The Education Master 1994 (4th Edition)

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SIS The Student's Information System for DOS User Manual ┌──────────┐ │ Classes │ │ │ ┌───────────────────┐ │ │ │ Assignments │ ┌───┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────────┐ │ │ │ │ Grades │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └───┼──────────┼───────────┼─────────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌────────┼───────────────────┼────────┐ │ │ │ └───────────────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────┘ │ │ │ Study Skills │ │ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ A part of the Software Essentials "Academic Achievement Series" Information contained in this document is subject to change without notification and does not represent a commitment on the part of Software Essentials. This document and the computer software product it describes are the sole property of Software Essentials and are protected by the accompanying license agreement and warranty. SIS LICENSE INFORMATION Shareware & Registration SIS is SHAREWARE, user supported software for the IBM PC. SIS is made available for a free 30 day trial period. If you find this program useful, you are required to license your copy of the program for use on one machine by sending US$30.00 to: Software Essentials P.O. Box 24572 Speedway, IN 46224 U.S.A. Checks, money orders, and most purchase orders are accepted. Terms and Conditions SIS is copyrighted software, and all rights are reserved. SIS may not be changed or modified in any way except by Software Essentials. SIS is SHAREWARE, and may be freely distributed, as long as it remains in its complete form with all registration, support, and documentation files. It may be used for a 30 day free trial period. Regardless of how the copy is obtained, it is required that all users comply with the all licensing and registration provisions if they continue to use it after the 30 day trial period. You may license multiple copies of SIS with discounts as follows: 1 - 10 copies US$30.00 11 - 50 copies 10% discount 51 - 100 copies 15% discount 100+ copies 20% discount Site License Please Call All prices and discounts are subject to change without notice. Discounts apply only to individual orders, they are not cumulative. SIS must be distributed intact, with all executable, documentation files, and support files. Registered users may install SIS on more than one machine, provided they are the only user on each machine. Registration entitles you to: - A diskette containing the latest version of SIS. - A printed copy of the documentation. - A pocket binder for the documentation and for keeping relevant school information. - Notification of all updates, enhancements, and new products. - Updates for $5.00 by sending a diskette and a self addressed stamped disk mailer. - Free technical support either by phone or by mail. Limited Warranty Software Essentials makes no warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, and fitness for any particular purpose with respect to both the software and the documentation included in this package. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOFTWARE ESSENTIALS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PRODUCT EVEN IF SOFTWARE ESSENTIALS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIM. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. The warranties set forth above are in lieu of all other express and implied warranties, whether oral, written, or implied, and the remedies set forth above are your sole and exclusive remedies. Limitation of Liability In no case shall the authors liability exceed the license fees paid for the right to use SIS or five dollars (US$5.00), whichever is greater. Shareware Distributor License Agreement Shareware distributors may distribute this program. The distributor cannot change the above license agreement for the end user of SIS. End users are still required to register each shareware copy of SIS. Additional Waivers It is forbidden to reverse compile the software described in this manual or in any way disassemble or integrate it with another software product without the express written consent of Software Essentials. The file INVOICE.DOC is included in the installation package. This file contains complete registration information and an invoice for your use. Original Printing June, 1993 Documentation Version 93.a.1.001 Throughout this user manual references are made to product and services that are the property of other companies. These names are used in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the owners. No intention of infringement on any companies trademarks, servicemarks, or copyrights is intended. Please direct all questions and comments to Software Essentials by mail, phone, or FAX. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The Student's Information System │ │(c) Copyright 1993 Software Essentials, All Rights Reserved│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Software Essentials * P.O. Box 24572 * Speedway, IN 46224 Phone (317) 273-8117 Fax (317) 273-8117 Table Of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction............... Page 2 The who, what, and why behind SIS Chapter 2 - Installation............... Page 8 Installing SIS on you PC Chapter 3 - Basic Training............. Page 12 Essential information about using SIS Chapter 4 - The Home Panel............. Page 18 Information on the primary SIS panel Chapter 5 - Class Information.......... Page 22 Term, class, and schedule information Chapter 6 - Grade Information.......... Page 32 Detailed grades and final grades Chapter 7 - Syllabus Information....... Page 42 Tracking and managing assignments Chapter 8 - Transcript Information..... Page 50 Credits and grade point averages Chapter 9 - Study Cards................ Page 58 Study skills and test preparation Chapter 10 - Technical Tibits........... Page 70 Important technical information about SIS Chapter 1 - Introduction 1.1 What is the Student's Information System..... Page 3 1.2 Who is it for................................ Page 3 1.3 Features..................................... Page 4 1.4 Using this Manual............................ Page 5 1.5 Getting More Help............................ Page 5 1.6 Problems, Feedback, Opinions, Etc............ Page 51.1 What is the Student's Information System The Student's Information System, SIS for short, is a computer software product specifically designed to provide you, the student, with a comprehensive tool for storing, maintaining, organizing, and analyzing information about your education. Information that can be processed in SIS includes: what classes have been taken, when they were taken, what assignments and tests were required, what grades were received for each assignment or test, final course grades, and basic study information. This information can be kept and operated on for any class that occurred in the past, classes that are currently occurring, and classes that you plan to take in the future. The ability to keep accurate records and use good organizational and self management techniques are essential to getting the most out of your available time and your education. Knowing how you did in a course could affect how you approach other courses. Knowing what is due for the next week in all of your courses might help you organize your time more efficiently. Having the ability to review basic study information from a previous class may help you prepare for an upcoming class. All of these activities and much more are possible from within SIS. SIS is not a guide for how to succeed in school. Success is up to you as a student. SIS does provide you with a solid set of features and capabilities for organizing and analyzing information. In essence, SIS is a information warehouse specific to your education. Occasionally this manual will discuss the particular advantage of using one feature or another. These are not rules but simply suggestions. You will find particular ways of using the information to best suit your purposes. When used effectively, this product can help you achieve your educational goals more efficiently and more effectively. 1.2 Who is it for Any student who can read and understand this manual can effectively use SIS. It is recommended for anyone from the high school level up through graduate or professional training. This includes both full-time, part-time and continuing education students. Part-time students may find particular value in the basic record keeping features since they are spreading their education out over a longer period of time. Full-time students may want to take particular notice of the syllabus management feature for task and time management. 1.3 Features SIS is divided into 4 primary pieces or working areas. These are: o Class Management o Syllabus or Task Management o Transcript Management o Study Skills Class Management concerns the collection and analysis of data about terms (semesters, quarters, etc) and classes. This includes when the class was taken, where it was taken, information about assignments and tests, information about what grades were awarded for each assignment and test, and the final grade for each class. Syllabus Management concerns the collection and analysis of data about assignments and tests. This includes looking at the information for a specific class or combining all assignment information for all classes in a term and ordering them by date. This latter capability allows you to see the "whole picture" of what you need to do over any period of a term. This is commonly referred to as task management and is especially useful when you are taking more than one course in a term. This demands that you effectively manage your time if you wish to succeed. Transcript Management is the process of looking at what classes you have taken and then computing your incremental and cumulative grade point averages, GPAs. The final grade awarded for each class is the measure used to compute your GPAs. An incremental GPA is the GPA that exists as each class is averaged while computing the final, cumulative, GPA. A unique feature allows you to customize the GPA scale to the same scale used by your school. A default 4.0 scale is provided. Finally, the Basic Study Skills feature allows you to enter, maintain, and review study cards. Study cards are a simple, proven way to memorize facts and information. They are like index cards with the question on the front and the answer on the back. A unique option within this feature is the ability to combine cards by numerous criteria. For example, you can review cards for a specific noncomprehensive test in a single class, for a comprehensive test in a class, all available cards for an entire subject area, or all available study cards. The review feature allows you to display the question part of the card and then the request the answer segment. When used correctly this can provide the basis for a good portion of your test preparation. Each working area uses it's own specific data and may share data with other areas. An example of this is transcript management. Much of the data used by transcript management is "borrowed" from the class management feature. This is possible since SIS uses it's own fully functional relational database management system to store data. This allows for some features, such as entering a final grade for a class, to be available from several different working areas. All features are presented with a familiar interface that utilizes full display width and length panels, windows, action bars, and pull down menus. An extensive help facility is also available from within SIS. Help information for nearly everything on a display or data entry window is available. 1.4 Using This Manual This manual is divided into chapters about general information and specific topics. The installation chapter is required in order to install SIS on your PC. The Basic Training chapter gives you the information required to use and navigate through SIS. You MUST read these two chapters. The remaining chapters are divided into general information areas. The general information chapters provide a detailed discussion about a specific type of information. For example, the "Class Information" chapter will provide you with details on what type of information is collected, how to enter it, and how to review it. These chapters also include suggestions,if applicable, on how to use the information. Although not as immediately important as the specific topic chapters, these chapters are recommended if you wish to get the most out of your software investment. 1.5 Getting More Help More help about using SIS is available once you are using the product. The Basic Training chapter gives details on how to access the help facility. If you are having a problem which you cannot resolve please send a letter to Software Essentials. Include a complete explanation of what the problem is, your name, address, and phone number. Software Essentials attempts to answer each question we receive in as short a time as possible. 1.6 Problems, Feedback, Opinions, Etc If you discover a software bug, or have a problem with any part of The Student's Information System please report it immediately to Software Essentials. If you do not report a problem it cannot be fixed. Software Essentials also appreciates any opinions you might have on features you would like to see added and new products that you would like to see. Mail your information to us. Be sure to include your name, address, and phone number. We will attempt to get back to you as soon as possible. Chapter 2 - Installation 2.1 Requirements................................. Page 9 2.2 Recommendations.............................. Page 9 2.3 Installation Instructions.................... Page 9 2.4 Starting the Student's Information System.... Page 10The Student's Information System is distributed on a single 3.5 inch diskette. If you require a 5.25 inch diskette please mail your original 3.5 inch diskette, your name, address, and $5.00 to Software Essentials. A set of 5.25 inch diskette will be mailed directly to you. 2.1 Requirements Following are the minimum requirements for the Student's Information System. Please verify that your system can meet this criteria before attempting to install the product. - IBM PC or 100% Compatible - Hard Disk with at least 500K of available free space - A minimum of 512K of memory - DOS Version 3.1 or later Disk space requirements will grow as you use the product and save information. Frequent monitoring of disk space utilization is recommended. Use the DOS CHKDSK command to monitor free space. 