Preamble
This document is intended to assist Western Australian users to generate lines. There are several options on how this can be done;
The first thing to consider is how the Year 12 lines will be decided. The options are:
- promote the current Year 11 line classes into Year 12 classes, keeping the same structure and class lists
- reprocess new Year 12 lines
Refer to the following documents:
Once Year 12 is decided, the lines across the rest of the school can be constructed. Again, there are some options:
- generate cohesive lines for all remaining year levels altogether, around the Year 12 lines
- first generate lines for Year 11 only, and then generate lines for Year 7-10, around the Years 11+12 lines
This document will discuss option 'a'.
This document assumes that the following steps have occurred:
- Subject teachers have been updated
Refer to the following document:
E10 - Teacher: Subject Teachers
- Subject rooms have been updated
Refer to the following document:
E10 - Rooms - Subject rooms - Part-time staff requirements have been updated
Refer to the following document:
E10 - Teacher Data (F2)
- Datasets have been set up and student preferences collected
Refer to the following documents:
- E10 - Datasets: Set up and Types
- Elective data > Courses and Line Generation
- Elective data > Students
Completion of each of the above processes are crucial to the success of the line generation outcome.
Cohesive Lines
The aim is to create cohesive lines from Years 12 down to 7, as shown in the Line results image.
The Master grid with cohesive lines as shown in the image below.
Advantages of cohesive line generation include;
- a higher success rate of granting students their preferences across all year levels
- overall staffing and rooming is improved, with better class spreads
- reducing the number of teacher and room clashes in the final stage of construction
- easier staff shuffling across classes
The image above displays a common 30 period grid scenario:
- Year 12 & 11 courses run for 5 periods across 6 lines
- Year 10 study 2 electives for 4 periods across 2 lines, and MESH courses for 4 periods across 4 lines
- Year 9 study 6 semester based electives for 2 periods across 3 lines, and MESH courses for 4 periods across 4 lines
- Year 8 study 6 semester based electives for 2 periods across 3 lines, and MESH courses for 4 periods across 4 lines
- Year 7 study 12 term based electives for 2 periods across 3 lines, and MESH courses are group classes, therefore will not form part of line generation
This scenario will be used as the basis for this document, and users can alter their own data to reflect their required own outcomes.
Many of the steps are covered in detail in other Knowledge base articles and will be linked to where possible.
Steps to create a cohesive line solution
Set up Courses
- Create a multi-year level dataset, including Years 7-11
Refer to: E10 - Set up multiple/composite year elective classes for line generation - Set up course data
Refer to: E10 - Elective data: Populate Elective data screens with subjects
Set up Course Parameters
- Go to Lines > Elective data (F10) > Courses
- From the Action Bar, select Parameters
- #Elective lines: enter the number of lines you are creating (usually 6 or 7)
- #Elective lines: In the above image, Year 7, would need 3/6 entered, as the lines are to run only on 3 of the 6 lines
- Units per line:
- 4, if you are running term based classes in any year level
- 4, if you are running 'sub lines' such as we see in Year 9 > Line 4 in the image above (Line 4 spans 5 periods overall, but Year 9 has 2 period lines. Therefore, we can fit two Year 9 lines under a single senior line)
- 2, if all lines will contain year long classes and there is no need for 'sub lines' - Timetable around yr: select Yr12 in the dropdown
- Rotated: Tick to allow sublines or rotated classes
When selecting Year 12 to generate the lines around, Edval refers to the Year 12 class data screen. Ensure the data in this screen is correct and up to date prior to generating any lines around it.
Enter Course Units
- In the Year 11 Courses table > Units column, change units to 4
- In the Year 10 Courses table > Units column, change units to 4
- In the Year 9 Courses table > Units column, change MESH units to 4, year long electives to 2 and semester electives to 1
- In the Year 8 Courses table > Units column, change MESH units to 4, year long electives to 2 and semester electives to 1
- In the Year 7 Courses table > Units column, change units to 1
Enter Rules and Constraints
Enter rules and constraints as required.
Blocking MESH Courses
Some schools might like to block all their Mathematics classes on the same line, English on the same line etc. Other schools like to create half blocks, for example English/Mathematics, Science/Humanities.
Collect student preferences
Most schools will use the Edval Choice online subject selection module. Alternatively, preferences may be entered manually or imported from a spreadsheet.
Generate lines
Proceed with line generation. Cohesive lines will be created across years 7-11 ensuring later success at the time of timetable construction.
Schools who prefer to focus on generating the Year 11 lines first before considering the Years 7-10 lines would follow a slightly different procedure:
- Generate Year 11 lines around Year 12
- Create Year 11 classes
- Generate Year 7-10 lines around Years 11+12
- Create classes
Refer to the document
Refer to all Line generation documentation
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