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THE AEIUS GRADEBOOK DISK-MANUAL (C) Copyright 1989 by Aeius Corporation All rights reserved AEIUS CORPORATION PO BOX 700457 SAN JOSE, CA 95170 (408) 257 0658 AEIUS GRADEBOOK REGISTRATION FORM If you use the program regularly, you are expected to register. When you register as an Aeius Gradebook User, we will send you a printed 60 page manual and the latest program disk, and provide you with telephone support. Registered users receive an opportunity to get new program versions at half price. If you do not want the printed manual, the cost of registration is $20 with all other benefits. You can register by mail or by phone. If you purchased your shareware disk from us, we will credit the $10 against the cost of registration. The Aeius Gradebook handles 20 classes of 48 students with 64 grades per student. The Aeius Lecturegrade handles 20 classes of 200 students with 30 grades per student. MAIL ORDER TO: AEIUS CORPORATION OR PHONE: (408) 257 0658 PO BOX 700457 Leave your order, credit card SAN JOSE, CA 95170 number, name, address and phone number on our recorder. Use form below as a guide. Or leave your phone number for call back. Please contact us for quantity discounts or Site Licenses. Choose ( )Aeius Gradebook (20 classes of 48 students, 64 grades) or ( )Aeius Lecturegrade (20 classes of 200 students, 30 grades) or both ( ) ( ) Registered User $35.00. (Includes program, manual, support, update notification) Registered User of both programs $45.00 ( ) Registered User without printed manual $20.00. ( ) Program disk only with no support $10.00. Try it then buy it. Both programs $15.00. Receive $10 credit off cost of registration. ( ) 60 page Manual $15.00 each. Same manual covers both programs. ( ) Check here for 3.5" disk. Otherwise we provide 5.25" disk. All prices are POSTPAID and TAX PAID. Check, money order or credit card. Canadian or foreign customers use credit card or postal money order in US funds. Institutional purchase orders accepted. Name______________________________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________________ City____________________________State_______Zip___________________ ( )Visa ( ) Master Charge Number ________ ________ _______ _______ Exp Date ____/____ Phone Number (________) ________ ________ Signature for charge only___________________________ Date ________ INTRODUCTION The Aeius Gradebook and Lecturegrade programs will allow you to spend more time on teaching and less time on paperwork. We have designed the program around the features teachers want most, especially ease and speed of use. Both programs have identical features except for the number of students a class file will hold. The manual will refer to the program as the Gradebook, but the directions for operating the Lecturegrade are the same. The Aeius Gradebook is distributed as a SHAREWARE program. This means that you are encouraged to give a copy of the program to other teachers. If you use the program regularly, you are expected to buy it. This makes you a Registered User and you receive a printed manual, latest Master Disk, telephone support, and receive an opportunity to get program updates at half price. A registration form is contained in the Disk-manual on the Master Disk. The registration form can also be printed out on your printer. Place the Master Disk in drive A: and type the command: REGISTER <return> Summary of Program Features The program uses a window approach for selecting class or print options, so that you can make a change on the fly, and immediately continue with printing or entering grades. The program can be configured for monochrome or color monitors. If you momentarily forget how to use the program, a HELP window is immediately available on the screen to refresh your memory. You can view grade averages in a window on the screen at any time for your convenience. Grades can optionally be calculated in percentage or total points form. The program is flexible enough to encompass most of the grading systems being used. Makeup grades can be found at the touch of a key. Missing grades can be optionally excused or counted in the grade averages. A student's highest or lowest grade can be quickly found. The program also quickly finds the first or last grades entered or a grade which was entered in error. You can easily provide weekly or monthly grade reports on a class or individual student basis, using student names or student codes. Teachers comments can be automatically be included in individual printouts if you desire. Our customers report that an individual printout is a very strong factor in motivating students to make up missing assignments. The program will also optionally print out the individual reports for all students having a average lower than the value you select. Page 1 A Grade Posting report can be automatically printed for all classes using student codes. Student rosters can be easily arranged in alphabetical or grade rank order. Partial course grades such as homework, tests, and exams, can be combined automatically into a composite course grade with each partial grade weighted. You can examine or printout grade distributions for class averages or for individual assignments. Z-scores are calculated to help grade on a curve. We know that you will enjoy using your Aeius Gradebook program this year and in the years to come. Our Philosophy Of Supporting The Program Shareware is a method of marketing which allows the program to be obtained at low cost or no cost by the prospective customer. We encourage our customers to share the program with other teachers and friends. The program can then be operated and tested in a school environment by the prospective customer. If the customer decides the use the program to regularly do his or her grades, we depend on the willingness of the customer to buy the program, of his or her own free will, to obtain revenue for our business. In turn we provide free technical telephone support, an excellent printed manual, and program updates at half price. We solicit suggestions from our customers on ways to improve the program, and have published a new version every year since 1985 based on their letters. Some of the features which have been suggested by customers and added to the program over the years include alphabetical and grade rank sorting, Points Averaging, a version for large classes (Lecturegrade), multiple school terms in one file, the Grade Posting printout with student codes, automatic printout of low student's grades, and the report card printout. It is our objective to evolve toward a gradebook program which will meet the needs of educators at all levels, while remaining extremely easy to learn and use. Page 2 EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES REQUIRED The Aeius Gradebook and Lecturegrade programs are compatible with the IBM personal computers including the PCjr, PC, XT, AT, and PS/2 models. The program also runs on most IBM compatibles and "Clone" computers. It operates under MS/PCDOS Version 2.0 or later operating system software. You will need three double sided, double density, soft sector diskettes for the Working Disk, the Backup Disk and the Tutorial Disk. Additional diskettes may be required if you fill the first disk. You can also run the program from a hard disk. A printer is required for printing grade averages or grade sheet reports. Any dot matrix printer or laser printer which is compatible with your computer will be suitable for the Aeius Gradebook. The printouts may take up to 80 columns. Page 3 GETTING STARTED You can get the Aeius Gradebook program up and running easily, even if you are not used to computers. DON'T USE THE MASTER DISK TO RUN YOUR PROGRAM. Instead, make up a Tutorial Disk and Working Disk, as explained below. By following the directions in this "GETTING STARTED" section, you will be trying out your new Aeius Gradebook program in a few minutes. This section also contains instructions on starting up the computer, and setting the computer date. The procedure for making up a Working Disk, Tutorial Disk, or Backup Disk is as follows: 1) Boot your computer. 