2.2 Recommendations The following system features are recommended in order to get the most from this product: - CGA, EGA or VGA adapter - Color Monitor - DOS Version 5.0 or later 2.3 Diskette Installation Instructions A simple installation program is provided on the distribution diskette. This program is used both to install and to reinstall The Student's Information System. Be sure to read the registration agreement contained in the file INVOICE.DOC. During installation, a subdirectory SIS is created from the root directory (\). If you already have a SIS subdirectory off of the root directory then you must first delete all the files in the directory and then remove the directory. If you do not, the installation may fail. Use the DOS DELETE command to delete the files and the DOS RD command to remove the directory. Step 1 - System Configuration The installation program expects the installation disk to be in diskette drive A: and the hard disk you are installing on to be disk C:. If these assignments are incorrect then you must use the DOS ASSIGN command to temporarily reassign the drives. the following example illustrates the use of the ASSIGN command. Suppose that a system has one 5.25 inch diskette drive as A:, a 3.25 inch drive at B:, and a hard disk at D:. In order to install this product the following commands would need to be issued: ASSIGN A: B: (This makes the 3.5 inch drive) (act as if it was A: ) ASSIGN C: D: (This makes the hard disk act ) (as if it were C: ) Step 2 - Run the Installation Program Issue the following commands from the DOS prompt (>) to run the installation Program: C: (Make C the default Drive) A:INST35 (Run the Install Program) Several Message will be issued and the product will be copied from the distribution diskette to your hard disk. The final message issued by the installation program MUST BE: Installation Completed Successfully If you do not receive this message then verify that you system meets the minimum requirements stated above. If it does, then run the installation program again. 2.4 Starting the Student's Information System Start The Student's Information System by entering the following command: SIS You must be in the root directory (/) before entering this command. You will be returned to the root directory once you exit the product. Chapter 3 - Basic Training 3.1 Introduction................................. Page 13 3.2 The Rules.................................... Page 13 3.3 Parts List................................... Page 14 3.4 Some Common Keys............................. Page 15 3.5 Getting Help................................. Page 16 3.6 Select Processing............................ Page 16 3.7 Find Processing.............................. Page 16 3.8 Congratulations.............................. Page 173.1 Introduction Welcome to basic training for The Student's Information System. This chapter provides you with the fundamental knowledge required to use this product quickly and painlessly. Later chapters give more detail about using many of the topics discussed here. It is recommended that you use SIS while reading this section so you can try things out as you go along. 3.2 The Rules There are only four rules and they are: 1 Do not be afraid to try something. This product is written with a wide variety of safeguards to prevent you from hurting your information or your computer system. It also has an extensive online help facility if you have a question while using the product. If something does go wrong and you cannot solve the problem then be sure to write down exactly what happened and mail it to Software Essentials. We cannot fix it if you do not let us know what it is. 2 Learn by your mistakes. If you try something and it did not do what you expected, make a note of it so you do not keep falling into the same trap. 3 Do not use an editor or word processor to try and see what is in the various files used by this product. These files use special internal formats and structures that cannot be disturbed. If you play around with any of these files you can and will lose some and possibly all of your information. 4 Backup the \SIS directory on a regular basis. Use the DOS BACKUP command or another commercial backup program to routinely backup the database files. These rules are important. 3.3 Parts List For you, The Student's Information System consists of seven distinct parts or structures. These are: 1 Panels These are displays that completely cover the entire screen. The home panel, class schedule, and study card displays are examples of panels. Panels are used to both display and enter information. 2 Windows These are displays that only cover a portion of the previous panel or window. Windows are used to both display and enter information. 3 Actions Actions are listed across the top line of all panels and windows that display information. If you move the cursor to an action, a pull down menu of options is displayed. You tell SIS what you want to do by selecting options from pull down menus. 4 Pull Down Menus These menus consist of the options available for the corresponding action. You select an option by moving the cursor to it and pressing ENTER. 5 Data Entry Windows and Panels These panels allow you to enter information and to save it to the various database files. Instructions about how to save information or cancel an entry is presented across the top of each data entry window or panel. 6 Help Help is available from within The Student's Information System. When requested, a window containing the help information is displayed. 7 Messages A wide variety of messages are used by this software. Messages can be presented due to errors, as a warning, or to request you to confirm an action. All messages are presented in windows. 3.4 Some Common Keys The following keys have a special use in The Student's Information System. They are: ENTER Press the ENTER key to select an action or to tell SIS that you are finished entering data on a data entry window. ESC Press the ESC key to turn a pull down menu off. Once turned off, press any key to turn it back on. If you are in a data entry window, press the ESC key to cancel the window. Pressing ESC from a message window cancels the current action. Cursor Up Move the cursor to the previous action on a pull down menu. In data entry windows this key moves the cursor to the first character of the previous field. Cursor Down Move the cursor to the next available action in a pull down menu. In data entry windows, this key moves the cursor to the first character of the next field. Cursor Left Cancel the current pull down menu and display the previous pull down menu. In data entry windows, this key moves the cursor to the previous character in the current field or the last character of the previous field. Cursor Right Cancel the current pull down menu and display the next available pull down menu. In data entry windows, this key moves the cursor to the next character in the current field or the first character of the next field. Tab Right Cancel the current pull down menu and display the next available pull down menu. In data entry windows, this key moves the cursor to the first character of the next available field. Tab Left Cancel the current pull down menu and display the previous pull down menu. In data entry windows, this key moves the cursor to the first character of the previous field. F1 Press this key to get immediate help about the current pull down menu item or data entry field. 3.5 Getting Help An extensive amount of help is available to you while you are in The Student's Information System. The way in which you access the help facility depends both on what you want help about and whether or not you are on a data entry panel or window. The procedures for obtaining help about specific topics are as follows: o Help about a display panel or window Select the HELP action from the action bar o Help about an item on a pull down menu Move the cursor to the item and press F1 o Help about a field on a data entry screen Move the cursor to the field and press F1 3.6 Select Processing Several panels and windows offer an action that allows you to zoom in on a particular entry displayed on the screen. This is called "select processing". When you select a pull down menu option for a select action, you must identify the entry you wish to operate upon. You do this by selecting the action and then moving the cursor to the proper entry and pressing ENTER. If you press ESC, select processing is canceled. You can press F1 for help at any time. 3.7 Find Processing The StudyCard and ReviewCard actions available from the home panel offer a find process. This process enables you to select either a single study card or a set of study cards for maintenance or review. Basically, the find process allows you to specify a criteria that will be used as a template. This template serves as the guide for the selection of entries. The criteria may be as detailed or as general as required for your purpose. Once you have entered the criteria then each entry you have saved in the database is compared to the template. Each database entry is compared using a unique technique called pinning. Using this technique, the template is laid over the top of each database record and a logical pin is pushed through each character on the template. If the pin hits the same character on the entry then it is marked as a match. If all pins are a match then the database entry is accepted into the set of matched records. One important note on the matching process remains. The case of each letter is important. For example a lower case c does not match an upper case C. Be sure to use case uniformly when entering any information in SIS. The following example illustrates how find processing works. Suppose you have three study cards in the study card database and each study card has the following information: Card 1 Subject Area:Economics Class:E101 Division:Test1 Card 2 Subject Area:Economics Class:E202 Division:Test2 Card 3 Subject Area:Amer Hist Class:H101 Division:Test1 Many different criteria could be specified and many different set of study cards could be selected. The criteria Subject Area:Econ Class: Division: would select both card 1 and card 2. The criteria Subject Area: Class: 1 Division: would select card 1 and card 3 since both classes have a 1 as the second character of the class number. 3.8 Congratulations Congratulations, you have completed basic training for The Student's Information System. The remaining chapters discuss product features and actions in detail. It is highly recommended that you read these chapters so you can get the most out of your software investment. Chapter 4 - The Home Panel 4.1 Introduction................................. Page 19 4.2 Home Panel Actions........................... Page 19 4.3 Exiting SIS.................................. Page 204.1 Introduction When you start the Student's Information System a panel is displayed that tells you what the product name is and information about your obligation not to make illegal copies of this product. This panel is called the home panel. The home panel is the central dispatching point for SIS. All product features, such as reviewing or adding class information, are requested by selecting the appropriate action from the home panel action bar. See the "Basic Training" chapter for information on how to select an action. The home panel is always displayed whenever you start SIS and whenever you select the ...Home Panel option from an EXIT action's pull down menu. This is the only panel which allows you to exit back to DOS. 4.2 Home Panel Actions Briefly, the home panel actions are: o Schedules - Display the current class schedule. The current schedule is defined as the schedule for the term that is currently occurring or the schedule for the term that has most recently ended. o Gradebook - Display a list of all of your classes, the final grade earned in each class, your GPA, and the total number of credits earned. o StudyCards - This action allows you to maintain your study cards. Study cards are an excellent way to help you memorize facts and information. Each card has three sections. An identification section, a study question, and the answer to the study question. Study cards are just like an index card with a question on the front and an answer on the back. o ReviewCards - This action allows you to select a set of study cards and then review them. Once you select the required cards they are displayed one at a time with the answer portion of the display hidden. Once you read the question and think of your answer you can display the answer on the card to see if you were correct. o Help - Selecting the HELP action causes the home panel help information to be displayed in a help window. o Exit - Select this action when you are through using The Student's Information System. 4.3 Exiting SIS You can exit to DOS by selecting the ...To DOS option from the Exit action's pull down menu. Once this option is selected, your SIS session is closed and you are returned to the DOS prompt. Upon exiting SIS the current directory is made to be the root (\) directory. It is not necessary to exit SIS in order to save any additions, updates, etc that may have occurred. These are automatically saved when the action is confirmed. Chapter 5 - Class Information 5.1 Introduction................................. Page 23 5.2 Using The Class Information Features......... Page 23 5.3 The Class Schedule Review Panel.............. Page 24 5.4 Paging Through Your Schedules................ Page 26 5.5 Adding a Term................................ Page 27 5.6 Adding a Class............................... Page 29 5.7 Dropping a Class............................. Page 315.1 Introduction Class information consists of details about the classes which you have taken, classes you are currently taking, and classes you plan to take in the future. This information is displayed in SIS as a class schedule. In other words, all classes scheduled for a term are displayed together on a single panel. Examples of class information includes the class number, the days and time the class meets, and the number of credits earned once the class is completed. All class information is grouped together by term. A term can be a semester, a quarter, or whatever division your school uses to signify the start and end for a class or set of classes. The number of terms it normally takes a full time student to complete a program will vary depending on the definition of a term. For example it would normally take 8 semesters to complete a four year program. SIS collects information about the term such as it's start and end dates whenever you enter a new class schedule. You should record class information for all of the terms you have completed as well as for the current term. By doing so you build a database that allows you to quickly see all that you have accomplished. Class information is also shared by other SIS features. For example, the transcript manager uses class information when computing your GPA. If you do not enter all of your classes then the transcript manager cannot produce a true GPA score. In addition to the transcript manager, both the grade and syllabus functions require class information to act upon. All detailed grade information and syllabus information must be connected to a class. If you do not enter the class information you cannot enter grade or syllabus information. In addition to past and present terms, you can also enter and save information about classes you plan on taking in the future. This is of particular importance if you are required to take an established set of courses in a set order. Many schools have a requirement such as this. Information about future classes is also used by the transcript manager in calculating the total number of credits earned toward graduation. This makes it possible to see what credits you need given your past and future plans. The following sections describe how SIS collects, stores, and displays class information. If you have not read the "Basic Training" chapter, please do so before proceeding. 5.2 Using the Class Information Features You access the class information features by selecting the SCHEDULES action from the home panel. Once this action has been selected, the class schedule review panel is displayed along with information about the current class schedule. The current class schedule is defined as the schedule whose term is currently occurring or, if no term is currently occurring, the term that has most recently ended. All class management actions are selected from the class schedule review panel. This includes the addition of new terms, adding a class to a term, reviewing assignments, reviewing detailed grade information, assigning final grades, etc. If you have not entered any term information then an error message will be displayed. Select the PROCEED option from the error message window then use the NEW TERM option, available on the ADD action's pull down menu, to enter a class schedule. See the "Adding A Term" section in this chapter for additional information. Once you have entered a schedule you can then proceed to enter detailed information about each class on the schedule. See the chapters on grade and syllabus information for more on this. Following is a summary of the class information features. Panel and window names are followed by the action that can be performed. Panel Actions Home Panel Schedules Class Schedule Review Display the Previous Term's Schedule * Display the Next Term's Schedule * Add a Term * Add a Class * Review Grade Information Review Syllabus Information Drop a Class * Add or Update a Final Grade Only those actions that concern class information are discussed in this chapter. These operations are noted with a * in the above list. 5.3 The Class Schedule Review Panel The class schedule review panel is displayed whenever you select the SCHEDULES action from the home panel. This is the primary panel for all class, grade, and syllabus information management. From this panel you can page back and forth through all of the class schedules you have entered, review and add assignments and grades for each class, drop a class, add a new term, and add a class. The panel is broken into three information areas. First, is the school and term identification area. The next area is the class detail area; up to ten classes may be scheduled during a single term. The last area contains the total number of credits earned once the term has been completed. Following is a brief description of each field on the panel: Term Identification Information o School This is the name of the school where the classes were, are, or will be taken. o Term number This is the term number. The term number is a number between 1 and 99 and is used to help order the schedules in the database. Two terms may have the same number but two terms of the same number cannot start on the same date. Typical term numbers are 1 for a first semester freshman and 8 for a second semester senior. o Starting This is the date the term starts. Term information is ordered by the starting date then the term number. o Ending This is the date the term ends. Class Information o Section Number This is the section number assigned by your school to the class. If your school does not use section numbers this field may be blank. o Class Number This is the class number assigned by your school to the class. o Description This is a short, 30 character description of the class. The class title is usually entered in this field. o Days This field notes the days of the week when the class meets. Any nonblank character indicates that the class meets on that day. "SMTWRFS" is short for: S - Sunday M - Monday T - Tuesday W - Wednesday R - Thursday F - Friday S - Saturday o Start Time This is the time when the class starts. o End Time This is the time that the class ends. o Credits This is the number of credits earned when the class is completed. Total Credits o Credits This is the total number of credits earned once you complete all of the classes scheduled for the term. Once a schedule is displayed you can select from the various actions available. Each action operates on one or more classes from the currently displayed schedule. Class information actions are discussed in the following sections. See the grade and syllabus information chapters for more information on actions available from the class schedule review panel. 5.4 Paging Through Your Schedules Once you have entered information for more than one schedule, it becomes possible to page back and forth through the list of all available schedules. To do this, simply select the PREVIOUS or NEXT action. The PREVIOUS action will display the previous term's schedule. If no previous schedules exist then an error message will be displayed. The NEXT action will display the schedule for the next available term. If no more schedules exist then an error message will be displayed. Remember, schedules are ordered by their start date and then their term number. The schedule with the earliest start date and lowest term number is first in the list of class schedules. Once you have located the required schedule, you can select from any of the available actions. All actions, except for adding a new term, operate on the schedule that is currently displayed. 5.5 Adding a Term Terms are added by selecting the NEW TERM option from the ADD action's pull down menu. Once you select this option, the review schedules panel will be cleared and you can begin data entry. All information about the term and all of the classes scheduled during the term are entered together on the data entry panel. There are 10 class information slots available. This is the maximum number of classes that SIS allows you to undertake during a term. If you drop a class, it's slot becomes available. A open slot is required in order to add a class. You must enter complete term and class information. The required term information includes: a school name, term number, and the term's start and end dates. The required information for each class scheduled for the term includes: a class number, description, start time, end time, and room number. If you omit any of these fields then an error message will be displayed once you attempt to save the schedule. Following is a brief description of each data entry field: o School Enter the name of the school where the classes were, are, or will be taken. You must enter a school name. o Term number Enter the term number. The term number is a number between 1 and 99 and is used to help order the terms in the database. Two terms may have the same number, but two terms with the same number cannot start on the same date. Typical term numbers are 1 for a first semester freshman and 8 for a second semester senior. o Starting Enter the date when the term starts. Use the format mm/dd/yyyy, where mm is the month, dd is the day and yyyy is the year. Examples of valid dates are 1/1/1993 for January 1, 1993 and 12/9/1991 for December 9, 1991. Term information is ordered by the starting date then the term number. No two terms with the same number can start on the same date. o Ending Enter the date when the term ends. Use the format mm/dd/yyyy, where mm is the month, dd is the day and yyyy is the year. Examples of valid dates are 1/1/1993 for January 1, 1993 and 12/9/1991 for December 9, 1991. o Section Number This is the section number assigned by your school to the class. If your school does not use section numbers, leave this field blank. o Class Number This is the class number assigned by your school to the class. You must supply a class number. o Description This is a short, 30 character description of the class. The class title is usually entered in this field. A description must be supplied. o Days Use this field to specify the days of the week when the class occurs. Any nonblank character, such as an "x", can be used to mark a day. "SMTWRFS" is short for: S - Sunday M - Monday T - Tuesday W - Wednesday R - Thursday F - Friday S - Saturday o Start Time Enter the time the class starts. Use the format; hh:mm:a|p where hh is an hour between 1 and 12, mm is the minute between 1 and 59, and "a" for AM or "p" for PM. An example time is 9:30a. You must supply the time each class starts. o End Time Enter the time when the class ends. Use the format; hh:mm:a|p where hh is an hour between 1 and 12, mm is the minute between 1 and 59, and "a" for AM or "p" for PM. You must supply an ending time for the each class. o Credits Enter the credits that will be earned when the class is has been completed. You must enter a number between 0 and 99. Once all information about the schedule has been entered, press the ENTER key to verify it. If something is incorrect, an error message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option then all of your information will be discarded and you will be returned to the review schedules display. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the addition of the schedule to the database. Select the PROCEED option to save the information. If there is something you want to change then simply select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the add a term data entry panel. You can cancel the data entry panel at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard all information you have entered and return you to the review class schedules panel. Once a term has been successfully added, you can begin adding detailed information for each class on the schedule including assignments and grades. 5.6 Adding a Class You can add a class to the currently displayed schedule by selecting the ADD A CLASS option from the ADD action's pull down menu. Classes can be added to the schedule for any term, past, present, and future. Once this option has been selected, the add a class data entry window is displayed. Remember, there are only ten class slots per class schedule. An error message will be displayed if no open slots remain. The DROP option available from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu can be used to free a slot. See the "Dropping A Class" section in this chapter for more information. Enter the information for the class being added in the data entry window. You must enter a class number, description, start time, end time, and room number for each class. If you omit any of these fields then an error message will be displayed once you attempt to save the information. Following is a description of each data entry field: o Section Number This is the section number assigned by your school to the class. If your school does not use section numbers, leave this field blank. o Class Number This is the class number assigned by your school to the class. You must supply a class number. o Description This is a short, 30 character description of the class. The class title is usually entered in this field. A description must be supplied. o Days Use this field to specify the days of the week when the class occurs. Any nonblank character, such as an "x", can be used to mark a day. "SMTWRFS" is short for: S - Sunday M - Monday T - Tuesday W - Wednesday R - Thursday F - Friday S - Saturday o Start Time Enter the time the class starts.Use the format; hh:mm:a|p where hh is an hour between 1 and 12, mm is the minute between 1 and 59, and "a" for AM or "p" for PM. You must supply a time when the class starts. An example time is 9:30a o End Time Enter the time when the class ends. Use the format; hh:mm:a|p where hh is an hour between 1 and 12, mm is the minute between 1 and 59, and "a" for AM or "p" for PM. You must supply a time when the class ends. An example time is 9:30a o Credits Enter the number of credits earned when once the class has been completed. You must enter a number between 0 and 99. Once all class information has been entered, press the ENTER key. If something is incorrect, an error message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option then the new class information will be discarded and you will be returned to the review class schedules display. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the addition of the class. Select the PROCEED option to save to the database. If there is something you want to change, then select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the add data entry window. You can cancel the data entry window at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard all of the information you have entered and return you to the review class schedules panel. Once a class has been successfully added, you can begin adding detailed information such as assignments and grades. 5.7 Dropping a Class When a class is dropped from the schedule all SIS entries about the class are also dropped. This includes all assignment, syllabus, and grade information. Dropping a class is not recommended unless you need to open a slot on the class schedule. Instead of dropping a class it is recommended that you assign a final grade of "W" or "WF"to the class. This prevents losing any information that you have already saved. If it is necessary to drop a class, select the DROP option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu. See the "Basic Training" chapter for more information on select processing. Once you have selected the class that is to be dropped, you will be asked to confirm the action. Select the PROCEED option on the message window if you want to go ahead and drop the class. If you want to cancel the drop, select the CANCEL option. As mentioned above, all entries for the class including any existing assignment and grade information is also dropped. All entries are permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Chapter 6 - Grade Information 6.1 Introduction................................. Page 33 6.2 Using the Grade Information Features......... Page 34 6.3 The Review Detailed Grades Window............ Page 35 6.4 Paging Through Detailed Grade Information.... Page 36 6.5 Adding Detailed Grade Information............ Page 37 6.6 Updating a Detailed Grade Entry.............. Page 38 6.7 Deleting A Detailed Grade Entry.............. Page 38 6.8 Entering or Updating a Final Grade........... Page 396.1 Introduction The Student's Information System allows you to record and review two different levels of grade information for a class. Detailed grade information consists of the grades you received for a particular assignment or test. A final grade is the grade you received for a course. This is your instructor's final rating of how you did in the class. Many detailed grades may be given in a single class. Only one final grade is awarded per class. Detailed grades combined with other measures used by the instructor provide the basis for your final grade. A simple example would be a class in which 3 tests were given and each test was worth 1/3 of your final grade. By averaging your 3 test scores you should be able to justify the final grade you received. Many classes use more than test and assignment grades to determine the final grade. Additional criteria such as classroom participation and grading scale curves may be used. Since many such factors may exist, SIS makes no attempt to compute or justify the final grade from the detailed grade information. Detailed grade information provides a great deal of value. For your current classes, it provides a guide as to how you are doing and whether or not you need to be working harder. For classes that occurred in the past it can be used to reevaluate your performance and determine where your strengths and weaknesses surfaced. This historical information also serves as a guideline for determining what your special needs in subsequent classes. This could range from improving basic test preparation skills to allowing more time for the completion of reports or papers. Final grades are of special importance. They are the measure of how you did overall. The transcript manager uses your final grades to compute your GPA. If you do not enter all of your final grades, then an accurate GPA cannot be calculated. Both detailed grade information and final grades are associated with a single class. Before requesting a grade action you must first locate the class schedule you are interested in and then identify one or more classes. Once this has been completed, you can review, add or update both detailed and final grade information. The following sections describe how SIS collects, stores, and displays both detailed grades and final grades. If you have not read the Basic Training chapter please do so before proceeding. 6.2 Using the Grade Information Features You access the detailed grade information features by selecting either the GRADES action or the GRADES option from the SelectAClass pull down menu on the review class schedule panel. The GRADES action displays detailed grades for all classes on the currently displayed class schedule one class at a time. The GRADES option of the SelectAClass action displays the detailed grade information for the class that was selected. See the Basic Training chapter for more information on select processing. Once a detailed grade action has been selected, a common window is displayed. This is the review detailed grades window. If no detailed grade information for a class has been entered then the window is displayed without any grade information. Once the window has been displayed, you can select from any of the available actions. Final grades may be reviewed, entered, and updated from numerous places within SIS. These include the FINAL GRADE option from the review class schedule panel, the FINAL GRADE option from the ADD pull down menu on the review detailed grades window, and the FINAL GRADE option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu on the review transcript panel. Wherever you select the option from, the same window is always displayed. All grade information actions are selected from the review class schedule panel. This panel is displayed whenever the SCHEDULE action is selected from the SIS home panel. Grade information is tied to a specific class which occurred during a specific term. Simply page through the available class schedules until you find the one you need. Once the term has been located you may use the grade actions as required. See the Class Information chapter for more information on the review class schedule panel. Following is a summary of the grade information features. Panel and window names are followed by the operations that can be performed. Panel Actions Home Panel Schedules Class Schedule Review Display the Previous Term's Schedule Display the Next Term's Schedule Add a Term Add a Class Review Grade Information * Review Syllabus Information Drop a Class Add or Update a Final Grade * Review Detailed Grades Page through Grade Information * Add a Detailed Grade Entry * Update a Detailed Grade Entry * Delete a Detailed Grade Entry * Add or Update a Final Grade * Only those operations which concern detailed and final grade information are discussed in this chapter. These are noted by an * in the above list. 6.3 The Review Detailed Grades Window Detailed grade information consists of the grades you received for each assignment and for each test that occurred during a class. It also includes the final grade you received. This information is basically a log of how you did or how you are doing in a class. The review detailed grades window is displayed each time you request a detailed grade action from either the review class schedule panel or the review transcript panel. The following information is displayed for each detailed grade entry: o Class Id This information consists of the class number and the first 22 characters of the class description. Actions such as delete an entry and add an entry operate on data belonging to the class identified in this field. o Grade This is the final grade earned in the course. If no final grade has been awarded this field should be blank. Valid final grades are A-F. Both + and - signs may also appear following the letter grade. The following special grades are also allowed: o a "W" Indicates you withdrew from the class without a penalty. o a "WF" Indicates you withdrew from the class with a penalty. o an "I" indicates you did not complete the class during the semester and that you have unfinished work to complete before a final grade will be granted. o a "P" indicates that you passed the class but no letter grade was assigned. This is usually the case with classes taken with the pass/fail option. A grade of "P" is not used when calculating your GPA. o Date This is the date the grade was awarded. o Description This the description of what the grade was awarded for. This could be a specific test, or an assignment. o Numeric Grade This is the numeric grade that was awarded. It must be a number between 0 and 999. Either a numeric grade or an alpha grade must be displayed. Both may be displayed if both were awarded. o Alpha Grade This is the alphabetic grade that was awarded. Any alphabetic letter, A-Z, may be displayed. Either a numeric grade or an alpha grade must be present. Both may be displayed if both were awarded. Once a page of detailed grade information has been displayed you can perform various actions such as entering the final grade for the course, adding an additional detailed grade entry, deleting a detailed grade entry, etc. Each of the available actions is discussed in the following sections. 6.4 Paging Through Detailed Grade Information Once the review detailed grades window is displayed, you can page back and forth through the list of available detailed grade information as required. To do this, simply select the PREVIOUS or NEXT action. The PREVIOUS action will display the previous page of information. If no previous page exists then an error message will be displayed. The NEXT action will display the next page of available information. If no more pages exist, than an error message will be displayed. If you selected the GRADES action from the review class schedule panel then paging occurs differently. When using the PREVIOUS action and no more pages exist for the current class then the first page of information for the previous class on the schedule will be displayed. The next action works the same way except if no more pages are available then the first page of available information for the next class on the schedule will be displayed. If no previous or next class exists, an error message is displayed. 6.5 Adding Detailed Grade Information Detailed grade information is added by selecting the ADD A GRADE option from the ADD pull down menu on the review detailed grades window. The entry will be added for the class whose grade information is currently displayed. Only one detailed grade entry may be added at a time. The following fields are on the data entry window: o Date This is the date the grade was awarded. Dates must be in the format mm/dd/yyyy where mm is the month, dd is the day, and yyyy is the year. An example date is 12/9/1991. A date is required. o Description This is the description of what the grade was awarded for. This could be a specific test, or an assignment. A description is required. o Numeric Grade This is the numeric grade that was awarded. It must be a number between 0 and 999. Either a numeric grade or an alpha grade must be supplied. Both may be entered if both were awarded. o Alpha Grade This is the alphabetic grade that was awarded. Any alphabetic letter, A-Z, may be present. Either a numeric grade or an alpha grade must be supplied. Both may be entered if both were awarded. Once you have entered all of the grade information, press the ENTER key. If something is incorrect, an error message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option all of your information will be discarded and you will be returned to the review detailed grades window. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the addition of the detailed grade information to the database. Select the PROCEED option to save the information. If there is something you want to change, then select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the data entry window. You can cancel the data entry window at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard the detailed grade information you have entered and return you to the review detailed grades window. 6.6 Updating a Detailed Grade Entry If a detailed grade entry is incorrect, you can change it by selecting the UPDATE option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu. See the "Basic Training" chapter for information about using select processing. Once you have selected an entry then the update a detailed grade entry window is displayed. This window is the same as the add a detailed grade entry window except the information from the selected entry is displayed. See the "Adding A Detailed Grade Information" section for information about the fields on the update window. Simply type over the incorrect information and press the ENTER key. If SIS detects an error then a message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option then your changes will be discarded, the update will be canceled, and you will be returned to the review detailed grades window. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the update. Select the PROCEED option to save the changes. If you want to change something, select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the data entry window. Once you have confirmed the update, the existing detailed grade entry will be discarded and the new entry will be added. The existing entry is permanently erased and it cannot be recovered. You can cancel the update window at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard any unconfirmed changes and return you to the review detailed grades window. 6.7 Deleting a Detailed Grade Entry A detailed grade entry can be deleted by using the DELETE option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu. See the "Basic Training" chapter for more information on using select processing. Once an entry has been selected you will be asked to confirm the delete. Select the PROCEED option on the message window to delete the entry. If you select the CANCEL option then the delete will be canceled and you will be returned to the review detailed grades window. If you confirm the delete, then the selected entry will be permanently erased and it cannot be recovered. 