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//////////////////////////////////// // Teaching Assistant // // // // Electronic Gradebook Program // //////////////////////////////////// Copyright: Ian M. Richmond Department of French University of Western Ontario London, Ontario Canada N6A 3K7 INTRODUCTION This program is distributed as shareware. If you find it useful and plan to use it regularly, please send $15 US ($20 CAN) with your name and address to the author at the above address. This modest amount will encourage the author in his endeavours, help defray the development costs of this and other programs, and register you as a user so that you will receive the next upgrade and information about subsequent upgrades and changes. If you have any criticisms or suggestions for improvement, please send these to the author also. WHY USE A GRADEBOOK PROGRAM? You could use a spreadsheet like LOTUS 1-2-3 (tm) or a database program like dBASEIII (tm) to keep track of and calculate your marks. But this would be like using an artillery piece to shoot a rabbit. These programs are extremely powerful and designed for much more complex tasks than replacing a teacher's gradebook. They are also difficult to use and require that you master a good bit of their programming languages before you can get them to perform the simple task of calculating your final grades and printing them out in a readable form. TEACHING ASSISTANT, on the other hand, is a simple program to use. It is dedicated to one task and designed to make that task as easy as possible for you, the user. All you need to do with TEACHING ASSISTANT is enter data; the program looks after all the rest. A FEW FACTS ABOUT "TEACHING ASSISTANT" -- no limit on class size. -- any number of class files. -- up to 30 marks per student + separate calculated term and final marks. -- formatted print outs of whole class or individual students. -- easy data entry in random (using search function) or alphabetical order. -- automatic capitalization of names (recognizes Mc, Mac, O', von, van, de, da, di). -- fast, case-insensitive binary search function finds exact or approximate matches. -- automatic backups of student data files. -- menu-driven. Page 2 THE FIRST STEP If you are new to microcomputing go to the end of this document and follow the instructions in the section "GETTING STARTED". If you are already comfortable with microcomputers, make a backup copy of the program "TA.COM" and continue reading. UP AND RUNNING To start the program just type 'ta' <ENTER> from the DOS prompt in either upper or lower case. E.g.: A>ta <ENTER> C>ta <ENTER> You will be greeted by a title screen introducing the program and prompted to 'Press <ENTER> to continue.' Press <ENTER> and the title screen will be replaced by a prompt asking if you want to create a new class file. The default answer here, shown in inverse video, is 'N' (= 'No') which you could accept by simply pressing <ENTER>, if you already had a class file to use. Since you don't yet have any class files, answer 'yes' by pressing 'y' or 'Y'. TA (TEACHING ASSISTANT) always accepts responses in either upper or lower case. CREATING A NEW CLASS FILE TA will greet you with some opposition at this point. Any time you indicate you want to create a new class file, TA verifies that this is your true intention by warning you that this action will destroy any existing file with the same name and asking if you still want to proceed with so rash an act. This healthy scepticism makes sure that you don't inadvertently wipe out your class records. TA now wants a name for the class file you are going to create. This name can be any acceptable DOS filename. If you are not sure what characters are acceptable in your version of DOS, check your DOS manual. The safest thing is to stick to standard alphanumerics, which all versions of DOS will recognize. Remember, though, that a DOS filename cannot have more than eight (8) characters. DO NOT ADD AN EXTENSION; TA adds its own extensions to the files so that it knows which file contains what information. If you do type the name with an extension, TA will simply truncate the name at the period and add its own extension. Some examples of class filenames are: FR002-A FR002-B FR002 CHEM241C PSY38-D You can enter the filename in either upper or lower case. If you change your mind about creating a new file, even at this late date, you can still get out of it by pressing <ENTER> instead of typing a name. If you have a sneaking suspicion that you have already used that class name, press <ESC> (the Escape key) and TA will show you a listing of all the class files in the default directory. If you have no class files, TA will tell you so. It may Page 3 still be possible for you to overwrite your class records somehow, but you are really going to have to try. Once you have entered the class filename, you are prompted for the drive on which you want to locate the file. Just enter the letter (e.g. a, b, c, etc.) with no colon following it and in either upper