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WHATSNEW.V21
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WHATSNEW.V21 Page 1
Making The Grade
Version 2.1
WHAT'S NEW?
~~~~~~~~~~~
January, 1992
NOTES EDITOR
The biggest change in version 2.1 is the addition of an
integrated text editor. On either a Test or Student screen, move
the cursor to a test name or student name (or anywhere in the row)
or onto the class name in the upper left hand corner, and press Alt-
N ('N' for 'Notes') indicating you wish to write notes on this
particular item. There are many possible uses for such an editor;
it's a convenient way to record consultations with parents, guidance
counselors and students, to record medical disabilities, reasons for
absence, details of domestic problems. Many teachers of special
education and elementary school may be required (or may wish) to
keep detailed logs of student behavior and progress. The editor may
also be used to write up a course outline or a test. Like many
other features in MTG, some teachers will have a need for the editor
and some won't.
If a test name (or the class name) is selected, MTG searches
for a file name in the data subdirectory composed of the class name
and the extension .TST; for example, if the class name is ENG-
2A(.MTX), then the Notes file for tests is named ENG-2A.TST. If the
file is not found, you are advised that you are beginning a new file
and are asked how many pages per test you wish to allocate, between
one and eight pages. The data you write on each test is stored in
this file in database format and requires a considerable amount of
drive space. As you increase the number of pages allocated per test
(using the right arrow), you are shown the total drive space that a
full file will occupy (forty tests' worth) which can range from 151K
to over a megabyte, depending on the number of pages. The default
number of pages per test is two; decide how many pages you'd like
according to the amount of drive space you can afford to allocate.
I highly recommend that you use Notes only on a hard drive, or at
least on a high density 3.5"/5.25" floppy disk. In the latter case,
you should plan on using one floppy per class if you use Notes
extensively.
Once you have selected the number of pages you wish to allocate
per test, it cannot be changed for that file. Data 'keyed' to the
class name is stored in the test Notes file, so that you can use
Notes to write up a course outline. In similar fashion, if you
press Alt-N on a student name, a file named ENG-2A.STU is loaded or
created as necessary, and you then specify the number of pages you
wish to allocate per student (which need not match the number you
have specified for tests). All of this may seem needlessly
Page 2 WHATSNEW.V21
complicated, but I feel it is better to offer some flexibility with
regard to file size rather than taking a 'one size fits all'
approach. In actual use, much of this structure will be transpar-
ent.
MTG checks to see if there are already notes on the selected
item (test/student/class) and if so, loads this data into the
editor; you can then edit the data or add new information. If there
are no previous notes on this item, the editor starts up with a
blank page except for the 'header' it creates at the top of the
page. The two-line header consists of such things as the test or
student name, the name of the class, and your name, and cannot be
edited or removed; MTG uses this information internally to identify
the block of data and to store and retrieve it correctly on disk.
Below the header, MTG inserts today's date and time if the selected
item is a student, and the cursor appears a couple of lines below
this. If the item is a test, that test's maximum score, weight, and
description is inserted for you (any of which can be deleted if you
wish).
USING THE EDITOR
The Notes editor is a text editor, and is distinguished from a
true word processor mostly by the fact that it doesn't support word-
wrap, i.e. each line ends in a carriage return (press Enter). If
you have used EDIT in DOS 5.0, or TED, or the editor in PC Tools,
then you are already familiar with this type of editor. It is very
simple to use, and is entirely adequate for the task at hand, but it
is not WordPerfect. If you need fonts, automatic hyphenation,
hanging indents with bullets, multi-column pages, and spell-
checking, this editor is not for you.
Each page consists of 58 lines of text, with a top and bottom
margin of 4 lines. The left margin is set for 0.7 inches (seven
characters in from the left edge), and the line width is set for 65
characters. Page breaks are indicated by arrows at the left and
right margins and the page number is shown beside each page break.
As in WordPerfect (for example), text entered immediately adjacent
to the page break prints with correct top and bottom margins. Pages
are numbered automatically when you print, beginning with page 2.