6.8 Entering or Updating a Final Grade The final grade is the permanent measure of how you did in a class. It represents a sum of all the criteria used by your instructor in evaluating your level of achievement. This includes all assignments, tests, and possibly, other items such as class room participation. A final grade is added or updated for a class while on the review class schedules panel by selecting the FINAL GRADE option on the SelectaAnEntry pull down menu. From the review detailed grades window, select the FINAL GRADE option from the ADD pull down menu. From the transcript review panel, select the FINAL GRADE option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu. See the "Basic Training" chapter for more information about select processing. Once a final grade action has been requested, the final grade data entry window will be displayed. Enter the final grade in the field provided. Valid final grades are A through F. A + or - may be used following the letter grade if required. If a final grade already has been saved for a class it will be displayed on the final grade data entry window. If you wish to change this grade simply type over the displayed grade. In addition to the letter grades A through F, the following special grades are allowed: o "W" Indicates you withdrew from the class without a penalty o "WF" Indicates you withdrew from the class with a penalty o "I" indicates you did not complete the class during the term and that you have unfinished work to complete before a final grade will be granted. o "P" indicates that you passed the class but no letter grade was assigned. This is usually the case with classes taken with the pass/fail option. A grade of "P" is not used when calculating your GPA. Once you have entered the final grade, press the ENTER key. If SIS detects an error, a message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option then any information you have entered will be discarded and you will be returned to the previous display. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the addition of the final grade. Select the PROCEED option to save the final grade. If you want to change the final grade, select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the data entry window. You can cancel the data entry window at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard the information you have entered and return you to the previous display. Chapter 7 - Syllabus Information 7.1 Introduction................................. Page 43 7.2 Using the Syllabus Information Features...... Page 43 7.3 The Syllabus Review Windows.................. Page 45 7.3.1 The Review Syllabus By Class Window......... Page 45 7.3.2 The Review Syllabus By Date Window.......... Page 46 7.4 Paging Through Syllabus Information.......... Page 47 7.5 Adding Syllabus Information.................. Page 47 7.6 Updating a Syllabus Entry.................... Page 48 7.7 Deleting a Syllabus Entry.................... Page 497.1 Introduction A syllabus is simply a list of the assignments and tests that are required to complete a class. Many times, a syllabus is passed out at the first class meeting. Other times a syllabus is acquired by recording each assignment or test as it occurs. Whichever method is used, SIS allow you to enter and review detailed syllabus information. Two methods are available for reviewing syllabus information. The first method allows you to review information by the individual class. This method displays the assignments and tests, one class at a time. The second method allows you to combine all syllabus entries for all of the classes in a term, order them by date, and display the list. This method permits you to see the "whole picture" of what you have done and what you need to do. By doing this, you can plan your time accordingly. This is called basic task or time management. Effective time management is an important tool for all students. Both review syllabus techniques provide a great deal of value. For your current classes, it provides a guide as to both what you have already accomplished and what is let to do. This is especially important for any class you are having difficulty with. For classes that occurred in the past, it can be used to reevaluate what was required both for a single class and for all classes combined. This information, when combined with the grade information, provides a guidepost as to the amount of school work you can undertake and still expect reasonable grades. All syllabus information is associated directly with a single class. You must first locate the term of interest to you on the review class schedule panel and then identify one or more classes. Once this has been completed, you can review, add to, or update the syllabus. See the Class Information chapter for more information on the class schedule review panel. The following sections describe how SIS collects, stores, and displays the syllabus information. If you have not read the Basic Training chapter please do so before proceeding. 7.2 Using the Syllabus Features All syllabus functions are requested from the review class schedule panel. The following actions are available. - the BY CLASS option from the SYLLABUS pull down menu Display all available syllabus information for each class on the schedule , one class at a time - the BY DATE option from the SYLLABUS pull down menu Display the combined list of all available syllabus information for all classes in the term. Entries are ordered by date. - the SYLLABUS option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu Display all available syllabus information for the selected class. See the Basic Training chapter for more information on select processing. Both the BY CLASS option from the SYLLABUS pull down menu and the SYLLABUS action from SelectAnEntry pull down menu result in the same window being displayed. This is the review syllabus by class window. This window is used to display all available syllabus information for a single class. If the BY CLASS option was selected you can page back and forth between the syllabi for all classes in the term. If no syllabus information is available for a class, a blank window is displayed. If you select the BY DATE option from the SYLLABUS pull down menu then the review syllabus by date window is displayed. This window is used to display the list of all syllabus entries for all classes in a term. The entries are combined and then ordered by date. You can page back and forth through the list as required. If no syllabus information has been saved for any of term's the classes, a blank window is displayed. Following is a summary of the syllabus information features. Please note, the actions that may be performed on syllabus information are different depending on what window is displayed. Panel and window names are followed by the operations that can be performed from that panel or window. Panel Action Home Panel Schedules Review Class Schedule Display the Previous Term's Schedule Display the Next Term's Schedule Add a Term Add a Class Review Grade Information Review Syllabus Information * Drop a Class Add or Update a Final Grade Review Syllabus by Class Page through Syllabus Information * Add a Syllabus Entry * Update a Syllabus Entry * Delete a Syllabus Entry * Review Syllabus by Date Page through Syllabus Information * Delete a Syllabus Entry * Only those operations which concern syllabus information are discussed in this chapter. These are noted by an * in the above list. 7.3 The Review Syllabus Information Windows One of two different windows are displayed whenever a syllabus action is requested. The review syllabus by class window is used when reviewing the syllabus information either for a single class or for all classes, one class at a time. The review syllabus by date window displays the date ordered list of all syllabus entries for all classes in a term. Regardless of the window, a detailed accounting of all available syllabus information is displayed. Once a review panel has been displayed, you can perform any of the actions available from the window. 7.3.1 The Review Syllabus By Class Window The review syllabus by class window is displayed whenever you select the BY CLASS option from the SYLLABUS pull down menu or the SYLLABUS option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu. Both of these actions are requested from the review schedules panel. See the Class Information chapter for more information on the review class schedule panel. This window is divided into two sections. The first section identifies the class to which the syllabus information belongs. The second section is used to display the detailed syllabus information. Up to 6 syllabus entries are displayed at a time. You may page back and forth through the list of all entries for the class by selecting the appropriate action. The following information is displayed on the review syllabus by class window: o Class Id This information consists of the class number and the first 22 characters of the class description. Actions such as delete an entry and add an entry operate on data belonging to the class identified in this field. o Date This is the date the assignment is due or when a test is scheduled. Dates are in the format mm/dd/yyyy. o Description This the description of the assignment or test. Once a page of syllabus information has been displayed you can perform various actions such adding a new entry, updating an existing entry, or deleting an existing entry. Each of the available actions are discussed in later sections. 7.3.2 The Review Syllabus By Date Window The review syllabus by date window is displayed whenever you select the BY DATE option from the SYLLABUS pull down menu. This action is requested from the review schedules panel. See the Class Information chapter for more information on the review class schedule panel. The review syllabus by class window,like the review by class window consists of two sections. The first section gives the term number and the starting and ending dates. The second section is used to display up to six syllabus entries at a time. Each entry on the display represents an assignment or test due on the specified date. All available syllabus entries for all classes scheduled in the term are available for display. You may page back and forth through the list of entries by selecting the appropriate action. The following information is displayed on the review syllabus by date window: o Term Number This is the term number. It is the same number displayed on the review class schedule panel. o Starting This is the date the term started. o Ending This is the date the term ended. o Date This is the date the assignment is due or when a test is scheduled. Dates are in the format mm/dd/yyyy. o Class This is the class identification number for the class to which the syllabus entry belongs. This same number is in the class number field on the review class schedule panel. o Description This the description of the assignment or test. 7.4 Paging Through Syllabus Information Once a review syllabus window is displayed, you can page back and forth through all of the available entries as required. To do this simply select the PREVIOUS or NEXT action. The PREVIOUS action will display the previous page of information. If no previous page exist then an error message will be displayed. The NEXT action will display the next page of available information. If no more pages exist, than an error message will be displayed. If you selected the BY CLASS action from the review class schedule panel then paging occurs slightly differently. When using the PREVIOUS action and no more syllabus information exists for the current class then the first page of information for the previous class on the schedule will be displayed. The next action works the same way except if no more information is available then the first page of available information for the next class on the schedule will be displayed. If no previous or next class exists, an error message will be displayed. 7.5 Adding Syllabus Information You add a syllabus entry, an assignment, test quiz, etc, by selecting the ADD action available on the review syllabus by class window. This action is not available on the review syllabus by date window. The entry will be added for the class whose syllabus information is currently displayed. Only one syllabus entry may be added at a time. The following fields are on the data entry window: o Date This is the date the assignment, test quiz is due. Dates must be in the format mm/dd/yyyy where mm is the month, dd is the day, and yyyy is the year. An example date is 12/9/1991. A date is required. o Description This the description of what the syllabus entry is for. This could be an assignment, test, quiz, etc. Once you have entered all of the information, press the ENTER key. If something is incorrect, an error message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option available on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option, your information will be discarded and you will be returned to the review syllabus window. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the addition of the entry. Select the PROCEED option to save the information. If there is something you want to change, then select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the data entry window. You can cancel the data entry window at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard all information you have entered and return you to the review window. 7.6 Updating a Syllabus Entry If a syllabus entry is incorrect you can change it by selecting the UPDATE option from the SelectAnEntry pull down menu. This option is available on the review syllabus by class window. It is not available from the review syllabus by date window. See the Basic Training chapter for information about using select processing. Once you have selected an entry then the update a syllabus entry window is displayed. This window is the same as the add a syllabus window except the existing information for the selected entry is displayed. See the "Adding A Syllabus Entry" section for information about the fields on the update window. Simply type over the incorrect information and press ENTER. If an error occurs then an error message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option available on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option, your information will be discarded and you will be returned to the review syllabus window. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the update. Select the PROCEED option to save the changes. If you want to change something before saving select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the data entry window. Once you have confirmed the update, the existing detailed grade entry will be discarded and the new entry will be added. The existing entry is permanently erased and cannot be recovered. You can cancel the update window at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard any unconfirmed changes and return you to the review syllabus window. 7.7 Deleting a Syllabus Entry A syllabus can be deleted from either of the review syllabus windows by selecting the DELETE option from SelectAnEntry pull down menu. See the "Basic Training" chapter for more information on using select processing. Once an entry has been selected and the ENTER key has been pressed, you will be asked to confirm the delete. Select the PROCEED option on the message window to delete the entry. If you select the CANCEL option, the delete will be canceled and you will be returned to the display syllabus window. If you confirm the delete, then the selected entry will be permanently erased and cannot be recovered. Chapter 8 - Transcript Management 8.1 Introduction................................. Page 51 8.2 Using The Transcript Management Features..... Page 52 8.3 The Transcript Manager Panel................. Page 53 8.4 How the Calculations Work.................... Page 54 8.5 Paging Through Your Transcript............... Page 55 8.6 The GPA Scale................................ Page 55 8.7 Other Actions................................ Page 568.1 Introduction The transcript management feature provides several functions. These include: o Calculation of both your incremental and cumulative grade point averages, GPAs. o Calculation of the credits earned toward completion of your educational program. o A composite review of all of the classes you have taken and how you did in each class. o The ability to customize the GPA scale used when calculating your GPAs. GPA scores are computed by averaging the numeric equivalent of the final grades in one or more class. As each class is added to the calculation an incremental GPA is calculated. This GPA indicates what effect each class has on your overall, cumulative, GPA. Numeric equivalents for each class's final grade, a letter grade, are found by looking at the GPA scale. Some special grades exist that may or may not be calculated into your GPA. The GPA scale consists of a listing of the letter grades A through F, including + and - notation, and your schools numeric equivalent of each grade. Grading scales are usually referred to as a point system. An example 4.0 point system is supplied with SIS. In this scale an A is worth 4 points, a B is worth 3 points, etc. Many other possible grading scales exist. Consult your student handbook or talk to your school's administration office if your are not sure what your grading scale is. Once your determine the appropriate GPA scale, you may need to update the scale that was provided. Credits are the measure of how much work you have completed. Credits may be referred to by your school as credit hours, or more simply, hours. Credits are awarded once you successfully complete a class. The transcript manager provides you with both the number of credits earned per class and the total number of credits earned for all classes. Programs normally require a fixed number of credits in order to graduate. The transcript management facility also provides a unique summary facility. The transcript review panel provides a complete listing of all the classes you have entered into the SIS databases. While the class schedule review panel allows you to examine classes one term at a time, the transcript review panel allows you to see all classes across all terms on a single list. This is a very convenient way to review what you have done and when you did it. This can be especially useful when planning future schedules. All transcript manager information, except the GPA scale, is "borrowed" from the class and grade information databases. If these databases are incomplete, they do not include all of the classes you have taken and their final grades, the transcript information will not be accurate. See the Class Information and Grade Information chapters for more information on entering and maintaining class and grade information. The following sections describe how the SIS transcript management features operate. If you have not read the Basic Training chapter please do so before proceeding. 8.2 Using the Transcript Manager Features You access the transcript management features by selecting the GRADEBOOK action from the home panel. Once this action is selected, the review transcript panel is displayed along with information about the first available page of transcript information. All transcript manager actions are selected from the review transcript panel. This includes changing the GPA scale, reviewing detailed grade information for a selected class, and entering or updating the final grade for a class. If you have not entered any class information then an error message will be displayed on top of the review transcript panel. If you select the PROCEED option, only the GPA SCALE option available on the SCALE pull down menu can be selected. Select the CANCEL option if you want to return to the home panel. See the Class Information chapter for more information on entering class information. Once class and grade information are available, you can begin using all of the transcript management actions. Following is a summary of the transcript management features. Panel and window names are followed by the action that can be performed. Panel Actions Home Panel GradeBook Review Transcript Panel Display the Previous Page * Display the Next Page * Update the GPA Scale * Review Detailed Grade Information Add or Update a Final Grade Only those actions that directly concern transcript management are discussed in this chapter. These operations are noted with a * in the above list. Other actions are referenced in the last section of this chapter. 8.3 The Review Transcript Panel The review transcript panel is displayed whenever you select the GRADEBOOK action from the home panel. This is the primary panel for transcript management. From this panel, you can page back and forth through the list of all available transcript entries, update the GPA scale used to calculate your GPAs, review detailed grade information about a class, and add or update the final grade for one or more classes. The panel consist of a single information areas. This area is used to display a page of transcript information. If more than one page is available, you can page back and forth between the pages. The transcript manager uses a "list" of available transcript information. This list consists of "borrowed" class and grade information. The information is ordered in the same way terms are ordered. Classes from the term with the earliest start date and lowest term number are first. Classes with the next earliest term start date and next lowest or same term number are placed next, and so on. If information about terms that have yet to occur or classes with no final grades are present, they are also placed on the list but are skipped when computing you GPA scores. The following fields are on the review transcript panel: o Term number This is the number of the term when the class occurred. o Class This is the class number assigned by your school to the class. o Description This is a short, 30 character, description of the class. The class title is usually entered in this field. o Credit This is the number of credits earned when the class is or was successfully completed. o Grade This is the final grade awarded for the class. o GPA This field contains your incremental GPA. If the entry is the last entry for which a final grade is available, then it contains your cumulative GPA. Two different representations of your GPA are presented. First, is the letter grade that most closely represents your GPA. The second entry consists of your numeric GPA score. o Credits This is the total number of credits that have been earned toward completion of your educational program. Credits are totaled for all classes in the transcript manager list regardless of the existence of a final grade. The calculations used by the transcript manager and the transcript management actions are discussed in the following sections. Additional information about the borrowed information can be found in both the Class and Grade information chapters. 8.4 How the Calculations Work Three different calculations are performed on the review transcript panel. First is the calculation of your incremental numeric GPA score. Second is the assignment of a letter grade that corresponds to each incremental GPA score. Finally, the number of total credits is computed. The incremental GPA is calculated as follows: 1 The final grade awarded for the class is examined. If no final grade has been recorded or if the final grade is an I, P, W, or WF then the class is not included in the GPA calculation. 2 If the class has a valid final grade, the numeric equivalent is found in the GPA scale. 3 The count for the number of classes with valid final grades is increased by one and the numeric equivalent for the class is added to the GPA point total. 4 Finally, the GPA point total is divided by the number of classes with final grades. This yields the incremental GPA score. The final GPA score available in the transcript list is called the cumulative GPA. This score is the one single measure of how well you did, in regard to grades, in your entire educational program. For each incremental GPA and the cumulative GPA, SIS assigns a corresponding letter grade. This letter grade is determined by once again looking at the GPA scale. The incremental or cumulative GPA is matched against the numeric scale. The letter grade that is selected must have a numeric equivalent less than or equal to the incremental or cumulative GPA and the next higher letter grade must have a numeric equivalent which is greater than the incremental or cumulative GPA score. Finally, the total number of credits is calculated. This calculation is very simple. The number of credits earned for each class are totaled as each class is added to the transcript list. All credits are added regardless of the existence of a final grade or the final grade earned in the class. This includes all classes with special final grades such as I or WF. Classes with a final grade of F are also added to the total. 8.5 Paging Through Your Transcript As mentioned above, the transcript borrows class and grade information in order to build a transcript list. This list consists of information about each class and is ordered by term start date and then the term number. If more than one page of information is available on the transcript list, it becomes possible to page back and forth through all of the available pages. To do this, simply select the PREVIOUS or NEXT action. The PREVIOUS action will display the previous page of information. If no previous page exists then an error message will be displayed. The NEXT action will display the next available page of transcript information. If no more pages exist then an error message will be displayed. Before using any of the SelectAnEntry pull down options you must find the page that contains the required entry. This is accomplished by using the PREVIOUS and NEXT actions. 8.6 The GPA Scale The GPA scale is used by SIS to compute your incremental and cumulative GPAs. An example 4.0 scale is provided on the SIS distribution diskette. If this scale does not match the scale used by you school then you must update it or the GPA calculations will not be correct. Consult your student handbook or your school administration office for information on the required GPA scale. The GPA scale may be reviewed or changed by selecting the SCALE action from the review transcript action bar. Once selected, the GPA scale data entry window is displayed. This window consists of a list of the final grades supported by SIS and the existing numeric equivalents to each grades. If a change is required simply type the required value over the existing value. Once all changes to the scale have been entered, press the ENTER key. If anything is incorrect then an error message will be displayed. You can correct errors by selecting the PROCEED option on the error message window. If you select the CANCEL option then your changes will be discarded and you will be returned to the review transcript display. Once all errors have been corrected, you will be asked to confirm the update of the GPA scale. Select the PROCEED option to save the information. If there is something you want to change, simply select the CANCEL option and you will be returned to the data entry window. You can cancel the data entry panel at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will discard all changes you have made and return you to the review transcript panel. All changes to the GPA scale are immediately reflected on the review transcript panel. 8.7 Other Actions Other actions are also available from the review transcript panel. Following is a brief summary of those actions. See the Grade Information chapter for more information. The Basic Training Chapter supplies the information necessary to use select processing. Detail Display detailed grade information for the selected class. The review detailed grade information window is displayed. All actions available from the review detailed grade window may be selected. Final Grade This actions allows you to review, enter, or change a final grade for the selected class. All changes will be immediately reflected on the review transcript panel. Chapter 9 - Study Cards 9.1 Introduction................................. Page 59 9.2 Using The Study Card Features................ Page 59 9.3 The Study Card Panel......................... Page 61 9.4 Paging Through a Set of Study Cards.......... Page 62 9.5 Study Card Maintenance....................... Page 63 9.5.1 Adding New Study Cards...................... Page 63 9.5.2 How the BROWSE and FIND Action Work......... Page 64 9.5.3 Updating a Study Card....................... Page 65 9.5.4 Deleting a Study Card....................... Page 65 9.6 Reviewing Study Cards......................... Page 66 9.6.1 The Review Study Card Criteria Window....... Page 66 9.6.2 Finding a Set of Study Cards................ Page 67 9.6.3 Displaying the Answer....................... Page 67 9.6.4 Shuffling a Set of Study Cards.............. Page 689.1 Introduction Study cards are a simple way to help you memorize any number of things. They are like index cards with the question on the front and the answer on the back. Multiplication table flash cards are an example of a type of study card that most people have come in contact with. Many students find that developing a set of study cards to be of great help when preparing for a test. If these cards are kept and organized they also can be of value when preparing for many other events such as a subsequent class, a comprehensive exam, or even as a general reference tool. When enough study cards have been accumulated, they can even be used for fun as a kind of homemade trivia game. The study cards supported by SIS are unique in many ways. First, you build the study cards. You are responsible for selecting the questions and answers that are most important to you. This is usually done as a class progresses, however, it can be done at anytime. For example, you could add study cards for questions you missed on a test just in case the question reappears on a comprehensive final. Second, SIS study cards are automatically organized by the criteria you provide. You can break cards in sets in any way you decide. This could be by class, subject area and even divisions within a class. Lastly, is the general nature of how study cards are treated by SIS. Since cards are all kept in a single database you can develop a scheme for organizing and combining information that best suits your needs at any given time. The SIS study card feature is broken into two primary areas. The first area involves the maintenance of the study card database. This includes the facilities for adding new cards, deleting cards, and changing cards. This last item is especially important if a study card contains an incorrect answer. The second area involves reviewing study cards. This feature allows you to select a set of cards and then display each card in the selected set one at a time. When each card is first displayed the answer is hidden from you. Once you read the question and decide upon your answer you can then display the answer contained on the card to validate your response. As this cycle is repeated you will begin to memorize the answers for each question. The review function is a excellent mechanism for helping you prepare for a test. The following sections describe how the SIS study card features operate. If you have not read the Basic Training chapter, please do so before proceeding. 9.2 Using the Study Cards Features All of the study card facilities are requested from the SIS home panel. The STUDYCARD action is used to request the study card maintenance facility. The REVIEWCARD action invokes the study card review process. The panel that is displayed depends on the action that was requested. The STUDYCARD action causes the immediate display of a blank study card panel. The REVIEWCARD action causes the display of the study card criteria data entry window. Once the criteria has been entered and a set of study cards has been selected, the study card panel is displayed. Study card maintenance operations are divided into two phases. The first phase involves the selection of a maintenance function. The maintenance function you select tells SIS how you want to access the study card database. You request a function by selecting the corresponding action. The available functions are: o Browse Browse through all of the study cards available in the study card database o Find Find a single study card or a set of study cards in the database. o Add Add new study cards to the study card database. The Add action allows you to enter new study cards into the database. The Browse and Find actions are used to select a set of cards, a set can consist of 1 card to all cards in the database. Once the set of cards has been selected you can then perform various maintenance actions on any card in the set. As mentioned above, the second step of maintenance processing involves doing work on cards. The second phase for add processing consists simply of entering the study card information and pressing the ENTER key to add the card to the database. You can enter as many cards as required in a single ADD request. The second step for browse and find processing involves paging through the selected cards and performing any of the several maintenance functions available. Briefly, the available Browse and Find maintenance actions are: o Delete Delete the currently displayed card from the database. o Update Change the currently displayed card. The REVIEWCARD action allows you to select a set of study cards from the study card database then review the cards. Once the action has been selected, the review study card criteria data entry window is displayed. After the criteria has been entered, a search of the database is performed. If no cards match the criteria or no cards have been saved to the database then an error message is displayed. Once a set of cards has been selected, each card is displayed with the answer portion of the panel hidden. The ANSWER action causes the answer portion to be displayed. Following is a summary of the study card features. Panel and window names are followed by the action that can be performed. Panel Actions Maintain Study Cards Home Panel StudyCards * Study Card Panel Display the Previous Page * Display the Next Page * Add Cards * Browse All Available Cards * Find a Set of Study Cards * Update a Study Card * Delete A Study Card * Review Study Cards Home Panel Review Cards * Study Card Criteria Entering the Criteria * Study Card Panel Display the Previous Card * Display the Next Card * Display the Answer * Reorder a Set of Study Cards * Only those actions that directly concern study cards are discussed in this chapter. These operations are noted with a * in the above list. 9.3 The Study Card Panel The study card panel is used by all of the maintenance and review card facilities. This is the primary study card panel and is referenced throughout this chapter. The panel consists of three information areas. The first area identifies the context to which the card applies. The second area contains the study question. The answer to the study question is in the third, and final, section of the panel. The following fields are on the study card panel: o Subject Area This is the subject area to which the question and answer apply. This can be as broad or as narrow as you want. Example subject areas include: chemistry, economics, and biology. o Class This is the class which the question and answer apply to. You would usually use the class number for the first class that required the information. o Division This field allows you to mark a question and answer as applicable to some part of a class. Example divisions include: test1, test2, midterm, and final. o Question This is the text of the study question. The question can be up to six lines long. o Answer This is the text of the answer to the study question. The answer can be up to 7 lines long. 9.4 Paging Through a Set of Study Cards The BROWSE and FIND maintenance actions as well as the ReviewCard action require a set of study cards to operate upon. A set must contain at least 1 study card. In the case of the FIND and ReviewCard actions the set is determined by the criteria you provide. If the BROWSE action was initially selected then the set consists of all of the cards in the study card database. Once a set of cards has been selected, the first card in the list is displayed. The PREVIOUS and NEXT actions are provided to allow you to page through the set of cards. The PREVIOUS action will display the previous card in the set. If no previous card exists then an error message will be displayed. The NEXT action will display the next available card in the set. If no more cards exist then an error message will be displayed. The UPDATE and DELETE maintenance actions and the ReviewCards ANSWER action operate on the card that is currently displayed. You must use the PREVIOUS and NEXT actions to locate the required card. 9.5 Study Card Maintenance The following sections provide detailed information about using the study card maintenance facilities. Study card maintenance is requested by selecting the STUDYCARD action from the SIS home panel. Once the STUDYCARD action has been selected, a blank study card panel is displayed. The actions on this panel are used to request a study card maintenance function. This function determines how the study card database is accessed. The BROWSE and FIND actions are used to build a set of cards that you can perform maintenance functions on. The ADD action allows you to add new study cards to the database. 9.5.1 Adding New Study Cards New study cards may be added to the study card database by selecting the ADD action from the study card maintenance panel action bar. Once the action has been selected the study card data entry panel is displayed. Once the study card data entry panel is displayed, enter the required information in the fields provided. See the basic training chapter for information on obtaining help about any field on the panel. Following is a brief summary of each field. o Subject Area This is the subject area to which the question and answer apply. This can be as broad or as narrow as you want. Example subject area could include chemistry, economics, and greek mythology. o Class This is the class to which the question and answer apply. You would usually use the number for the first class that required the information. o Division This field allows you to mark a question and answer as applicable to some part of a class. Example divisions could include test1, test2, and midterm. o Question This is the text of the study question. The question can be up to six lines long. o Answer This is the text of the answer to the study question. The answer can be up to 7 lines long. What you enter in the subject area, class, and division fields is of special importance. These are the fields used to identify the cards by the review card process. It is imperative that you be consistent when entering information in these fields. If you are not, then it will become impossible to build a single set of cards that match your criteria. Included in this is the case used when entering the information. SIS does recognize a difference between lower and upper case letters. In other words a "c" is not equal to a "C". NO verification of what was entered is performed. Once you have typed all of the necessary information then press the ENTER key to save the card to the database. If the card is blank or another error occurs then an error message will be displayed. Select the PROCEED option from the error message window to return to the data entry panel so the error can be fixed. If you select the CANCEL option then the data entry panel will be closed and you will return to the study card maintenance panel. Once all errors have been corrected you are asked to confirm the addition of the card to the database. Select the PROCEED action to add the Card. Selecting the CANCEL option returns you to the data entry window. Once a card has been successfully added to the database the data entry fields are cleared and you can begin entering another new study card. As many cards as you require can be entered with a single ADD request. Each new card is committed to the database as soon as you select the PROCEED action. You can exit the study card data entry panel at any time by pressing the ESC key. Once you press ESC any unconfirmed additions will be discarded and you will be returned to the study card maintenance panel. 9.5.2 How the BROWSE and FIND Actions Work The BROWSE and FIND actions allow you to select a set of study cards that you want to perform a maintenance action on. For BROWSE, the set consists of all cards in the study card database. For FIND you must specify a criteria. This criteria will be used to limit the number of cards in the set. The BROWSE action does not require you to specify a criteria since all cards will be selected. The FIND criteria is entered on the study card data entry panel. The criteria may be as general or as specific as required. For example if you do not specify any criteria then all study cards in the database will be selected. Conversely, you can specify a very detailed criteria which will greatly limit the number of cards selected. For example, you could specify a subject area, a class, a division, and even part of the text of the question. See the Basic Training chapter for more detailed information on how find processing works. Once you have entered the criteria, press the ENTER key. This signals SIS to begin the find process. If no cards match the specified criteria then an error message will be displayed. Select the PROCEED option to try another set of find criteria. If you select the cancel option then the FIND action will be canceled and you will be returned to the study card maintenance panel. You can cancel FIND processing from the study card data entry panel at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will return you directly to the study card maintenance panel. Once a set of study cards has been selected, the first card in the set will be displayed. Use the PREVIOUS and NEXT actions to page through the cards until a card that requires maintenance is located. Once the card has been located you can select one of the maintenance actions. 9.5.3 Updating a Study Card The UPDATE action allows you to change any information on the currently displayed study card. Once the action has been selected simply type over any incorrect information on the panel and press the ENTER key. Once the ENTER key has been pressed, and assuming no errors exist on the card, you will be asked to confirm the update. Select the PROCEED option to save your changes. If you select the CANCEL option then you will be returned to the update panel to make any additional changes. Once you confirm an update, the existing study card will be permanently replaced in the database. Update processing can be canceled at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so discards all unconfirmed updates and returns you to either find or browse maintenance processing. 