or lower case. If your selected drive is a floppy drive (either A or B), TA pops up a window at this point to ask you to verify that you have, in fact, put a diskette in that drive. If all the information you have just entered is correct, press <ENTER> (or 'y' or 'Y') to answer the prompt. (Except for the initial "Create a new file" prompt, all Yes-No prompts in TA can be answered affirmatively simply by pressing <ENTER>.) If you want to change the information, press 'n' or 'N' and enter it all again. If you answer "yes" to the prompt, TA busies itself for a moment then tells you that the files for the class name you entered have been created. Why 'files' instead of just 'file'? TA needs two data files for each class: one to hold the student's names and marks, and the other to hold the assignment names and definitions. The student data file has the extension '.DTA' and the assignment file ends in '.AST'. Also, TA creates a third file with the extension '.BAK'. This file is used as a backup file once data has been entered into the '.DTA' file. ENTERING INITIAL DATA At this point in the proceedings, these files exist, but they are empty. So, TA tells you to select 'Set Up New Class' from the Main Menu. Press <ENTER> to get to the Main Menu screen. ============================================================================== ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////// TEACHING ASSISTANT -- MAIN MENU //////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Enter or Change Marks ---> View Student and Assignment Data Change Class File Calculate Marks Set Up New Class Modify Files (Add/Delete/Change Records) Print Reports Create New Class File Exit Program Use "u" and "d" to move arrow. Press >ENTER< to select. ============================================================================== Page 4 Press 'd' three times to move the highlighted arrow down to the 'Set Up New Class' selection and press <ENTER>. You have the choice of entering student names or assignment data. Both are necessary, but it doesn't matter which you enter first. It's up to you. Selecting either will enable you to enter the data you want. If you make a mistake, just backspace to the error and retype it. Pressing <ENTER> without entering any data in the last-name field of the student data entry screen or the assignment-name field of the assignment data entry screen will cause you to exit to the 'Set Up New Class' menu. The student data file is automatically sorted into alphabetical order. STUDENT DATA When entering student data, you may enter the names entirely in lower case, if you prefer. TA will automatically capitalize the first letter of first names and will correctly capitalize last names, even when they are preceded by 'Mac', 'Mc', 'O'', 'de', 'da', 'di', 'von', 'van'. Since TA's search function is not case sensitive, you can also enter your search string in lower case. This eases somewhat the burden of typing for non-typists. Editing Functions When entering student names, you have several editing functions you may use to facilitate correcting a wrongly typed entry. The <Ins(ert)> key toggles between insert mode (the default) and overwrite mode. The Left and Right Arrow keys work as expected, as do the <Del(ete)> and BackSpace keys. The <Home> and <End> keys send the cursor to the beginning or the end of the typed text respectively. Foreign Characters Foreign characters may be entered in the student names by typing the unaccented character and then hitting the appropriate accent key twice. For example, to enter an 'e' acute, type 'e' then hit the apostrophe key twice. The unaccented 'e' will change to the accented version on the screen. The accent keys are: acute accent -- apostrophe (right-hand single quote) grave accent -- left-hand single quote (on the same key as the tilde (~) circumflex -- caret (^, Shift-6) umlaut -- double quotes If you have a fully IBM (tm) compatible printer, you can print the accented characters with no difficulty. Just answer 'Y' at the compatibility prompt in the Print Reports function. If you do not have a printer that replicates the IBM (tm) extended character set, then answer 'N' at the compatibility prompt. This will cause TA to translate each lowercase accented character into a string consisting of the unaccented character, a backspace and either an accent or the punctuation mark that most closely resembles the desired accent. Characters with a circumflex or a tilde generally come out well. The appearance of characters Page 5 with an acute or grave accent depends on how your printer prints the single quote characters. Assignment Data In the assignment data entry module, you enter the parameters for every mark the students will receive. These include tests and the final examination. The parameters to be entered are 1) the assignment name or designator, which can have up to six characters. Pressing <ENTER> with no data exits to the menu. N.B.!! If you want a term mark separate from the final mark, it is essential that the name of