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Chancery(Company)– WinSchool(Program)

Instructor: Ken Murphy

Day One – Overview of program and hands on with workbook:

Skills – How to install and start program

Query

Report

Cards

WinSchool Data Hierarchy:

Reports Manager

Attendance/Marks

Scheduler

Details

School Set Up

1)Set – Up: (INPUT)

Set up is the foundation upon which your Win School program is built. It is here where you load your school/student data into the system/program.

  • Student info
  • Teacher info
  • Programs
  • Etc.

2)Details: (INPUT – OUTPUT)

This is where your more detailed information is stored – It is input dependant, that is you place your demographic/academic/attendance/etc. information here for retrieval into reports and queries.

3)Scheduler: (INOUT – OUTPUT)

This section allows you to create a schedule for the school and also individual student schedules.

This is a very difficult task to master and care must be taken when programming.

You may manually schedule students and modify the school schedule.

4)Attendance/Marks: (INPUT – OUTPUT)

You must use separate databases for semester and non-semester classes/grades.

The maximum for your data base storage is 6,000 students. You MUST archive all your overflow (In Breton’s case, approximately 4 to 5 years could be stored as active/inactive files – all other student data must be archived).

Marks:

E-class grades --- may be office or classroom based (Marks entry may also be done from home (This involves a program install and use of floppy disks).

SCANNING

The board would prefer not to entertain the prospect of scanning; however, for schools with the newer type scanners all ready in place, like BEC, scanning is still a possibility.

NOTE: E-class attendance works the same as e-class marks.

The cost of the scanning software is approximately $600.00 per site.

(Scanmark 2000 – software from Chancery)

Scanning is much faster than keyboard entering.

5)Report Manager: (OUTPUT)

This section or module allows you create custom reports.

You may customize reports to suite your schools needs.

Smart items (Templates and menus) reach into your data to create special reports and charts.

6)Report Cards: (OUTPUT)

Scanning is a possibility for report cards –

Data entry may be carried out manually and a report card issued/printed through the reports module.

7)Query: (OUTPUT)

Fast access to school/student information.

Enter the name of the student and you will receive a complete database of information for that student. A Myriad of informational pages/reports is available in this module:

  • Demographic
  • Contact
  • Attendance
  • Academic
  • Class/home room
  • Schedule
  • Conduct
  • Picture of student
  • Etc.

AVAILIABLE MODULES IN THE WIN SCHOOL PROGRAM

SET UP (IN) DETAILS (IN—OUT)

ASCII TRANSFER ATTENDANCE

(IN—OUT) (IN__OUT)

REPORT MANAGER REPORT CARDS

(OUT) (IN__OUT)

SCHEDULER QUERY (OUT)

(IN—OUT)

Resources Required to Run Program:

Windows 95/98 platform – Minimum 8m of ram – (32 Suggested)

SEE FOR FURTHER DETAILS

HELP AVAILABLE:

1)WORKBOOK: Exercises/hands-on activities that provide a basic working knowledge of each module.

2)WINSCHOOL GUIDES: A comprehensive guide to each module (you should use this as a source for answering specific questions – technical information). There is a guide available for each module.

3)ON-LINE HELP FILES: Help is available through the help menu that is installed with the Winschool program. This is perhaps the best place to begin when looking for help. You are provided with an index of topics as well as a search function.

4)SOFTWARE WEB SITE: is the address for the company site. Here you may access various forms of help (Some are free – others will demand a fee.

  • Web training available (Fee charged)
  • FAQ – (frequently asked questions) site – you need your ID and Password – send your software serial number and you will be provided with the above.
  • You can download files and patches (Fixes for minor glitches)
  • You can use e-mail to request service
  • Conferencing is available

5)CALLER HELP LINE: Here you get to speak to a representative (A live voice) You should receive an answer within 24 hours.

MAKE SURE YOU STATE THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR PROBLEM.

Example: Do not request immediate service for a problem that is not urgent – if you can wait a day or so – tell them.

6)CD SUPPORT: There is support available on your CD.

  • PDF files (Read me files)
  • Acrobat Reader
  • Etc.

DATA DIRECTION:

Data may be controlled/accessed through INI files or desktop icons.

ASCII TRANSFER:

Re – important data from feeder schools.

You use templates that will fit on one diskette – the receiving school should make up the template.

Export files (TEXT) to template

Enter into Chancery/Winschool through the import function.

[ A DOS program to import/export data]

SEE WORK BOOK FOR EXERCISES ON INDIVIDUAL MODULES

SHORTCUT KEYS

CTRL + E -- Opens dialogue box. You can make related changes within a module – it will open up an associated dialogue box.

CTRL + L – In the sort mode, this command will open up a list of choices that you can use to select/filter various sort functions.

NOTES/OBSERVATIONS:

This program does not allow you to RIGHT CLICK and select from menu items as most windows based applications do – instead (LIKE THE MAC) you must LEFT CLICK and hold the pointer over the menu item to access POP-UP-MENUS.