2) Format a blank disk. 3) Make up a Tutorial Disk, Working Disk, or Backup Disk. 4) If you have a hard disk, the hard disk will become your Working Disk. If you are an experienced computer user, skip over the next two paragraphs and go to the paragraph titled Making Up A Tutorial Disk, otherwise the next two paragraphs will take you through the procedures to boot your computer and format a floppy disk. Booting The Computer "Booting" is a procedure which starts up a computer and transfers the operating system into the computer memory. An "operating system" is the program which writes characters on the screen, interprets keystrokes, and operates the disk drives and program memory. To boot your computer, place a disk containing the DOS (Disk Operating System) program in drive A:. If the power is off, simply turn the power on. If the power is already on, simultaneously press the following three keys: Alt Ctrl Del If the power is off, the computer will pause for up to two minutes and then the disk drive will operate and the operating system will be transferred to memory. Your may see instructions on the screen directing you to enter date and time. If so, type in the date and time in the format shown on the screen (don't type in the name of the day ie. "Mon"). If you are using a PCjr computer, the monitor may boot up into a 40 column display instead of the 80 column display which the Aeius Gradebook program requires. A special boot file is provided on the Master Disk, which automatically switches the PCjr to the 80 column mode. Instructions for installing this boot file on your Working Disk are given later in this section. Page 4 Formatting A Disk Each disk has to be "formatted" before it can accept programs or files. Formatting is accomplished by running the DOS "format" program. The disk to be formatted can be a new disk or a disk which has been used before. When the disk is formatted, any data on the disk is destroyed. The procedure for formatting a disk is as follows: 1) Boot your computer using the DOS disk supplied with your computer. 2) Type the command: format /s <return> (type the space between "format" and "/s") ("<return>" means to press the return key.) 3) When the message "Insert new diskette for drive A: and strike any key when ready" appears on your screen, remove the DOS disk from drive A: and place a blank disk in drive A:. 4) Press <return>. The disk drive will operate and the disk will be formatted. 5) When the message "Format another (Y/N)?" appears on the screen, press the "n" key. Making up A Tutorial Disk The tutorial included the next section is an easy way to become familiar with the program. If you have a hard disk, don't run the tutorial from your working subdirectory because it may erase your class files. To make up a tutorial disk simply make a copy of your master disk and use that as your tutorial disk. The copy can be made by placing your DOS disk in drive A:. Then type the command: DISKCOPY A: B: <return>. A message will appear on the screen telling you to place the source and target disks in your computer. Place the Aeius Gradebook Master Disk in drive A: and a blank disk in drive B: and press <return>. If your computer has a single disk drive, you will be instructed on the screen when to replace the Master Disk with your Tutorial Disk. When you are done, label the Tutorial Disk. Making Up A Working Disk If you have a hard disk, skip to the next paragraph, Installing The Aeius Gradebook On A Hard Disk, otherwise continue with this paragraph to install the program on a Page 5 floppy disk. To copy the Aeius Gradebook program onto the formatted Working Disk from the Master Disk, insert the Master Disk in drive A:. If your computer has 2 disk drives, insert the formatted Working Disk in the right hand drive B:. If your computer has a single disk drive, you will be instructed on the screen when to replace the Master Disk with your Working Disk. Now type the command: makedisk <return> The "makedisk" command will cause the programs on the Master Disk to be copied onto your Working Disk. For PCjr users, a modified boot file can be installed which switches the display from a 40 column mode to an 80 column mode during boot. To add the 80 column switch to your boot file, place the Master Disk in drive A: and the Working Disk in drive B: and type the command: jr <return> A modified AUTOEXEC.BAT file will be transferred to your Working Disk and instructions will appear on your screen explaining the procedure for copying the program MODE.COM from a DOS disk to your Working Disk. When the boot file is modified and MODE.COM has been copied over to your Working Disk, your PCjr will automatically convert to the 80 column mode when it is booted. If you wish to remove the requirement to enter the date when booting the Aeius Gradebook program, place the Master Disk in drive A: and your Working Disk in drive B: and type the command: nodate <return> When you have finished making up the Working Disk, place your Aeius Gradebook Master Disk back in its envelope and store it in a safe place in a vertical position. Label your Working Disk "Aeius Working Disk" and add any other identifying information such as "1st Quarter" etc. Installing The Aeius Gradebook On A Hard Disk The Aeius Gradebook Master Disk contains a batch program called "MAKEHD" which will install the program in a subdirectory on your hard disk. Most hard disks are designated as drive C:, however if your system uses a drive designator other than C, a second batch program "SELHD" allows you to change the hard disk designator to B:, D:, or E:. If your hard disk is not on drive C: the designator must be changed before you install the Aeius Gradebook. To designate drive D: as the hard disk drive, type the command: Page 6 SELHD D <return> Use your own hard disk designator in place of "D". The Aeius Gradebook can be installed in one or more hard disk subdirectories. Each subdirectory will hold up to 20 classes. Choose a subdirectory name with 8 or less characters such as SEMESTR2. Be sure that your hard disk path is at the root directory or at the subdirectory in which you want to install the new subdirectory. Then place the Master Disk in drive A: and select drive A: as the default drive. Then type the command: MAKEHD SEMESTR2 <return> Use your own subdirectory name in place of "SEMESTR2". A set of directions will appear on your screen. You can abort the installation at this point by pressing "Ctrl" and "C" simultaneously. Otherwise press <return> to proceed with the installation. Be sure to use the Backup Disk as described in the next paragraph. The program will back up class files to a Backup Disk in drive A: by using the "BACK" command as described below. The tutorial should not be run from your hard disk subdirectory because