your final examination begin with an asterisk ('*'). You can still follow the asterisk with up to six characters. The asterisk is necessary so that TA knows which assignment is the final examination. The final exam data is all stored in the first position in the file. TA knows this and calculates all the other assignment marks separately to arrive at a term mark and then adds the final examination mark to the term mark to calculate the final mark. If you do not want a final examination, you do not need to do anything. In this case, however, each student's term mark will be the same as the final mark. Also, Assignment 1 will have the following default data: Name = 'FX', Number in Group = 0, Maximum Mark = 0, Weight = 0. If you do not want a final exam and wish to use Assignment 1 for another assignment, just preface the assignment name with an asterisk. 2) the number of assignments in the weighting group. This is the total number of assignments which together constitute a certain percentage of the final mark. E.g. You may have seven quizzes which you want to lump together as a group worth a total of 10% of the final mark; or two essays worth 25%, etc. If an assignment is not part of a group, then enter '1' for the number in group. (In fact, all assignments could be entered as groups of one. It is much easier, however, to group assignments.) Pressing <ENTER> without data causes the data from the previous assignment to be used. 3) the maximum mark possible on the assignment. This can by any mark you like, and need not be the same for each assignment in a group. Pressing <ENTER> without data causes the data from the previous assignment to be used. 4) the weight of the group. This is the percentage of the final mark that the group to which the assignment belongs represents. E.g. For our group of seven quizzes worth a total of 10% of the final mark, the number to enter here is '10'. Do not enter the percent sign. Pressing <ENTER> without data causes the data from the previous assignment to be used. Page 6 Sample Assignment Entry Let's say you are teaching a course in which you plan to use the following assignment structure: 5 quizzes = 20% 2 essays = 35% 1 term test = 15% 1 presentation = 10% --- total term work = 80% --- final exam = 20% --- course total = 100% Enter the following data for quiz #1: Assignment name : quiz1 No. in group : 5 Maximum Mark : 40 Weight of group : 20 For each of the other 4 quizzes, enter an assignment name (e.g. quiz2, quiz3, etc.) and just press >ENTER< at each of the other prompts. It is possible to have a different Maximum Mark for each of the quizzes, but the No. in group and the Weight of group figures must be the same for each assignment in a group. For the first essay, enter "essay1", "2", "100", "35", then follow the procedure outlined above for the second essay. There is only one term test, so here the No. in group to enter will be "1". The same is true for the presentation. If the Maximum Mark for the presentation is the same as for the second essay (i.e. 100 in this example), then just press enter at that prompt. When entering the data for the final exam, type an asterisk immediately before the assignment name: e.g. *Exam. This ensures that TA calculates and stores the mark for the term work separately from the final exam mark. This procedure gives you separate term and final marks for your records. After entering the last assignment, just press >ENTER< at the "Assignment name" prompt to exit the assignment data entry function. To add more assignments, just re-enter the assignment data entry function and enter the data for the new assignments. If your group weights already add up to 100, however, you will have to change some of your data. Do this by selecting the Modify Files function from the Main Menu. If necessary, you may also delete assignments from your file. This is done with the Modify Files function selected from the Main Menu. Fast Assignment Data Entry By grouping similar assignments, you will need to enter the numerical data only for the first one of the group. For each of the following Page 7 assignments you will only need to enter the assignment name and then press <ENTER> at each prompt to reuse the data you entered for the first assignment. If an item of data (e.g. the maximum mark) is different for an assignment you may combine both entry methods. Also, if all your assignments have, for example, a maximum mark of 100, you need enter the figure only for the first assignment you enter, regardless of the grouping of assignments. Similarly, if all your assignments or groups have a weight of 10, you need enter it only once. Pressing return at the appropriate prompt for each following assignment will reuse the data. If you are teaching more than one class of the same course, or if several of your courses have the same assignment structure, you can use an existing assignment data file. When you answer "yes" to the "Use an existing assignment file?" prompt, TA will ask for the name of the class whose file you