*** IMPORTANT ***

You must exercise extreme caution when re-assigning students and home rooms. (Also groups, classes, etc) There is NO undo feature on this addition of Winschool. If you make a mistake – you must either have the information needed to REDUE your mistake – or you can do a rebuild from your backup file – you would have to replace your last day’s information in this instance.

Day Two:

Review: Hierarchy Direction – Data Flow

All modules interact – The setup module is your foundation.

Details provides most of your data

  • Student information and demographics
  • Teachers – courses/rooms/preferences/etc.
  • Courses – what/where/taught by whom/etc

Winschool is based upon the flow of data. The program uses the data you provide to create reports, student/teacher/school data, etc.

Students – Workbook – unit A,B,C,D.

Teachers – Workbook – unit E

Courses – SEE WORKBOOK INDEX

SHORT CUT (F3 – F4) In any function that has a scroll bar F3 and F4 w2ill allow you to move through your list one step at a time [so will your up and down arrows; however, this is not as efficient as the F3 and F4 key movement] You can also use your mouse to manipulate the scroll bar.

Prerequisites: (Course selection) You must select a prerequisite – Winschool will not allow you to schedule a student into a course if they do not have the prerequisite. You can manually override the system if you wish.

NOTES:

Once you set a template for a course you may use that same template to quickly create another course selection with the same or similar requirements.

Before you delete a course make sure only the desired course is selected (REMEMBER __ NO UN-DO FUNCTION)

You cannot delete a course that has students scheduled into it. Similar to DOS -- you must empty a folder before you can remove it.

BACKING UP DATA: Make sure you always back up your data files – If you make a mistake in creating a new schedule it will be handy to have a backup file to replace the one you created the snafu with.

SELECT/REPLACE/ASSIGN – A great time saver – however, you must be extremely careful when you use this function – you cannot UN-DO any changes you make.

Selecting the path for the data.

The easiest way is to change your INI file.

In windows\ find the file winschl.INI and change the DATA line to reflect the directory where you stored your data.

SCHEDULING:

Scheduling a school is the most difficult task in any school.

Your master timetable includes ROOMS – TEACHERS and COURSES.

NOTE: in Winschool classes and sections are synonymous

All must come together – the more sections you offer the more difficult your task becomes.

You may schedule MANNUALLY or AUTOMATICALLY. It is important to understand both functions. Even the automatic scheduler will require some (Actually a lot) of manual fine-tuning.

Winschool has a lock feature that allows you to manually select courses and lick them in. This will allow the automatic function of the scheduler to skip over these courses.

You can, of course, manually schedule teachers, courses and rooms.

Your school must be fully scheduled before you can schedule any students.

INDIVIDUAL TIMETABLES:

Individual timetables may be created either manually or automatically.

Manual is used for student changes, entering new students and fixing conflicts

Automatic creation of timetables will be used for the majority of students.

NOTE: Winschool keeps track of all schedule changes – you can bring up a record f all changes that an individual student has made.

UNIT – G preparing to schedule:

The Guides (14 through 30) explain the use of the TABS in CLS details.

NOTE: Winschool refers to a TERM as one marking period.

Following Triplets – 3 classes that follow each other in the schedule. (This makes scheduling difficult)

Linked groups: 2 or more courses that are taught at the same time.

SCHEDULING THE SCHOOL:

MANUAL – Four Steps

  1. Enter student requests
  • Manual
  • ASCII transfer
  • Scan
  1. Create sections/classes
  • Describe
  • Class size
  • Location
  • Etc.
  1. Create master schedule
  1. Create Student timetables

Automatic: (Five Steps)

  1. Enter Student requests
  2. Set sections/classes
  3. ASSIGN (Load teachers)
  • Your module will select teachers with preferred courses
  1. Create Master Schedule
  2. Schedule students

Requests may be entered:

  1. Scanning (special forms required)
  2. Manually
  3. Automatically
  4. Multi Paste
  5. ASCII text transfer

SCHEDULING

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS BEFORE…!

  1. How many students in each grade or program?
  1. How many periods in one day?
  1. Is rotation of days needed (Relative vs. fixed)
  1. Is there a homeroom period to be scheduled? (# per day)
  1. Is there a lunch period to be scheduled? (# per day)
  1. Are there unique courses such as band?
  1. Teachers – what are their qualifications, and/or preferences?
  1. Are there options, re: number of courses per student? I.e. can there be spaces in the students timetables.
  1. Must classes be combined?
  1. How many terms are there? (Terms = reporting periods)
  1. Rooms: What is the number of rooms necessary to present the curriculum? What types (and how many of each) are needed?
  1. (A) What is the maximum class size? (Contract issue)

(B) What is the minimum class size? (Budget issue)

  1. (A) What is the maximum teacher load (contract issue)

(B) What are the maximum consecutive periods of teaching? (Contract

issue)

  1. Which teachers are “owed” something?
  1. What is the minimum number of teachers needed to do the job?

Day Three:

Review: Steps of Scheduling

MANUAL / AUTOMATIC
1) Requests / 1) Requests
2) Sections / 2) Sections
3) Master Schedule / 3) Load teachers
4) Students / 4) Create Timetable
5) Students

Every step depends upon the preceding step. Winschool must know what the students want.