it could possibly overwrite your class files and class directory. To use the tutorial, copy the entire Master Disk to a second disk, as described in the "Making Up A Tutorial Disk" section, and run the tutorial from that copy. Making Up A Backup Disk There are two types of backup. The first type copies files from the Working Disk to the Backup Disk one file at a time using the DOS COPY command. If you are using a hard disk, or have two floppy disk drives, this is the recommended type of backup. However if your computer has a single floppy drive and no hard disk, the first type of backup will require that you change disks several times in the course of backing up. In this case the second type of backup is recommended. The second type uses the DOS DISKCOPY program so that the changing of disks is minimized. When you make up a Backup Disk as described below, a file named "BACKUP" is installed on the Backup Disk. This file is checked by the BACK command to prevent accidentally backing up to the wrong disk. To make up a Backup Disk, first format a blank disk. Next place the Master Disk in drive A: and the disk which will be the Backup Disk in drive B:. If your computer has a single disk drive, you will be instructed by a prompt on the screen Page 7 when to switch disks. Type the command: makeback <return> The Aeius Gradebook program will be copied onto your Backup Disk. This disk is used for any of the backup procedures. Label this disk "Backup Disk". If you want to use the second type of backup (if you have a single floppy drive and no hard disk), place your Working Disk (Not your Backup Disk) in the drive and type the command: copy back1.bat back.bat <return> Now place your DOS disk in drive A: and type the command: copy diskcopy.com b: <return> The drive will operate and a message will appear telling you to place your Working Disk (Not Backup Disk) in the drive. Press <return>. The drive will operate and the DISKCOPY.COM program will be copied to your Working Disk. Starting Up the Aeius Gradebook Program Place the Working Disk containing the Aeius Gradebook program into disk drive A:. There are three ways to start the program. 1) If the power has not been turned on, turn on the power to the computer. The computer will boot the DOS operating system and the Aeius Gradebook program will be started. 2) If the power is on, simultaneously press the following three keys: Cntl Alt Del 3) If the computer has been previously booted, type the command: If you are using Gradebook: GRD <return> If you are using Lecturegrade: LECT <return> The disk drive will operate, and depending on which of the above options you use, you may see a message on the screen directing you to enter the date. If so, type in the date in the form: 5-1-86 Do not type in the name of the day such as "Mon". A copyright and shareware notice will appear on the screen. Page 8 Press the <return> key a second time, and the first class file will be loaded into the computer from the disk. If the disk has not been used before, a new class file will be created. The class file will then appear on the screen and you can begin typing information into it or you can select one of the functions. You can make the program open to any class when starting by typing the number of the opening class after "GRD". For example if you start the program with "GRD 5", the program will start up and the fifth class will be displayed. Ending The Aeius Gradebook Program The program starts and ends with the grade sheet. Press the Esc key repeatedly until all of the function windows have been erased, and a blinking message "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO QUIT? (Y/N)" appears in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Press the "Y" key to quit. The disk drive will operate, the screen will clear, and a reminder to back up your disk will be written on the screen. The computer will return to the DOS operating system and will be ready to run another program. If you have pressed the Esc key too many times accident- ally, you can press the "N" key to cancel the quit and continue on with the program. Page 9 THE AEIUS GRADEBOOK TUTORIAL This tutorial covers the Aeius Gradebook and Aeius Lecturegrade programs, but to simplify the text both programs will be called "Aeius Gradebook". Your Aeius Gradebook Master Disk contains sample grade sheet files which are used in conjunction with the tutorial instructions in this section to demonstrate all of the features of the program. The Tutorial Disk is simply a copy of the Master Disk. To make up a Tutorial Disk, use the DOS DISKCOPY program as described previously under the paragraph "Making Up A Tutorial Disk". Mark this disk "Tutorial". The Tutorial Disk erases the class files after you have used it, so be sure not to combine the Tutorial Disk and the Working Disk on one diskette or subdirectory. The return key is marked with a left arrow having a up pointing tail. <return> means to press the return key. To run the tutorial, place the Tutorial Disk in drive A: and type the command: tutor<return> The following paragraphs describe exercises which will quickly familiarize you with the operation of your Aeius Gradebook program. When the tutorial is started, several files will be copied into position on the disk and the program will be started. A copyright and shareware notice will appear on the screen. Press the <return> key again. The first sample gradesheet will appear on the screen. The first column of grades on the sample gradesheet are letter grades. The second column of grades are "number wrong" grades and the third column of grades are "number right" grades. Notice the X's after the 5th name. An X is used to designate an excused grade which is not included in grade averages. Notice the "*" in the second column after the 8th name. A star (*) designates a makeup grade, which can be automatically found and updated at a later date. Data Entry and Cursor Control Notice that the letter "A" in the grade to the right of the student "Adam, Dana" has a blinking underline. The blinking underline on the screen is called the cursor and indicates the location where the next keystroke will appear. Press the "b" key. The grade A+ will change to b+, and the cursor will move to the "+". Now locate the cursor keys. Press the key with the right arrow on it. The cursor will move one grade to the right to "-1". Press the down arrow. The cursor will move down one grade to "-0". Press the up arrow, then the left arrow. The cursor will move up and to the left, ending up at the "b+" where it started. Page 10 Now press the left arrow. The cursor will move to the name "Adam, Dana". Type "Hall". The name "Adam" is replaced with "Hall". Press the return key. The cursor will move down to the next student name. Now move back up to the first line with the up cursor key and replace "Hall" with "Adam" again so the roster is in alphabetical order. THE PROGRAM LOOKS FOR THE FIRST BLANK NAME TO FIND THE END OF THE ROSTER. Move the cursor down to the second name and press the left arrow cursor key. The cursor will move to the student number column. Type a space, then type "8". (Lecturegrade uses 3 digits for student number, so type 2 spaces and "8") The student number "2" will be replaced with the number "8". Press the return key and the cursor will move down to student number "3". Use the right cursor key and up cursor key to move the cursor to the upper left grade "b+" where the tutorial started. To