Basic principle

The worksheet “Classes Overview” changes the worksheet “Teachers Overview” and this will change the worksheet “Rooms Overview”. If you enter something directly on the teacher’s schedule this will have only effect on the “Room Overview”. This has the advantage that you can enter activities for teachers which do not necessarily have something to do with a particular class or semester, but still  require a room (e.g. seminar, working group etc.). Likewise activities may be entered on the “Classes Overview” directly which has to do neither with a specific class nor a teacher (e.g. dancing class an external group only making use of the room). As an exception, the (user-defined) teacher initials joker will allow making entries in the “Rooms Overview” while bypassing the “Teachers Overview”. Clarity and intuitive use The context menu within the Schedule table contains all important functions, including the jump to the respective teacher or room and a list of all available rooms and teachers at the concerning hour. For two-hour sessions (double lessons) a room can be seached via a dialog box that is available for whole time. The recognition of entries provides for the fact that with renewed input of data the originally assigned teacher and room will automatically be used again, provided that each is available. For several subject abbreviations (since version 1.2 user-defined) the program automatically searches for a classroom. If a teacher is (accidentally?) assigned to a different class at the same time a dialog box appears and suggests solutions. With the archiving function changes of the timetable are marked in a copy of the plan in colour. Optionally the whole overview or only single classes (or teachers) can be archived within the Excel file and also copied under the timetable for marking of changes. The so marked copy can also be printed out and provides for clarity and overview when regular semi- annual timetable changes occur for example. Since version 1.4 the scheduler dynamically looks up the recordset in other overviews corresponding to the currently selected cell and displays the information in its own “Scheduler” tab (from Excel 2007 on). By clicking on the data in the tab you jump directly to the record on the appropriate worksheet. Printing individal timetables For classes, teachers and rooms respective individual schedules can be printed out. The well-equipped print menu allows you, among other functions to print a remark on all printouts, to calculate weekly teaching hours for teachers in a separate table and to print an archived plan without markings of changes.           The overview worksheets can be printed out for the planner and the coloured markings provide for clarity. Special functions and sample recordsets The cell background colouring made before entering the data in the “Classes Overview” are transferred to the teacher schedule. So marked hours can be easily found again the “Teachers Overview”. Optionally, the color coding can also be taken over into the “Rooms Overview”. For cross-class activities, all involved classes and teachers are listed in the teacher schedule and room plan. Lessons can be split (max. in two groups) in the class schedule. The special character "/" serves as separator for the two recordsets. Optionally, a suffix can be added to the subject in the teacher schedule and the room plan to indicate the splitting of the class. The recognition of previously entered recordsets also works with split lessons. The sequence of the recordsets within the cells is irrelevant for this function. Elective-blocks, during which all classes of a form are dissolved and which very often consist of double lessons can be noted in the “Classes Overview” in space-saving manner. This is being achieved by placing the recordset of the second lesson in the cell comment. This gives more space to enter simultaneously offered electives. When printing the class schedule and writing the recordset in the teacher schedule and room plan, the program uses generalized subjects and class labels. This special function is triggered by (user- defined) subject denominations. Split lessons and other special functions cannot be combined with elective-blocks.                     During co-educative tuition (e.g.: guest lecturer or trainee teacher) both teacher initials will be listed in respective teacher schedules. This crosswise notation of teachers also works with multi- class lessions (involving more than one class). Tuition in senior classes is entered explicitly since no classes exist any more. All courses are to be entered in dedicated columns (it’s recommended to group courses of the same or similar subjects). For the routine change of half-yearly subject and semester notations the program provides a “move-up- function”. The 1^st semester will then be transformed into a 2^nd  semester and the 3^rd semester likewise into the 4^th semester. For multi-semester courses the program uses a space saving notation for semesters in the teacher schedule and room plan. A separate column (or optionally more) will hold teachers assigned to stand-in in case of need. Scheduled hours of presence are to be entered directly into the teacher’s schedule. By the use of (user-defined) teacher-initial-jokers entries can be made in the room plan without assigned teacher. . .