Some commands are listed at the bottom of the screen. Press
Alt-S at any time to save current data. When data is saved, it is
automatically encrypted (another reason for the header) to prevent
someone else from easily reading the file (COPY ENG-2A.STU PRN or
TYPE ENG-2A.STU will display gibberish). This is not DES encryption
and it won't stop someone who is determined and knowledgeable; and
of course if your copy of MTG isn't protected by password, anyone
can run it and consequently read your files. Alt-P prints either
all data for the currently selected item or all marked (highlighted)
data. Note that a marked block prints out with a correct top and
bottom margin even if the block is somewhere in the middle of a page
WHATSNEW.V21 Page 3
-- no need to adjust the page in the printer. Press Alt-Q or Esc to
exit the Notes editor; you are warned if any changes have been made.
A pair of numbers in the lower right corner of the screen indicate
the present cursor location by row and column; note that the cursor
is in column 7 at the extreme left edge, the left margin already
accounted for.
On occasion you may wish to 'export' some data from the Notes
file and save it to an ASCII or .TXT file. This type of file can
then be loaded into a word processor and be edited further, or you
may simply want to store it separately from the Notes file.
Exported data is no longer encrypted so be sure to keep this data in
a safe place if it's sensitive. You may export either all data for
a particular test or student, or only data in a block you have
marked (use Shift-down arrow to mark a block of data).
If you export all data, it is automatically saved in a file
with the extension .EXS (for student data) or .EXT (for test data).
In the case of a class named ENG-2A for example, exported data on a
student is written to a file named ENG-2A.EXS. Each time you export
data in this manner, it is appended (added) to the end of this file.
When all data on an item is exported, the editor screen is cleared
and you can then start with a fresh file on that test or student.
If you save the file at this point (blank screen), the data on disk
for that item is also cleared from the Notes file (e.g. ENG-2A.STU).
This is a way to circumvent the limitation of having allocated, say,
only two pages per student. When that two pages is used up, export
it to an ASCII file and continue with two now empty pages.
If you export only a marked block of data on the other hand,
nothing is cleared from the screen or the Notes file; a copy of the
marked block is simply written to an ASCII file, and you continue
from there with all data intact. Note that in this case you can
also specify another file name for the exported data other than the
default by pressing 'F' at the prompt. The chart below summarizes
the different types of files and data:
__ Class _ (large Notes files, (small files,
/ \ database format) ASCII text format)
/ \ Alt-E
Alt-N -- Test -------> ENG-2A.TST -------------> ENG-2A.EXT
\
\ Alt-E
\_ Student ----> ENG-2A.STU -------------> ENG-2A.EXS
Alt-H displays a list of other editing commands, most of which
are intuitive and self-explanatory. In addition to edit commands,
you can also display the 'Class Stats' box with Alt-C, and if you're
writing notes on a student, Alt-X brings up the Attendance data for
that student.
Page 4 WHATSNEW.V21
DELETING A CLASS
When you delete a class file at the Main Menu, the following
message now appears at the top of the screen:
>> Notes will be exported to ASCII files XXXXX.EXS and XXXXX.EXT,
which are not encrypted and can be edited with a word pro-
cessor.
(where XXXXX represents the name of the class file you are delet-
ing). All data in the large Notes files is exported to more compact
ASCII files, and the Notes files are subsequently deleted. If for
some reason you wish to keep the original Notes files, you should
copy these and the class file to a different floppy disk or
subdirectory; Notes files cannot be accessed without the accom-
panying class file. Finally, remember that data in the ASCII text
files is no longer encrypted and should be kept in a secure place if
it is sensitive.
Notes files created with the shareware version of MTG (or with
a school/school board license copy in which the teacher has not yet
entered his/her name), will not be encrypted. If you have purchased
a commercial version of MTG half-way through a semester, and have
created unencrypted Notes files with a shareware copy, you can
encrypt this data by simply loading the data and saving it again,
for each test and student on which you have written notes.
ARRANGING
Unless you sorted by student name, average, trend, or test
results, previous versions of MTG didn't display the criterion on
which you were sorting; you simply saw the names listed in correct
order. In this version, if you sort by 'unauth'd absence' (for
example), the raw score, percentage, and average columns are
cleared, and unauthorized absences are displayed in sorted order
until you press Esc; then the regular screen is restored. When a
sort is done by average, the averages remain on screen and the
letter grades are listed beside them. This is a convenient time to
do a Print Screen or use a TSR utility like SNIPPER or GRABBER to
capture this text to a file.