summarize: The cursor can be moved around the screen by pressing the cursor arrow keys at the right of the keyboard. To reach the student names and student numbers, just continue to move the cursor to the left. The cursor always points to the next character to be typed from the keyboard. Assignment Entry EITHER THE DATE OR THE FIRST CHARACTER OF THE ASSIGNMENT NAME MUST BE FILLED IN FOR A VALID ASSIGNMENT. Move the cursor to the first grade b+. Then use the up arrow key to move the cursor up into the assignment area of the screen. The first row of the assignment contains the assignment date. Type in the correct date (including spaces) watching the cursor as you type. The cursor will skip over the slash marks, to reach the next number. Press <return>. The cursor will skip to the second row of the assignment containing the assignment name. Type "assignment" and 5 spaces. Press the return key. The cursor will move to the "wt" position. This area contains the weight of the assignment in the grade average. The program automatically fills in a default weight of 1.0 when a new file is created. Type "015". Notice that the cursor skips over the decimal point to enter a weight of 1.5. Press the return key. The cursor will skip to the "pts" position. "pts" gives the number of points in the assignment. The program automatically fills in a default value of "100" when a new file is created. Type in a pts value of 13 followed by a space. Then press the return key. The cursor will skip to the next assignment. Now press the down cursor key followed by the left cursor key. The cursor moves back to the grade area at the first grade position. To summarize: The assignment area of the gradesheet can be reached by moving the cursor up to the top of the screen. The assignment contains three lines. The return key moves the cursor from one assignment zone to the next. Page 11 Teachers Comments The Aeius Gradebook will print out teachers comments on an individual student printout or on a report card printout. Comment numbers are entered into a COMMENT assignment just as though they were grades. There are 32 possible comments. An assignment whose name begins with a '$' is recognized by the program as a comment column. For example an assignment name of "$comment" would designate that assignment for comments and would be ignored in computing averages. You can have as many comment columns as you wish. Enter the number of the comment you wish to have printed for each student in the roster. A blank comment number or a comment number greater than 32 is recognized as no comment. Instructions on editing comments are covered under "Utilities Under F2". Class Name Entry The class name goes in the upper left corner of the grade sheet. To reach the class name, move the cursor up to the top of the screen in the assignment area, then move the cursor left until it is located below the word "CLASS". Now type "class one". Notice that some of the original name "READING 1B" still remains. To erase the remainder of the original name, type spaces to the end of the line. Correcting Mistakes Move the cursor down to the second student number "8" which you entered earlier. Make an error in the student number by typing "23". To correct the error, locate the backspace key in the top row of keys to the right of the "=" key. Press the backspace key. The cursor will move back to the beginning of the student number. Press the space bar (twice for Lecturegrade) and "2" to correct the student number. To summarize: The backspace key will move the cursor back to the left to allow you to type over a mistake. Gradesheet Pages Move the cursor to the far right of the screen with the right arrow key. Now press the right arrow cursor key once more. Look at the assignment area at the top of the screen. Notice that the assignments now start at "2" on the left and end at "4" on the right. Continue to move the cursor slowly to the right until the number 8 assignment is reached. Notice that the 7th assignment is the last on the sample grade sheet. The grade sheet contains a maximum of 64 assignments for the Aeius Gradebook program and a maximum of 30 assignments for the Aeius Lecturegrade program. Page 12 Move the cursor back to the first grade column by pressing F3 then Esc. Now move the cursor down past the 9th name. The first name will disappear and names 2 through 10 will be displayed on the screen. Locate the PgDn cursor key. Press this key and the cursor will move down 9 names at a time. Press the PgDn key repeatedly until the 25th name appears on the screen. This is the last name in the sample file. The gradesheet allows for a maximum of 48 student names for the Aeius Gradebook and 200 student names for the Aeius Lecturegrade program. Press the PgUp key. The cursor will move up 9 names. Return the cursor to the first name using the PgUp key. Press PgUp again. Notice that the cursor will not move into the assignment area. Press the End key. The cursor will move 3 assignments to the right. Press the Home key. The cursor will move 3 assignments to the left. To summarize: The gradesheet is organized in pages of three assignments across and nine students down. The PgUp, PgDn, End, and Home keys can be used to move the cursor a page length at a time. These keys are restricted to moving the cursor in the grades area of the gradesheet. To reach the class name, student names, and the assignment area of the gradesheet, the cursor arrow keys must be used. Using "Smart Keys" The program provides ways, using a single key stroke, to find grades for makeup, grades in error, first and last assignments, and top or bottom grades for a student. These features can save you valuable time when editing your grades. Start this part of the tutorial by moving the cursor to the first grade in the class. Press F9. The cursor will jump to the next grade with a star (*). Press F9 repeatedly until you reach the last grade on the gradesheet. If you enter a grade with a star in the first position, the grade can be quickly reached with the F9 key. This feature is used to record grades which are late or which have been resubmitted as makeup. When the makeup is complete, the F9 key can be used to quickly find and update the grade. A makeup grade is averaged in the same way any other grade is averaged. A blank grade is interpreted as a grade of 0%. The excused grade (x) can be used in combination with a star, or by itself, to eliminate that grade from the average. Move the cursor back up to the first grade "b+". For the following paragraph, "Ctrl F" means to press the "Ctrl" key and the "f" key simultaneously. Press Ctrl F to move the cursor to the FIRST assignment. Press Ctrl L to move the cursor to the LAST assignment. Press Ctrl T to move the cursor to the TOP ranked grade for the student. Press Ctrl B to move the cursor to the BOTTOM ranked grade for the student. Page 13 Press F7 to display the class averages. Notice that the 3rd student average is in error. Press Esc to erase the average window. Press Ctrl E to find the grade which was in ERROR. The cursor will move to 3rd student assignment 6. Correct the error in the grade and press F7 to confirm that the grade average is now valid. Let's Try The Functions Locate the function keys marked F1 through F10. These keys select special functions such as changing grade sheets or printing. Lets try them to see what happens. Press F1. F1 puts a HELP window up on the screen. Press the space bar to get another page of