TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preamble
The entries placed into the Line field define the structures of your classes and must be understood by E10 in order for the algorithms to build your timetable. It is one of the most important fields in the timetable program.
Classes > Class data > Line
This field defines the structure of classes, indicating how the classes are to be placed onto the timetable, which classes must run together and how classes relate to each other.
There are three permitted entries in the Line field:
- Line .... : a class or group of classes blocked together. No other classes may run with the lined class/es.
- Group ...: a class that includes a group of students, labelled by letter or by number. e.g. Group 7A, Group 7B, Group 9-1, Group 9-2
- No entry: permitted so long as the class is linked to another so that E10 understands how to place the class on the grid
In the image above, we can see a class called 'Sport placeholder' on Line S. Only this class runs at this time, as it is the only class on Line S.
We can see three English classes on Line 2. No other classes can run at the same time as these three classes.
Health, Humanities and Physical Education are group classes, including cohort groups 9-1 and 9-2. No two Group 9-1 classes can be placed on the timetable at the same time, likewise, no two Group 9-2 classes can be placed on the timetable at the same time. A Group 9-1 and a Group 9-2 class can be placed on the timetable at the same time, as there causes no structural clash.
If there is no entry in the Line field, E10 will display a red box around the line field to remind you to fix this error. E10 cannot understand how to timetable these classes when red boxes are present. Other screens, such as Period allocations and Year structure, will not work properly until fixed.
Classes on Lines
The line can be a number or a letter, but note that it is best to use numbers for the purpose of generating elective lines. Letter lines are more commonly used for whole year classes, such as Assembly on Line A, Roll Call on Line R and Sport on Line S.
Number lines: Lines can be numbered 0-9
Letter Lines: Lines can be Line A through to Line Z
Students: a student is not usually placed into two classes on the same letter line, else the student would have a clash on their timetable.
Number of periods for classes on lines
The class with the highest number of periods determines the number of periods that each line will take up on the timetable. It is fine to have classes on a line with less number of periods than the others. In the image above, we can see a 11JAP.1 class on Line 2 that has only two periods, where all other classes on Line 2 have 3 periods.
Students: a student is not usually placed into two classes on the same number line, else the student would have a clash on their timetable.
Sublines
Sublines are created when two or more classes run on the same line but not concurrently. The syntax used for this is Line 1a and Line 1b.
For example, a Line 1a class can't run at the same time as a Line 1b class - though both will run with the other Line 1 classes. If Line 1 has 3 periods, the total periods of all sublines can be less than 3 periods, but must not be more than 3 periods.
Specific restrictions can be placed on the sub-line, so coding it to a specific period will lock both the sub-line and the parent line to those periods.
Students: a student is not usually in two classes within the same line, else the student would have a clash on their timetable. There is no student clash if the student is in both classes on both sublines.
Specific restrictions can be placed on the sub-line, so coding it to a specific period will lock both the sub-line and the parent line to those periods.
Students: a student is not usually in two classes within the same line, else the student would have a clash on their timetable. There is no student clash if the student is in both classes on both sublines.
The images show 11MU1.1 has 2 periods, and 11MU2.1 has 1 period. They must not be timetabled at the same time, therefore, 11MU1.1 has been placed on Line 3a, and 11MU2.1 has been placed on Line 3b. Both subline classes will be timetabled with the Line 3 classes.
Half blocks
Half blocks is the term to use in the following scenario:
A school does not have enough teachers to place its five Maths classes on its own line, nor all five English classes on its own line. Therefore, they split the classes across two lines.
Line 1 shows three English classes and two Maths classes, and Line 2 shows two English classes and three Maths classes.
Shortcut tip: in the Line column of Class data, simply hit a letter or number on your keyboard and E10 will insert the text 'Line'. No need to type out the word 'Line'!
Also use Control C and Control V for copying and pasting.
Also use Control C and Control V for copying and pasting.
Timetabling classes on lines
All classes on the same line will run at the same time. It would not be structurally correct to place a Line 3 class on at the same time as a Line 5 class.
The image shows Maths classes are on a Line and English classes are on another line. But on FriB period 2, a Maths class has been placed at the same time as the English line of classes (rest assured E10 could not have done this, but users themselves can). E10 shows the structural clash with a red S, as this is not structurally correct.
Group classes
Students may be grouped in two independent ways using either Letters and/or Numbers. This is done for structural timetabling purposes, and also for student class list management purposes.
Commonly, schools might use letter group for the core classes, e.g. English, Humanities, Science etc, and numbers for practical classes, e.g. Technology, Art, PE.
The image shows the Period allocations screen which totals up the classes in the Year 7 Class data. The first table highlighted shows the classes that are set up as letter group classes, along with the number of periods for each class. The second table highlighted shows the TEC classes, which are set up as number group classes. This example may exist because TEC classes must have fewer students than all other classes, so more TEC classes need to run. Students will be re-distributed into number groups for the TEC classes.
Refer also to: E10 - How to: Mix groups
Students: students are assigned only one letter and/or only one number.
The Class data screen shows the letter and number Group entries in the Line column.
Shortcut tip: in the Line column of Class data, simply hit G (for Group) then the appropriate letter or number. No need to type out the whole text! Also use Control C and Control V for copying and pasting.
Letter groups
Letters A - Z can be used.
Number groups
Up to 19 different number groups can be used: digits 0,1,…,9 and the following punctuation characters: $ % & { } ~ ` < > (the 'honorary digits'). No other character is allowed.
Suggested mapping is:
Group 7-9 (Class #9)
Group 7-0 (Class #10)
Group 7-$ (Class #11)
Group 7-% (Class #12) and so on
Nested groups
A class can be 'nested' with another class in more complex scenarios. This can be useful for class list management, as well as structurally sound timetabling.
Example: Maths classes are all on the same line, Line 1. The Science class lists must be the same as the Maths class lists. As the Maths class lists are on a Line, i.e., they are not Group classes, we need another way for E10 to know how to place students into the Science classes, so that the user does not need to manually do so.
The image shows that the Science classes are grouped to the Maths classes. The text in the Line column is entered as 'Group' followed by the class code of that is must match. E10 will automatically place the same students from the Maths class into the grouped science class.
Timetabling group classes
Classes with the same group type cannot run at the same time. It would not be structurally correct to place a Group 7A class on at the same time as another Group 7A class.
The image shows the red S (structural clash) that would display if the user forced two Group 7A class on at the same time (rest assured, E10 would not do this).
Group classes create significantly more timetabling flexibility than lined classes. The more freedom E10 has, the better your chances are of producing a good timetable.
Linked classes
Sometimes classes do not fall into either a Line structure nor a Group structure. In this case, we may need to leave the Line field empty, and simply link the class to another so that E10 understands how the class should be placed onto the timetable.
The image shows an example of where there are four English letter group classes. There are also two additional English support classes. 7ENGS1 is linked to 7ENGA, as some students will be withdrawn from 7ENGA to do 7ENGS1 instead. Likewise, 7ENGS2 is linked to 7ENGC for the same purpose. E10 understands where to place these English Support classes onto the timetable. Class list management is left to the user to manually withdraw the appropriate students from 7ENG classes and place them into 7ENGS classes.
Checking class data structures
To check that the entries in Class data make sense to E10 , prior to timetabling, the following screens will be visited:
Classes > Period allocations: E10 totals up the number of periods for classes, according to the Line entry structures, and highlights if there is a conflict.
Classes > Year structure: E10 displays a sample Year timetable of how the classes could be placed onto a timetable. The structure for each year level is checked here prior to timetabling in the Master grid.
Refer to:
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