to go back to edit data in previous fields use the Shift+Tab keys to reverse direction.
 
3.2.4 Save a record
When all data for a new section is complete and the cursor is in the last field (Period), press the Enter key to post the data and move on to another blank record. The data can also be posted by clicking on the Add button. As a convenience, the new blank record will retain some of the previous data in the Teacher, Term, Cycle, and Period fields. These can be overwritten, however.

Default course attributes are used when scheduling sections using key entry. So, for the sake of speed, the 'Section/Segment Information' screen (Fig. 8) does not appear each time a section is scheduled using the key entry method as it does with the drag and drop method. If you need to edit various Course, Section, Segment, or Funding data fields after a section has been scheduled using key entry, use the Edit procedure from the main Master Schedule Editor screen. See Sec. 8.

3.2.5 Exit
Click on the Done command button to exit the 'Add New Sections' screen with the option of saving or discarding the current record.

3.2.6 View Scheduled Course Sections
After exiting the Add New Sections procedure the ID numbers of course sections scheduled will appear in the cells in the 'Show By Faculty' schedule grid of the selected Track and Faculty (Fig. 15).


Fig. 15

To view course attributes of a scheduled section, click on the cell and read the data in the information field to the upper right of the screen (Fig. 16).


Fig. 16

Red font in a cell indicates that there are concurrent course sections in the time slot, either because one teacher is teaching two or more courses in the same period/same cycle or because the parameters are set to view more than one term simultaneously. The list of concurrent section ID numbers can be viewed by activating a drop-down list in the target cell (Fig. 17).


Fig. 17