HELP. Press the Esc key in the top row of keys. The HELP window will disappear and you will be back at the grade sheet again. Press F3. The Class Select Directory window will appear on the screen. Now press F1 again. The HELP window will appear over the Class Select Directory window. Press Esc. The HELP window will be overlaid, putting you back in the Class Select Directory window. We will delay using the Class Select Directory window until a later paragraph. Press Esc again to return to the grade sheet. Press F5. The grade sheet will be reorganized in a compressed format with the student name and the assignments eliminated from the display. Press the End key and notice that the cursor moves 12 grades to the right. Press the Home key and the cursor moves back 12 grades to the left. Press F5 again to return to the normal format. Press the F7 function key. The grade average window will appear giving the average for each student in percentage and letter grade. Press the PgDn cursor key. The averages of the next 9 students will be displayed. Press the PgUp cursor key. The averages of the first 9 students will be displayed again. Press Esc to return to the grade sheet. Return the cursor to the first grade position "b+". Press F8. The student names will be replaced by student codes. The word "CODES" will appear highlighted above the student names. Coded names can be used to post grades when you want to maintain anonymity. Press F8 again to return to the student names. Setting Grade Equivalents The Aeius Gradebook program provides maximum flexibility for setting the correspondence between letter grades and their percentage equivalents. A set of equivalents for all classes on the disk is provided with the program, called STANDARD EQUIVALENTS. You can set your own customized equivalents for all classes on the disk, called CUSTOMIZED EQUIVALENTS FOR THE DISK. You can set your own customized equivalents for a single class on the disk, called CUSTOMIZED Page 14 EQUIVALENTS FOR CLASS. The equivalents for a given class can be changed from one of the three options to another at any time. For example, if you have set up grade equivalents for the disk and then set up special grade equivalents for the first class on the disk, the program allows you to easily switch back and forth between the two sets of equivalents. This would allow you to average grades for a given class against a standard table of equivalents or to average grades on a curve using a second set of equivalents. Initially, when you make up a new working disk, the grade equivalents are set to the STANDARD EQUIVALENTS. Grade Equivalents For The Disk Now continue with the tutorial by pressing F6. An Average menu will appear on your screen with the first line, SELECT STANDARD EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK highlighted. Press <return>. The prompt STANDARD EQUIVALENTS will be highlighted near the bottom of the screen. Press F6 again to get the Averaging menu. Use the down cursor key to move the highlight down to the second line: SET/SELECT CUSTOMIZED EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK. Press <return>. A new menu will be overlaid on the screen with the first line ENTER LETTER TO PERCENT EQUIVALENTS highlighted. The prompt CUSTOMIZED EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK will be highlighted on the screen. Press Esc. We will press <return> later in the tutorial to practice changing the grade equivalents. Move the highlight up to SELECT STANDARD EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK and press <return>. The prompt STANDARD EQUIVALENTS will again be highlighted. To summarize: Either standard or customized equivalents can be selected for use with all classes on your working disk. Press F6 again and move the highlight to the second row SET/SELECT CUSTOMIZED EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK. Press <return>. The second window with ENTER LETTER TO PERCENT EQUIVALENTS highlighted will appear and the prompt CUSTOMIZED GRADE EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK will appear. Press <return>. A table of letter to percent equivalents will appear on the screen with the cursor to the left of the percentage "89.0". Type a space and the number "901". Press the down cursor key. The new percent equivalent of 90.1% will appear for A+ and the cursor moves to the second row. Type a space and "960" in the second row. Whoops! It should have been "860". To correct this mistake, press the backspace key to move the cursor back under the "9". Then type "8" to get the correct percentage 86.0%. Use the up arrow cursor key to move the cursor back up to the first row. Press <return> to save the new letter to percent table. When you end the Aeius Gradebook program the new table will be saved on your disk so the program will be ready to use your customized equivalents for the disk at the next session. Press F6 again and then <return> to get to the second window. Move the highlight down to ENTER PERCENT TO Page 15 LETTER EQUIVALENTS and press return. A window appears, containing the table of percent to letter equivalents. In this case there is a high and low range of percentage values which correspond to a single letter grade. (These tutorial tables are chosen for demonstration purposes only. Normally the highest equivalent would go to 100.0%.) Move the cursor down to the third row. Type a space and "820", then move the cursor up one row. Notice that the value in the low percent column of the second row automatically changes to 82.1%. Press Esc. The new table will not be saved unless <return> is pressed in the previous line. Press Esc twice to erase the utility windows. To summarize: The letter to percent equivalents and the percent to letter equivalents , for all classes on a disk, can be set to your own standards. When you change one table, a blinking prompt reminds you to change the other table. Grade Equivalents For A Single Class Press F6 again. Move the cursor down to the fourth line, SET/SELECT CUSTOMIZED EQUIVALENTS FOR CLASS, and press return. When the next window appears, move the highlight up to the first line, and press <return> again. A table of letter to percent equivalents will appear on the screen. Let's stop a moment to review why we have two equivalent tables and what they are used for. The LETTER TO PERCENT table is used to convert letter grades to percent values so that a percentage average of a student's grades can be computed. Once the percent average is computed, a second table is needed to convert the average percent grade back to a letter. The PERCENT TO LETTER table does this by assigning a percentage range to each letter grade. Since we practiced changing the tables in the preceding paragraphs, we won't repeat the exercise. Press <return> to return to the grade sheet. The prompt USING CUSTOMIZED GRADE EQUIVALENTS FOR CLASS will appear on the screen to remind you which equivalents are being used for averaging. Press F7 to see the customized averages for this class. Press F6 and move the highlight to the second line SET/SELECT CUSTOMIZED EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK and press <return>. A prompt YOU MUST RETURN TO DISK EQUIV FIRST will flash on the screen, to tell you that you cannot select disk equivalents while class equivalents are selected. Press F6 and move the highlight to the third line RETURN TO DISK EQUIVALENTS FOR THIS CLASS and press <return>. The prompt STANDARD EQUIVALENTS