want to use. Pressing <ESC> at this prompt will show you a listing of the existing class files. Just enter the class name, with no extension. TA will then copy the contents of this file into your new assignment file. This method may also be used to create a file for a course which has a similar but not identical assignment structure. Just follow the procedure outlined above and then modify (delete, change data) the new file as necessary using the "Modify Files" function from the Main Menu. If the assignment structure of your new file differs greatly from that of the existing one, it is probably faster to use the "Set Up" function. Modifying Student and Assignment Data You do not need to enter all the data at once. You can modify any of the assignment data and even add or delete assignments by using the 'Modify Files' function available from the Main Menu. Just remember, however, that if you add an assignment to a group or delete one from it, you must change the number in group data for each of the other assignments in the group. TA will not do this for you, in this version at least. Using the 'Modify Files' function, you can also add student records to the class file. (Remember, you can delete student records from the 'View Data' function.) VIEWING DATA Once you have entered the student names and assignment data, you can view it all. Select 'Quit' from the 'Set Up New Class' menu to return to the Main Menu. Any time you enter the Main Menu, the selection cursor will be pointing to the 'View Data' function. This is because if you hit return by mistake, you can do no damage by entering that function. Also, this is the function you will probably use the most. From the 'View Data' function, you can browse through your class file, backwards and forwards, change student personal data or marks, and delete student records from the file. You can also view your assignment parameters and search for a student record by name. SEARCHING In the 'View Data', 'Enter/Change Marks', and 'Print Reports' modules, you can do a last-name search to locate a specific student record. The search function is not case sensitive and will match any number of characters Page 8 entered, beginning with the first character of the name to be located. Thus, if you enter a search string of 'rob', the function will return the first name it finds beginning with these three characters (e.g. Robbins, Roberts, Robertson, Robeson, etc.). If you enter only the first letter of the name, you will find the first name that begins with that letter. In most cases, you can find a given student by typing only the first three or four characters of the name. If you have a 'Williams' and a 'Williamson', however, you'll have to type a bit more to differentiate between them. PRINTING The print module allows you to print out various reports. It uses standard ASCII codes and should work with most printers. TA will warn you if your printer is not turned on and allows you to use either continuous feed paper or single sheets. The only print parameter you need to set is the top margin. When you print a list of student names with 'term' marks (as opposed to final marks), you are prompted for the value of the term mark. TA then prints this value at the top of the marks column, as a reference. You are also prompted to indicate whether you wish student names and student numbers or only student numbers to appear in the print-out. If you select the latter option, the file is resorted into the numerical order of the student numbers for printing. It is automatically resorted into alphabetical order when the report is finished. ENTERING MARKS The 'Enter/Change Marks' module allows you to enter or change marks by going through the file in either random or alphabetical order. If you enter your marks throughout the year, assignment by assignment, then the random mode is probably easier and faster, since you will not first have to alphabetize your pile of assignments. If you use TA as a marks calculator at the end of the year and enter the marks from a written gradebook, then the alphabetical mode will speed things up. For changing or entering a single mark for one student (e.g. for a makeup after illness, etc.), either the 'View Data' function or the 'Enter/Change Marks' function may be used. BACKUP FILES As a safety measure, TA creates two backup files of your student data records for each class. Initially one backup file with the extension '.BAK' is created. Your student data file is copied into it. From then on, each time you tell TA that you want to work with a given file, the '.BAK' file is renamed with the extension '.BK2' and your data file is recopied into a new '.BAK' file. In this way, if your system crashes for whatever reason, and your original data file becomes corrupted, you still have your data in a backup file. Even if a disaster occurs while the '.BAK' file is being reconstituted and both it and your original data file become corrupted, you will still have your '.BK2' file. If a disaster does occur and you need