9.5.4 Deleting a Study Card The currently displayed study card can be permanently deleted from the database by selecting the DELETE action. Once the DELETE action has been selected you will be asked to confirm the delete. Selecting the PROCEED action will tell SIS to go ahead and delete the entry. Selecting the CANCEL action will cause the delete request to be ignored. Once a study card is deleted it cannot be recovered. It is permanently erased from the study card database. 9.6 Reviewing Study Cards The following sections provide detailed information about using the study card review facility. Study card review is requested by selecting the REVIEWCARD action from the SIS home panel. Once the REVIEWCARD action has been selected a blank review card criteria screen is displayed. You must enter the criteria to be used to select the set of cards to be reviewed on this window. Once a set of cards has been selected you can begin the actual review process. 9.6.1 The Review Study Cards Criteria Window As mentioned above, the review study cards criteria window is displayed whenever the REVIEWCARD action is selected from the SIS home panel. This window allows you to specify the criteria used to select the study cards that will be reviewed. The fields available on the window are: o Subject Area This is the subject area to which the question and answer apply. This can be as broad or as narrow as you want. Example subject area could include chemistry, economics, and greek mythology. o Class This is the class to which the question and answer apply. You would usually use the number for the first class that required the information. o Division This field allows you to mark a question and answer as applicable to some part of a class. Example divisions could include test1, test2, and midterm. Enter the required criteria and press enter to begin the review process. 9.6.2 Finding a Set of Study Cards The criteria used to select the set of study cards to be reviewed is entered on the review study cards criteria window. The criteria may be as general or as specific as required. For example, if you do not specify any criteria then all study cards in the database will be selected for review. Conversely, you can specify a very detailed criteria which will greatly limit the number of cards selected. For example you could specify a subject area, a class, and a division. See the Basic Training chapter for more detailed information on how find processing works. Once you have entered the criteria, press the ENTER key. This signals SIS to begin the find process. If no cards match the specified criteria then an error message will be displayed. Select the PROCEED option to try another set of find criteria. If you select the cancel option then the REVIEWCARD action will be canceled and you will be returned to the home panel. You can cancel REVIEWCARD processing from the review study card criteria window at any time by pressing the ESC key. Doing so will return you directly to the home panel. Once a set of study cards has been selected the study card panel will be displayed along with information from the first card in the set. The answer section of the card is hidden. Use the PREVIOUS and NEXT actions to page through the cards. The ANSWER action is used to display the text of the answer to the study question. 9.6.3 Displaying the Answer When a study card is first displayed the text of the answer to the study question is hidden. The purpose in doing this is to allow you to decide upon an answer then verify your answer against what is on the study card. You display the answer by selecting the ANSWER action. This will cause the answer to be displayed for the current study card only. The effect of the action is limited to the current study card. In other words, if you select the answer action then page to the next card using the NEXT action the answer will not be displayed until you select the ANSWER action. Likewise, if you page to a card for which you have already selected the ANSWER action, the answer section will be hidden until you select the ANSWER action. 9.6.4 Shuffling a Set of Study Cards By default, study cards are presented in the same order they were found in the database. Whenever you select the same set of cards they will be ordered the same way. It is usually beneficial to reorder a set of cards 1 or more times when preparing for a test. Doing this increases your ability to memorize the facts and information contained on each card by removing any clues that may exist in the way the cards are ordered. Cards are reordered by selecting the SHUFFLE action. This action causes the current set of study cards to be randomly reordered. All of the study cards contained in the original set remain available for review but in a different order. This is the same as if you shuffled a deck of playing cards. The shuffle action may be used as many times as you want for a selected set of cards. Each time you select the shuffle action, the cards are reordered and the first card in the newly ordered set is displayed. Use the PREVIOUS and NEXT actions to page back and forth through the cards. Once you have shuffled a set of study cards they lose their original order. The original order cannot be obtained again unless you exit the review card display and then reselect the same set of study cards. The order of the cards in the database is not permanently affected by the SHUFFLE action. Chapter 10 - Technical Tidbits 10.1 Introduction................................ Page 71 10.2 The Distribution Diskette................... Page 71 10.3 Backing Up your Program and Data Files...... Page 71 10.4 How SIS is Installed........................ Page 72 10.5 Reinstalling SIS............................ Page 72 10.6 Running SIS From Another Directory.......... Page 72 10.7 The Help Facility........................... Page 73 10.8 Disk Usage.................................. Page 73 10.9 Deinstalling SIS............................ Page 7410.1 Introduction The following sections are designed to provide information that can be useful in helping resolve many of the problems that may arise while installing and using SIS. This chapter is not a comprehensive review of how SIS works. 10.2 The Distribution Diskette A single 3.5 inch diskette is provided with The Student's Information System. This diskette contains all of the program, database, index, and text files required to run the product. These files require approximately 500kb of storage. The type of file on the distribution diskette is noted by it's extension. Following is list of the common extensions and their corresponding file types. o .EXE an executable, program, file o .D00 a database file. o .I00 an Index Control File o .I01 an Index Content File o .TXT a Help Text File o .LIB The Library of Screens and Windows Database files and their corresponding indexes use a special proprietary format. Do not alter these files in any way. If they are altered by any program, other then SIS, then you may lose data. 10.3 Backing Up your Program and Data Files The SIS registration agreement allows you to make backup copies of the SIS program and data files. It alos allows you to pass copies of SIS to other individuals for their evaluation. It is recommenced that you routinely backup the SIS files. These backups are your only safeguard against the complete loss of information should a major hardware or software error occur. Any backup program may be used. This includes the BACKUP program provided with DOS. It is important to note that all database files and their indexes must be backed up as a set. If you fail to do backups this way then any subsequent attempt to restore the data will cause unpredictable results when attempting to use SIS. The wildcards *.D00 and *.I* can be used to backup the appropriate files. 10.4 How SIS is Installed Although SIS can be run from a diskette it is recommended that it be SIS installed on a hard disk. This is due to two factors. First is the potential size of the database files. As you enter information into SIS the files will grow. The extent of the growth is limited only by the amount data you save. In theory each database could grow up to 1 gigabyte in size. This is over 1 billion characters. The second factor involves the speed at which SIS will execute if run from a diskette. This product produces a large amount of read and write activity. Diskette drives are typically not fast enough to support this large of an activity load. The installation program creates one subdirectory. This directory, SIS, is a first level subdirectory off of the root directory. All program, database, index, and text files are copied to this directory during the installation process. In addition a DOS batch file (.BAT) is copied to the root directory. This batch file should be used to start the product. If the installation program should fail it is possible to install SIS manually to do this you must first create the SIS subdirectory. Once this is complete, copy all of the files from the distribution diskette to the subdirectory. Use the DOS COPY command to perform the actual copy. Once the files have been copied you must then copy the SIS.BAT file from the SIS subdirectory to the root directory. Delete the SIS.BAT file from the SIS subdirectory once it has been copied. 10.5 Reinstalling SIS The installation program provided on the distribution diskette can be used to reinstall SIS. Use the same the procedures provided in the installation chapter when reinstalling. Please note, if you reinstall SIS, all currently existing data will be discarded. 10.6 Running SIS From Another Directory SIS is designed to be run from the SIS subdirectory. If you must run it from another directory then use the manual installation process outlined in section 10.4. Replace the SIS subdirectory with the name of the subdirectory you are installing into. Once the installation is complete then you must change the SIS.BAT file to point to the proper directory. In order to do this you must use an editor or word processor to edit the file. Remember that batch files must sequential files. Change the SIS.bat so that it points to the proper subdirectory. For example if you want to run SIS out of a subdirectory named SCHOOL, simply change the line \SIS to \SCHOOL. 10.7 The Help Facility The SIS help facility is intended to provide answers to common questions while you are using the product. Question such as what an action does and what data should be entered in a data entry field are examples of the type of help available. Help is not a replacement for your documentation. It is a supplement to the documentation. All help information is contained in three files. These files are: SIS.TXT HLP_IDX.I00 HLP_IDX.I01 These files take approximately 166kb of disk storage. If you do not require the help facility these files can be deleted. If they are deleted then an error message will be displayed if help is requested. 10.8 Disk Usage The minimum amount of disk space required by SIS is approximately 500kb. As you enter information the amount of disk space required will grow. This growth can extend, in theory, to over 1 billion characters of information per database. It is recommended that you regularly monitor disk space usage using the DOS CHKDSK command. If you should run out of disk space SIS will end abnormally. If you are running out of disk space two options are available to you. First, you can delete any unnecessary files on the disk. This could include the SIS help files. Second, you can delete unwanted information from the SIS databases. The SIS database manager reuses space as it becomes available. If you delete an entry then the space will be reused whenever a new entry is added. Any space that is freed by deleting a record is not released from the database file. In other words, the space freed up by deleting a database entry is not available for use by any product other than SIS. The study card feature requires the most disk storage per database entry. 10.9 Deinstalling SIS If it becomes necessary to remove SIS from your computer system it can be deinstalled. Prior to deinstalling the product it is recommended that you make a backup copy of all the files in the subdirectory where SIS resides. Once the backup has been made simply delete all files in the subdirectory using the DOS DELETE command. Do not forget to delete the SIS.BAT file from the root directory. Index actions 14, 16-19, 24, 26, 34-36, 43-46, 50, 52, 54-56, 60, 61, 62-65, 67, 68 adding a syllabus entry 48 assignments 1, 3, 4, 10, 24, 29, 31, 39, 43 backup 13, 71, 72, 74 browse 58, 60-65 CHKDSK 9, 73 class information 3, 5, 19, 22-27, 30, 34, 43, 45, 46, 52 common keys 12, 15 credit hours 51 credits 3, 19, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 51, 53-55 data entry 5, 14-16, 27, 29, 31, 37-40, 47, 48, 55, 56, 60, 63, 64, 65, 73 deinstalling 70, 74 deleting a detailed grade 32, 36, 38 deleting a study card 58, 65 deleting a syllabus entry 42, 49 detailed grade information 23, 24, 32-38, 52, 53, 56 disk space 9, 73 disk usage 70, 73 dropping a class 22, 29, 31 exiting 18, 20 final grades 3, 24, 33-35, 39, 51-55 find 3, 12, 16, 17, 34, 55, 58-65, 67 GPA 4, 19, 23, 33, 36, 39, 50-56 grading scale 33, 51 help 2, 3, 5, 12-16, 19, 20, 25, 27, 59, 63, 70, 71, 73 home panel 3, 14, 16, 18, 19, 23, 24, 34, 44, 52, 53, 59, 61, 63, 66, 67 hours 51 paging 22, 26, 32, 36, 42, 47, 50, 55, 58, 60, 62 pull down menus 5, 14 review class schedules 29-31, 39 review detailed grades 32, 34-39 reviewing study cards 58, 59, 66 select processing 12, 16, 31, 34, 38, 39, 44, 48, 49, 56 SelectAClass 34 SelectAnEntry 29, 31, 34, 38, 39, 44, 45, 48, 49, 55 starting 8, 11, 25, 27, 46 study cards 3, 4, 16, 17, 19, 58-68 syllabus information 3, 23, 24, 26, 34, 42-47 task management 4 time management 3, 43 transcript 3, 4, 23, 33-35, 39, 50-56 updating a detailed grade entry 32, 38 updating a study card 58, 65 updating a syllabus entry 42, 48