QUICK SAVING A FILE
Occasionally, you may wish to save a class data file to a
different drive or path from which the file was loaded. For
example, you have loaded the file from data path C:\MTG\GRADES on
your hard drive, and while the file is in memory you'd also like to
save it to a backup floppy in drive B:; or you are getting a drive
error on drive C: (disk full, perhaps) and rather than lose the work
you've done so far, you'd like to save the file to a floppy disk in
WHATSNEW.V21 Page 5
drive A:. To do this, instead of pressing Alt-S, press Ctrl-F1 to
save to drive A:, or Ctrl-F2 to save to drive B:. If a path was
previously set on the floppy drive (e.g. A:\FALL92), then the file
will be saved here; otherwise it will be saved to the root directory
A:\. If you need to set a path on the floppy disk before saving,
exit to DOS first (Alt-T) and set the path (e.g. type A:, and then
type cd FALL92); then exit from DOS back into MTG and press Ctrl-F1
-- the file will now be saved to A:\FALL92. The 'Changes have been
made to this file' reminder will not be cleared when you use Quick
Save, only when you have pressed Alt-S and saved to the usual data
directory.
CREATE A NEW SUBDIRECTORY
From 'Select Data Pathname' at the Main Menu, and from 'Default
Data Disk Location' at the Change Setup menu, you can now create a
new subdirectory. This option has been added to the list of other
options in the pop-up box in the lower right hand corner, and is a
convenient feature at the start of a new semester; it's quite simple
to create a different subdirectory for new classes, something like
\SPRING92 or \FALL92. Subdirectories help keep the various class
files organized, like folders and drawers in a file cabinet. The
new subdirectory is created just below the level you're at; for
example if you are at C:\MTG\GRADES, then the complete path for the
new subdirectory would be C:\MTG\GRADES\SPRING92 (or whatever).
Incidentally, some of the menus have been re-ordered for
greater ease of use. At the Main Menu for example, 'Edit a file' is
now the first item on the list since this is what you will select
most often. Similarly, the first item on the Report menu is now
'Gradebook Report'.
TEMPORARY EXIT TO DOS
This feature has been dropped from the Main Menu and Change
Setup menu; no class files are in memory at this point and it is a
simple matter to quickly exit the program to perform DOS tasks and
then return. It is still available from an Edit screen however, by
pressing Alt-T. In addition, MTG now checks that COMMAND.COM is
available somewhere on the PATH defined in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file,
since a second copy of the command processor must be loaded whenever
you 'shell' to DOS. If you booted with a system disk in drive A:,
you'll be prompted to re-insert the system disk before shelling can
occur. This situation will most likely arise with laptops, many of
which don't have hard drives.
Page 6 WHATSNEW.V21
CHOOSING A PRINTER
If MTG detects two parallel ports, an additional selection can
be made at the bottom of the 'Choose A Printer' screen; you may
choose LPT1: or LPT2:. If in doubt, stick with LPT1: (this is the
default). This feature may not work with some print spoolers and
has not been tested with networks. If it doesn't work, you may have
to pre-configure the parallel ports with a separate utility before
running MTG.
CURSOR COLOR
Pressing Alt-B on an Edit screen cycles the cursor through
seven different colors; the default is black. To save a new cursor
color, just be sure to visit and exit the Change Setup menu before
quitting the program; the change will be saved in your SET_UP.MTG
file. One color in particular, white (so you'll have bright white
lettering on a grayish background), may show up better on monochrome
monitors.
REPORTS
Progress Report now allows comments in the COMMENTS.TXT file to
be 55 characters long instead of 36. If longer than 36, a comment
is truncated in the four pages of comment menus with a small right
arrow at the end of it, but will appear in its entirety at the
bottom of the screen if selected, and when printed.
At the bottom of the screen, four blank lines now appear
instead of two. Any line may be left blank, may contain a comment
selected from above, or may be edited. To enter your own remarks on
any line, simply begin typing. These changes give you a great deal
more flexibility when filling out progress reports.
The Class Summary report now allows you to print student number
rather than student name, similar to the Gradebook and Missing
Assignment reports. As well, if the students have first been sorted
by over-all average, each student's ranking is printed to the left
of his name (highest mark is #1, second highest is #2, etc.).
The Gradebook report now also prints each student's ranking
under the following conditions: you have selected only one test to
print, and the students have already been sorted on the results of
this test at the edit screen (Zoom onto Test.6, press Alt-A,
followed by 'Arrange By Results Of Test.6', for example).
