Courses Panel for Visual Scheduler
On the left of the master schedule grid, courses in the course catalog associated to this scenario display in the courses panel.
The course name, course number, and department display for each course that is available in the course catalog associated to the scenario.
When all sections of a course are scheduled, the course no longer appears in the courses panel. Alternately, if a section of a course is unscheduled after all sections of the course have been scheduled, the course will once again appear in the courses panel. This is only applicable the courses panel is filtered using the Unscheduled option to view only courses with sections remaining to be scheduled. This is the default setting.
Course Information
When hovering over a course in the courses panel, the following information appears in a tooltip:
As you are viewing the tooltip, you may also note that any course section already on the master schedule grid appears highlighted. If an edge of the master schedule grid appears highlighted, it denotes section meetings not within view.
Item | Description |
|---|---|
[Course Name] | The course name. |
[Course Number] | The course number. |
[Seats Made Available by Grade Level] | The numbers that display indicate how many seats will be made available for each grade level for students to be scheduled into when a section of the course is created. These numbers are determined by taking the number of course requests for a given course, by grade level, dividing by the target number of sections to offer, and rounding up if needed. |
[Optimal Number of Students] | The number that displays here indicates the ideal balanced classroom size, and is determined by taking the total number of primary and elective course requests and dividing by the target number of sections to offer. |
[Maximum Enrollments] | The maximum enrollment for the course. To modify this setting, navigate to the PowerScheduler page, then Courses, then the course, then Preferences. |
[Unscheduled Sections] | The number of sections that need to be scheduled for the course. |
[Scheduled Sections] | The number of sections that have been scheduled for the course. |
[Target # of Sections to Offer] | The target number of sections to offer for the course. To modify this setting, navigate to the PowerScheduler page, then Courses, then the course, then Preferences. |
[Teacher Assignments] | The teacher assignments that have been created for the course. |
Course Alerts
If a course's terms are set up incorrectly, an Alert icon (triangle with an exclamation) appears in the upper right corner of the course tile. If an Alert icon appears, the course cannot be added to the master schedule grid until valid terms are selected for the course.
Additionally, if the course was added to the master schedule grid prior to the alert, the section tiles that appear on the master schedule grid cannot be modified until the invalid terms are corrected. For more information, refer to Master Schedule Grid for Visual Scheduler.
View a Course Alert
Click the Alert icon to view the alert. Possible error messages include:
The course [Course Name] has no terms.
The course [Course Name] has no valid terms.
The course [Course Name] has an invalid mix of terms.
To fix these errors, refer to the Correct a Course Alert section.
Correct a Course Alert
Use the following procedure to correct Valid Terms at the course level.
- Navigate to the PowerScheduler page.
- Select Courses from the PowerScheduler menu.
- Choose Preferences.
- Click the name of the course you want to correct.
- Click Associate next to Valid Terms to select the terms the course can meet. For example, assume you want the system to schedule a half-year course in the fall of a two-term school year. Select S1 (first semester) as the only valid term for the course.
- Click Submit.
Course Level Course Requests in Common
You can use Course Requests in Common to view which courses have common requests. Course requests in common represent potential conflicts.
Use the Course Requests in Common Function
- Click the Show Course Requests in Common (grid) icon.
- The total number of course requests for the selected course appears after the course name and number.
- Singleton (square with one dot) courses that share requests in common appear at the top of the list.
- Doubleton (square with two dots) courses that share requests in common appear next.
- The name and number of each course appears, as well as the total number of course requests in common for each course listed.
- Courses are sorted in descending order based on the total number of course requests.
- If there are no commonalities, the message "No Course Requests in Common" appears.
- To view courses with multiple sections that share requests in common, click Show All Courses with Requests in Common.
If there are no singletons and doubletons that share requests in common, this link does not appear, as the courses with multiple sections that share requests in common will automatically appear in the pop-up. Additionally, if there are no courses with multiple sections that share requests in common, this link does not appear. - Click the upper right corner to close.
Create Sections
Create your schedule quickly and easily by dragging and dropping course tiles to create sections for each course in your course catalog.
When creating a section, note the following:
Item | Description |
|---|---|
Multiple Section Meetings | If a course section has multiple meetings (more than one period per meeting or meets on multiple days), as you drag the course onto the master schedule grid, you will note that multiple cells appear orange. |
Orange | When placing a course on the master schedule grid, the course may be placed in any cell that appears orange. If a course is placed in a cell that is not orange, the course will revert back to the courses panel. A cell that does not appear orange indicates the cell doesn’t match the course’s valid start periods or valid terms, or isn’t in one of the days, which the valid day combinations for the course are defined. |
Preferred Room | The section is automatically assigned to the teacher's preferred room if one has been defined. If the teacher’s preferred room has not been defined no room is automatically assigned. You can change the room associated to the section. For more information, refer to Master Schedule Grid for Visual Scheduler. For more information defining a teacher’s preferred room, refer to Staff Schedule Setup. |
Scrolling | When placing a course on the master schedule grid, the master schedule grid scrolls to the left, right, top or bottom of the schedule grid while dragging the course tile without having to click. |
Striping | If a tile appears shaded with striping, it denotes that a Teacher Free constraint has been specified for that period, day, or term. However, you may still schedule a course in that cell, but may need to remove the teacher constraint. To modify this setting, navigate to the PowerScheduler page, then Constraints, then Teacher Free. |
Create a Section
To create a section, move a course tile from the courses panel to the master schedule grid, by dragging and dropping the course tile to the preferred teacher/day/period cell. This creates a section of the course. If more than one period per meeting has been defined for a course, multiple meetings of that course section will be created.