AUTO/ MANUAL – If all courses are compulsory you may get away with a large percentage of your schedule being created manually. Even with a mix of compulsory and electives both auto and manual may be utilized.

There are five modes of inputting student requests. (SEE PAGE 8)

NOTE: The REQUEST TALLY allows you to set sections automatically; however, fine-tuning will be necessary.

(Winschool will assign a student to a section regardless of the number of requests. E.G. – If only a few students request a course, Winschool will place them in a section anyway – regardless of class minimums)

You may delete or add sections/classes as the need arises.

SECTIONS: Automatic/Manual

NOTE: Under the main Scheduler window – from the pop up window Request schedule required – you can lock in a schedule.

When you set up your sections it is a good idea to save each section of your work – rename the new file you are working on and you will always have the last file (The almost finished one) as a backup should something go amiss.

While in scheduler you may delete a selected timetable by going to schedule and clicking on NEW SCHEDULE.

THIS DELETS THE STUDENT TIMETABLE AND IT MUST BE REBUILT – or you can use your backup file.

For class combining see page 116 of the guide.

NOTE: Class combining will show up on the student’s timetable.

Example: If you have a student with special needs in a “regular” English class (Say Eng. 11), you may combine the course numbers under one class or section for scheduling purposes [same teacher and same room] and have the student’s timetable display the required information (say ENG 11M).

STEP THREE (MANUAL)

Create a Master Schedule:

See unit I in workbook

Input classes/teacher/location/time

NOTE: A bracket placed after the course description/name denotes the section e.g. Algebra 11(1)

STEP THREE AND FOUR AUTOMATIC:

Load teachers – create timetable

Sections: Winschool will assign teachers (load teachers) into sections and assign time slots.

After assignments are made, you may run a PRE-CHECK from the bottom of the dialogue box.

NOTE: If you find problems in the pre-check you must go into the details module to make your corrections.

When you create your schedule Winschool will generate a CORRECTION MATRIX and place a minimized dialogue box behind your report (Click it from the bottom of the window)

If you have a “0” in the matrix this means that you can schedule two courses at the same time.

Double click on a number (Other than “0”) and Winschool will generate a list of students that have a conflict for that data area. (Student data is available on VCR buttons)

You may now double click on the individual student and a student information dialogue box will appear. You may make changes here.

NOTE: The conflict matrix displays POTENTIAL PROBLEMS!

After you have run scheduler – go to SUMARY – click on WINDOWS – click on PERFORMANCE and select SUMMARY. This will give you a graphical summary of the percentage of completed scheduling.

SELECTING A GROUP:

When you want to select a specific range of students (by homeroom etc) execute the following procedure:

Press CTRL + SHIFT and left click a selection box.

(This will select everything from that point on)

Move to the end of the group/range that you want to select.

Press CTRL + SHIFT and click on the last item in the group/range.

(This will deselect the remaining students in the list and you will be left with the group/range of students you wish to work with).

SEE J-6 in the WORKBOOK for an exercise on the ADD/DROP REPORT

SEE J-7 in the WORKBOOK for an exercise on TRANSFER HISTORY

*** The View Transfer History is a good way to track where a student has been (regarding schedule changes – This is especially useful in a large school where a number of people may be doing individual student changes)

TIME SAVER: KEYBOARD SELECTION

Sort the groups you want to work with alphabetically – highlight the first selection [one click on the name] and simply begin to type in the students name (Usually last name first – however, Winschool does allow you to select first name first if you wish). Winschool will move directly to the student you are looking for.

NOTE: THIS WILL WORK FOR ALL LISTS IN WINSCHOOL.

Day Four:

*** NOTE: Use F3 and F4 to scroll through any list.

Example: You can select/sort a group of students for course selection/requests and move through the list one student at a time as you complete their scheduling (In the same Template)

ATTENDANCE: Entry – retrieval

REPORT CARDS: Entry – retrieval (marks – attendance – comments)

Attendance may be reported every day or every period. In the attendance module there are over 30 report templates that may be utilized. This data may be transferred to the report cards if desired.

Attendance relies on the setup information in the SCHOOL SETUP MODULE.

“You must make your original settings/preferences at this point”

NOTE: If you have 4 report card terms – set your attendance the same way (For Four terms)

In SCHOOL SETUP select ATTENDANCE – select REPORTING TERMS FOR ATTENDANCE – in the dialogue box enter the term and dates.

*** See unit K in the workbook for detailed examples and exercises using the attendance module.

ENTERING MARKS:

You may enter marks manually via the keyboard or you may use the add on E-class grades program.

E-CLASS GRADES:

Use your report card module – there is a report maker module that will allow for creation of Templates.

DAILY CALENDER: You can set up your school calendar for the school year and also for special days (board-wide in-services, storm days, etc)

For storm days – Simply select the day from the calendar and select STORM DAY from the right column.

*** NOTE: For relative days (To move your actual school day ahead) simply select the AUTO button from the dialogue box and answer yes to the popup menu that appears as you close out.

HINT: To make a keyboard selection you must select sort and sort students names alphabetically.