Two new reports have been added ('report' is used loosely
here). Graph Paper prints a reasonable facsimile of Cartesian graph
paper in a 55 x 42 grid -- somewhat finer resolution than the usual
graph paper and perhaps more suitable for certain tasks. Lined
Paper, as the name implies, prints lined paper, 28 lines per page,
WHATSNEW.V21 Page 7
with slightly more space between lines than the usual 3-hole binder
paper. Multiple copies of either can be printed, or you may wish to
just photocopy one of them. These reports were added mostly for
convenience, in case you run out of one or the other.
Lastly, a small bug was fixed whereby a couple of extra line
feeds were being generated at the end of every 'print job' on dot
matrix printers, whether it be a single page, a multi-page report,
or a number of copies. The reports themselves printed fine, but the
paper had to be slightly adjusted by hand before the next print job
so that the print head was once again even with the perforation. If
this was ignored, successive jobs would force the print to creep
down the page. The paper now stops where it is supposed to stop,
and you needn't fiddle with the printer between print jobs.
COMMAND CHART
For your convenience, a single-page keyboard command chart is
now included, giving you quick access to the commands used in Edit,
Graph, Report, and the Notes editor (registered version only).
MEMORY REQUIREMENTS
If you have been 'getting by' with a 384K computer, you may
find this is no longer enough memory in which to run MTG. The new
features have enlarged it significantly, and most likely a 512K
computer will now be required, as originally specified.
SCHOOL AND SCHOOL BOARD LICENSES
MTG can now be configured for an individual user, school, or a
school board license. In the case of a school or school board
license, provision has been made in the Change Setup menu for a
teacher to enter his/her name, and the school's name (or board name
in the case of a board license) is 'hard-coded' into the various
reports. License fees for schools and school boards will be
assessed on an individual basis so the cost will be based fairly on
the number of teachers involved; see the file SCHOOL.LIC for more
details or please enquire in writing for further information at this
address:
Coffee Mug Software
95 Notch Hill Road, Suite 306
Kingston, Ont. K7M 5Y6
Canada
Page 8 WHATSNEW.V21
NOTES ON WEIGHTING BY CATEGORY
Several teachers have asked if MTG can weight by category
(Homework, Quizzes, etc.) rather than having to assign each test its
own weight. In the programs I have seen that employ weighting by
categories, I noticed that within a category, it is impossible to
assign different weights, so if for example, there are five quizzes
within the Quiz category, and that category is assigned a weight of
15%, then each quiz gets a weight of 3%, regardless of its actual
standing or significance in relation to other quizzes in the
category. As well (at least in the programs I looked at),the number
and names of categories are fixed, often with names like HW, TE, QU,
etc. If I were to implement categories, I would still feel compelled
to allow variable weighting within the category, which is little
different from what MTG currently offers.
However, there is a way to organize weights by category, and I
will give an example here. First, it is assumed that you know ahead
of time how each category will be weighted as a whole; 10% for
homework, 25% for tests, etc. So when you enter the first item in
a category, say Test.1, give this item the _entire weight_ for that
category. When you enter scores for the next item in that category,
you'll divide the first weight in half and assign half to the new
item (so each is 12.5%), and so on. What about when you've got say
5 tests and a total weight of 17% must be split evenly among them?
Here's what you can do in such a case: first, change all the weights
for the 5 tests to 1%. Then press Alt-W, for Group Weight
Adjustment. Answer 'No' to the question 'Adjust all weights?'. Then
use the spacebar to mark each of the 5 tests. Press Enter when done
and enter a weight of 17% for that group. The 17% will be split
evenly (within 0.1%) among the 5 tests.
This may seem more tedious at first, but there are advantages.
The tests don't have to be weighted evenly; before using Group
Weight Adjustment, you could assign weights of 0.5%, 1%, 1%, 1%,
and 1.5% for example. Then specify a group weight of 17% and MTG
calculates the new weights _based on this ratio_. Also, there is
no limit to the number of possible categories, or any naming re-
striction other than a maximum of 6 characters, though obviously
you need some kind of naming convention, similar to that used in
the sample file CHE-3A1!. Finally, it's a simple matter to change
any individual weight or the group weight at any time during a sem-
ester. If you haven't used Group Weight Adjustment before, you
might want to experiment with the sample file first to see how it
works and read the relevant section in the manual.
_______________________