or CUSTOMIZED EQUIVALENTS FOR DISK will appear on the screen to show that the customized equivalents for this class are no longer in use. Press F7 and a new set of averages will appear using the disk letter grade to percent equivalents. Press Esc to return to the grade sheet. To Summarize: You can switch between customized equivalents for a particular class and standard or customized Page 16 equivalents for the disk easily. Normally most teachers would use a single set of letter to percent equivalents for all of their classes, but the program provides the extra flexibility of selecting special equivalents for any particular class. Selecting Class Files With F3 Return the cursor to the first grade position "b+" and press F3. The Class Select Directory window will appear on the screen which contains the names of the class files. Only the first three class files are used on the Tutorial Disk even though 20 file names are listed. Press the down cursor key. The second class will be highlighted. Press <return>. The disk will operate and the class file on the screen will be replaced with the second class file. Move the cursor to the class name position in the upper left corner of the screen and type in "class 2". Press F3. The class select window will appear with the new "class 2" name appearing in the second position. Use the down cursor key to move the highlight to position 11. Class numbers 11 thru 20 will appear in the window. Move the highlight back up to the 10th class with the up cursor key. The first ten classes will appear in the window. Move the highlight up to the first class and press <return>. The "class 2" file will be saved on disk and the first class file will be read into the computer and displayed on the screen. Press F7. The grade average window will appear on the screen. Press F3. The Class Select Directory window will appear next to the average window. Move the highlight down to the second class and press <return>. The "class 2" file will be retrieved from the disk and the average window will display the averages of "class 2". Reselect the first class by using the F3 window as described above. Press the Esc key to erase the average window. To summarize: The F3 function key allows you to change class files at any time, even when you are using another function such as averaging. The currently active class is displayed in the Class Select Directory window in highlight. The cursor keys are used to move the highlight to the next class to be selected. The <return> key causes the previous class to be saved on disk, and the newly selected class to be retrieved from disk and displayed along with the function window which was being used. Printing With F4 If your computer does not have a printer you will not be able to use this section of the tutorial. Using F3, select the first gradesheet. Make sure that your printer is on line and that the paper is positioned at the top of the page. Press F4. The printing menu will appear in a window. The first row should be highlighted. If not, move the Page 17 highlight up to the first row with the up cursor key so that PRINT CLASS AVERAGES is highlighted. Press <return>. The averages and grades for the first class will be printed. Notice that a blinking prompt notifies you which term is being averaged. In this case all grades are averaged, since we didn't select a term. Move the highlight down to PRINT ALL CLASS AVERAGES and press <return>. The program will automatically get each of the classes on the disk and print all averages. In summary: The program will print the averages and grades for all students in a single class or for all classes on the disk. Press F4 and move the highlight down to PRINT GRADE SHEET and press <return>. A message "Print grade sheet starting with assignment 1" will be displayed with the cursor at the space just before "1". Press the space bar then "7" to tell the program to begin printing grades at the 7th assignment, then press <return>. A message on the screen tells you that printing is in process. Printing Grade Posting When the grade sheet printing is complete, press F8 to display the student codes. Press F4 and move the highlight down to PRINT GRADE POSTING and press <return>. Press <return> again to select the printing to start with assignment 1. All assignments will be printed on the first page and a compressed summary of grades will be printed on the following pages. Press F8 again to return to the student names. Print the grade posting again. Now the student names will be abbreviated to 12 characters in the printout. You may want to use F2 to sort the roster in grade rank order, and erase student numbers, and use student codes for this printout, to provide anonymity. Press F4 and move the highlight down to PRINT AUTO GRADE POSTING and press <return>. The program will print the grade posting for all classes (except blank classes) with the student roster sorted in grade rank order and with student codes selected. At the end of each class the roster is resorted in alphabetical order. The Esc key can be used to abort printing at any time. In summary: The program will print all grades in a class in normal or posting format. The early assignments can be optionally skipped to save paper. The program will also print grade postings for all classes automatically. Printing Individual Reports Press F4 and move the highlight down to PRINT ONE STUDENT'S GRADES. Press <return>. A student name will appear in a window. Press the down cursor key to display the next student name in the window and press <return>. The grades, Page 18 percent average, and letter average will be printed. Press Esc, then move the highlight down to SET PAGE LENGTH. We are going to print two reports on one sheet to save paper. Press <return>. A window will appear which allows you to select the page length. The default page length is 66 lines. Type in a page length of "33", then press <return>. Move the highlight on the print menu to PRINT ALL STUDENTS GRADES, but don't press return yet. We are going to print 3 or 4 student averages and then abort the printouts to avoid printing the averages for all 25 students. Now press <return>. The program will begin printing each student's grades and averages in turn. The name of the student being printed will be displayed on the screen. When the third student comes up on the screen, press the Esc key to abort printing. Depending on when you pressed Esc, the printing will stop at the 3rd or 4th student. When you have completed printing, change the page length back to "66" as described above. Press Esc to erase the print window from the screen. In summary: An individual student's grades and averages can be printed. The individual averages of all students in the class can also be printed in one selection. Short page lengths can be selected for individual reports and report cards to save paper. Press F4 and move the highlight down to PRINT LOW STUDENT'S GRADES and press <return>. A Low Average Selection window will be displayed with the default percentage of 70.0 displayed. Type in the low average of space then "731" and press return. The cursor will skip over the decimal point to give a low average of 73.1. The program will print out individual student reports for each student having an average of less than 73.1%. Press F4 and move the highlight down to PRINT LOW GRADES ALL CLASSES and press <return>. Press <return> to select the default of 70.0%. Now the program will go through all the classes