to use one of your backup files, erase your corrupted '.DTA' file and then use the MS-DOS 'copy' command to Page 9 copy it to a file with the same name, but with the extension '.DTA'. E.g. At the DOS prompt type: copy course.BK2 course.DTA Using the 'copy' command instead of the 'rename' command preserves at least one copy of your data in the event that a second disaster occurs immediately. GETTING STARTED As with any program, the first thing you should do is make a backup copy of the TA (TEACHING ASSISTANT) program. If you have two floppy drives, place the disk containing TA in floppy drive 'A' and a formatted disk in drive 'B'. Now type copy ta.com b: <ENTER> If you have only one floppy drive, place the TA disk in drive 'A' and type copy ta.com b: <ENTER> You will be prompted to replace the program disk with your blank, formatted one when DOS is ready for it. You can also copy TA to a hard disk by replacing 'b:' in the above instructions with the letter designating your hard drive, followed by a colon, a backslash, and the name of the directory from which you want to run the program. E.g.: copy ta.com c:\grades <ENTER> Now you are ready to run TA using the copy you have just made. Go back to the section "UP AND RUNNING" and continue reading. Page 10 INDEX accent keys 5 accented characters 5, 6 accented characters, printing 5 accents 5 add assignments 7 add student records 8 alphabetical entry 9 approximate search 9 ASCII 9 assignment 1, default data 6 assignment data 7 assignment names 6 assignment names, entry of 8 assignment names, length 6 assignment structure 7, 8 assignments 6 assignments, example 7 assignments, parameters 6 asterisk, function 6, 7 backspace 5 Backspace key 5 backup 9, 10 backup, automatic 1 backup data files 9 backups 4 .BAK 4, 9 .BK2 9, 10 browse 8 calculation 6, 7 capitalization, automatic 1, 5 case 5 change student data 8 changing marks 9 characters, extended 5, 6 characters, foreign 5, 6 characters, translation of 5 class file, creating 3 class file, new 3 class files, number of 1 class size 1 compatibility 5 continuous feed 9 copy command 9, 10 cursor keys 5 data drive 4 data entry 1, 5, 8 data entry, exit from 5, 7 data entry, fast 7, 8 data entry, order of 5 data files 3, 4, 8 data files, backups 4 data files, extensions 4 default response 4 Del(ete) key, function 5 delete assignments 7 delete student records 8 Page 11 directory 3 DOS filename 3 drive, data 4 .DTA 4, 9, 10 editing 5 Enter/Change Marks 8, 9 entering marks 9 Esc, function 3 Escape key, function 3 existing data file 8 filename extension 3 filenames 3 filenames, examples of 3 files, naming 3 final exam 6, 7 final examination 6, 7 final mark 1, 6, 7 final marks, printing 9 floppy drive 4, 10 foreign characters 5 group, weighting 6 hard disk 10 Home key 5 Ins(ert) key, function 5 left arrow key 5 Main Menu 4, 7 Main Menu screen 4 Main Menu, default selection 8 Main Menu, selection 5 mark, maximum 6 marks 6 marks per student 1 marks, calculation 6, 7 marks, changing 9 marks, entering 6, 9 maximum mark 6 Modify Files 7, 8 modify student data 8 MS-DOS 9 new class file 3 new class file, creating 3 number in group 6, 7, 8 number of class files 1 percent sign 6 percentage of final mark 6 Print Reports 8, 9 printing 1, 5, 6, 9 program backup 3, 10 random entry 9 reports 9 response, case of 3 response, default 4 reuse data 6, 7, 8 right arrow key 5 run command 3 search 1, 5, 8, 9 search, case insensitive 5 Set Up New Class 5, 8 Page 12 shareware 1 single sheets 9 sorting 9 sorting, automatic 5 start command 3 student data 5 student numbers 9 term mark 1, 6, 7 term marks, printing 9 title screen 3 top margin 9 use existing data file 8 user fee 1 view assignment parameters 8 View Data 8, 9 weight 6 weight of group 6 weighting group 6 Yes-No prompt 4 Page 13 QUICK REFERENCE Function Module(s) ============================================================================ Create a new class file. Entry prompt at startup; Create New Class File selection from Main Menu. Enter filename to process. Entry prompt at startup; Change Class File selection from Main Menu. Directory of class files. Enter Filename at startup; Enter Filename in Change Class File module; Enter Filename in Create New Class File module. Enter assignment data. Set Up New Class File selection from Main Menu. Change assignment data. Modify Files selection from Main Menu. Delete assignment data. Modify Files selection from Main Menu. Enter student data. Set Up New Class File selection from Main Menu. Change student data. View Data selection from Main Menu. Delete student record. View Data selection from Main Menu. Add student record. Modify Files selection from Main Menu. Enter marks. Enter/Change Marks selection from Main Menu; View Data selection from Main Menu (for occasional marks entry). Change marks. View Data selection from Main Menu; Enter/Change Marks selection from Main Menu. Calculate marks. Calculate Marks selection from Main Menu. Print class lists and marks. Print Reports selection from Main Menu.