on the disk and print the individual printout for any student in any class who has an average less than 70.0%. Press Esc to return to the Print menu. In summary: Individual student printouts, for each student whose average grade is less than your minimum standard, can be automatically printed for a single class or for all classes on the disk. Printing Report Card With Comments Move the cursor down to COMMENTS ON/OFF. The right side of the line should indicate "COMMENTS OFF". Press <return> to select "COMMENTS ON". Move the cursor up to PRINT REPORT CARD. Press <return>. The computer will read all the class files on the disk and sort the student names and corresponding grades. A window will display a student name. Use the down arrow key until the 5th student is displayed in Page 19 the window and then press <return>. A report card for the selected student will be printed with a teachers comment. You can also print the report card for all the students in the class. Now turn the comments off by selecting COMMENTS ON/OFF and pressing <return>. In Summary: Teachers comments can optionally be printed on a report card or individual student printout. Press F4 and move the highlight down to PRINT ROSTER AND STUDENT CODES and press <return>. A list of all students in the class and their corresponding student code will be printed. Press F4 again and move the highlight down to FEED A BLANK PAGE and press <return>. A blank page will be fed out of the printer so that the last printed page can be torn off. Press Esc to erase the Print menu. Grade Averaging Options With F6 Press F3 and select the second class. Then press F6. The first four lines of the Averaging menu handle letter to percent equivalents as previously explained. The last three lines of the menu allow you to select a term for averaging or to select percentage or points grade averaging. The default selections are AVERAGE ALL GRADES and AVERAGE PERCENTAGE. Press Esc to erase the Averaging menu. The Aeius Gradebook program has the capability to handle multiple terms (semesters, quarters, months, etc.) in a single grade sheet. The end of a term is signified by a star in the first character of the assignment name. The tutorial grade sheet has divided the grade sheet into two monthly terms. To view the end of the first term, use the End key to move out to the 8th assignment. Notice that the the 8th assignment name begins with a star. When the assignment name is entered with a star (*) as the first character of the assignment name, the program automatically fills all the grades with "X's" so the column will be ignored in the averages. Now press F6 and move the highlight down to SET TERM and press <return>. A window will appear which will allow you to select the term to be averaged. The blinking cursor will appear after the prompt ENTER NUMBER 1 TO 9 TO SELECT TERM. Type a "2" to select the second term, then press <return>. Press F7 to view the averages for the second term. Press F6 again, then press <return> twice without entering a term number. Press F7 to view the averages. The averages for all grades on the grade sheet are displayed if a term number is not selected. The selected term is used by the program until it is changed. Both displayed and printed averages use the term number selection. A blinking prompt always tells you which grades are being averaged. Press Esc to erase Average window. Page 20 Points And Percentage Averages Press F6 and move the highlight down to SELECT POINTS AVERAGING and press <return>. At the lower left of your screen, a highlighted prompt reminds you that you are using the POINTS method of averaging grades. Press F7 and examine the averages. Notice that the screen lists the AVERAGE, GRADE, POSSIBLE PTS, and SCORED PTS. Press Esc to erase the window. Points Averaging means that the program totals the weighted scores which you enter as grades (in "number right" or "number wrong" formats only) and divides those total scores by the total of the assignment "pts" values. This ratio is the AVERAGE. The program will not accept letter grades if you choose to use the POINTS grade averaging method. Your averaging method is saved on the disk, so you only have to make this selection once at the beginning of the school year or when you make up a new disk. Press F6 and move the highlight up to SELECT PERCENTAGE AVERAGING and press <return>. The highlighted prompt on your screen now tells you that you are using the percentage method of averaging grades. Press F7. Notice that the averages now show only the AVERAGE and GRADE. Percentage averaging means that each grade (letter, number right, or number wrong) is first converted to a percentage by looking it up in the letter to percent equivalent tables, or dividing the numerical score by the assignment "pts" value. Then the percentage grades are totaled and divided by the total weighted number of assignments. Press Esc to erase averages. To summarize: A school year consisting of multiple school terms can be handled on a single grade sheet. F6 allows you to average the grades in any term or for all terms in combination. Either PERCENTAGE or POINTS method of grade averaging can be selected. Statistics Press F6 and move the highlight down to the bottom of the menu to COMPUTE STATISTICS and press <return>. The distribution of grades for the class will be displayed along with the Mean, Standard Deviation, and Median. The class name is displayed at the upper left of the screen. Press 'P' to print the statistics. Press 'Z' and the Z-scores will be displayed. Press 'P' to print the Z-scores. A Z-score is the difference between the score and the Mean, divided by the Standard Deviation. Z-scores are helpful in grading on a curve. Press Esc to return to the statistical distribution screen. Move the cursor to the second assignment with the right arrow cursor key. Press <return> to display the statistics for the second assignment. The assignment name will be displayed at the upper left of the screen. Press F3 and select the first class. The statistics for the first class will be displayed on the screen. When you change Page 21 classes the class distribution is displayed and when you change assignments the assignment distribution is displayed. Press Esc to get back to the grade sheet. To summarize: Statistics for a class or a assignment can be calculated by selecting COMPUTE STATISTICS from the Averaging menu. Z-scores can also be displayed and printed to help in grading on a curve. Select Colors Change to the first class READING 1B using F3. Press F2 to display the Utilities window. Move the highlight down to SELECT DISPLAY COLORS and press <return>. A color selection menu will be displayed. If you have a monochrome monitor you can select either white on black or reversed display by pressing 'W' or 'R'. White on black is the default selection. If you have a color monitor you can select the character color, the background color and the high intensity color from this menu. Press 'B' to select any of the 8 background colors in succession. Press 'C' to select any of the 16 character colors. Press 'H' to select any of the 16 high intensity colors. When you have finished your selections, press <return> to save the color selection or press Esc to cancel it. A favorite selection is white on blue with a yellow high intensity. When the character selection and the background selection are identical the screen goes blank. The color selection is stored in the "CLSDIR" file (LECTDIR for Lecturegrade). If you accidentally select a blank screen, you can recover by erasing the directory file but you will also lose your class names. Press Esc to return to the grade entry screen. Edit Teacher's Comments Press F2 and move the highlight to EDIT COMMENTS FILE and press <return>. A window will be overlaid on the screen with the first comment displayed. Use the up and down cursor arrow keys to select the third comment for editing. Comments are edited in the overstrike mode. The right and left arrow keys will move the cursor within the comment. Move the cursor to the end of the first word "Follows" and type over the rest of the line "the teacher's directions". Press the 'P' key to print the list of comments. Your edited comments are saved on disk by pressing <return> or just to the end of the session by pressing Esc. Press <return> to save the edited comments to disk. Fill In Student Numbers Now we will explore some utilities which will make it easier for you to set up new grade sheets at the beginning of a term. Press F2 and move the highlight to "FILL IN STUDENT Page 22 NUMBERS", and press the <return> key. A window will be overlaid on the screen with the prompt "First student number is 1" and a second prompt "Number of students is 1". The cursor will be on the first line in front of the "1". Type in "50" ("050" for Lecturegrade) and press the return key. The cursor will skip to the second line "number of students is" in front of the "1". Type in "25" ("025" for Lecturegrade) and press the return key. The student numbers will be redisplayed from 50 to 75. This utility is provided for convenience of making up new class rosters. It can also be used to remove student numbers when using the grade posting printout by filling in the student numbers from 1 to 1. Automatically Generate Student Codes Press F2 and move the highlight down to AUTOMATICALLY ASSIGN SECRET CODES and press <return>. The program will automatically generate a set of random student codes based on the names in the roster. The random codes will be identical from one roster to another only if the student names are typed EXACTLY the same way in both rosters. The safest way to assure that the codes match from one class to another is to use COPY STUDENT ROSTER TO ANOTHER CLASS. Press F8 to return to student names. Duplicate Student Roster Press F2 and move the highlight down to COPY STUDENT ROSTER TO ANOTHER CLASS. Press <return> and a class directory will appear overlaid on the utility menu. This utility allows you to copy a student roster to another class. This is normally used at the beginning of the year to duplicate class rosters. Move the highlight on the class directory to the second class "class 2" and press <return>. A blinking warning appears telling you "CLASS NOT EMPTY, TRANSFER NAMES?(Y/N)". If the class contains grades the program warns you so that you won't accidentally copy a roster to the wrong class. Press "n" since we don't want to change the roster. Press Esc twice to erase the Utility window. Use F3 to select the first class again. Now select COPY STUDENT ROSTER TO ANOTHER CLASS again from the F2 utility menu and press <return>. Move the highlight to the 3rd class with a blank name and press <return>. Now the program will copy the student roster from the first class to the third class since the third class is empty. This function copies student names, student numbers, and student codes from one class to another. If the selected class does not exist, the program creates a new gradesheet file containing the student roster. Press Esc twice. Select the 3rd class using F3, and verify that the roster has been copied correctly. Use F3 to select the first class again. Page 23 Insert or Delete a Student Press F2 and move the highlight down to INSERT NEW STUDENT and press the return key. The prompts "MOVE CURSOR TO NAME POSITION" and "THEN PRESS <RETURN>" will appear on the screen and the cursor will be positioned to the left of the first student number. Move the cursor down to the fifth student. Then press the return key. The remaining student names and grades will be moved down one position and "XXX" will appear in the fifth position name with a blank grade row. Press F2 and move the highlight down to DELETE STUDENT on the Utility menu and press the return key. Move the cursor to the student "XXX". Press the return key. The new student will be removed from the roster along with the corresponding grades. The remaining student names and grades will be moved up one position. Sort Student Roster Press F2 and move the highlight down to SORT STUDENTS BY GRADE RANK ORDER. The student names will be rearranged in grade rank order. Press F7 to verify the grade rank order. Press F2 and move the highlight up to SORT STUDENTS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. The student roster will be rearranged in alphabetical order. Sometimes you may wish to place a student out of alphabetic order, such as placing a student who joins the class late at the end of the alphabetic class list. This can be accomplished by prefixing a letter to the name when it is entered, such as changing "Smith, John" to "Z:Smith, John. Combine Class Averages Use F3 to change to the 3rd class with a blank name. Press F2 and move the highlight to COMBINE CLASS AVERAGES IN THIS CLASS. A class directory window will be overlaid on the Utility Menu. Move the highlight to the first class "class one" and press <return>. The program will fetch the first class, compute averages for the class, and transfer the averages to the first assignment in the 3rd class. The averages will be rounded to 2 digits. The class name "class one" will appear in the assignment name. Now repeat the process for the second class "class 2". The averages for the second class will be transferred to the second assignment in "CLASS AVERAGES". Press Esc twice then press F7 to view the averages. Once the averages have been transferred, weights can be assigned to each of the averages. This powerful feature can be used to combine grade components such as homework, quizzes, and tests into one composite grade. It could also be used to combine spelling, reading, and grammar into one composite English grade. The program does not check names against grades so BE SURE ALL COMPONENT CLASSES HAVE THE SAME ROSTER, AND THAT THE ROSTERS ARE ALL SORTED Page 24 ALPHABETICALLY. Otherwise you will get scrambled averages. It is a good idea to save a blank class file on your disk for combining grades. The class file can be erased and used over again. Erase Grade Sheet Press F2 and move the highlight up to ERASE ASSIGNMENTS & GRADES, SAVE NAMES. Press the return key. When the prompt "DO YOU WANT TO ERASE THIS CLASS? (y/n)" appears, press the "y" key. All assignments and grades will be erased. Notice that all assignment "wt" are set to 1.0 and all assignment "pts" are set to 100. This utility is handy for starting a new school term without having to retype the student names. Quitting The Aeius Gradebook Program When you have completed your Aeius Gradebook session, press the Esc key repeatedly until all windows have been erased. Then press the Esc key once more. A blinking message will appear in the upper left hand corner of the screen "DO YOU REALLY WANT TO QUIT? (Y/N)." Press the "Y" key. The disk drive will operate to save the grade sheet you were working on, then the screen will clear and a message will appear reminding you to back up your Working Disk. Page 25