Complex courses

A complex course groups several class meetings that must be placed in paralleled or one after the other. Therefore it can be composed of several teachers and/or several rooms and/or several classes. It allows the representation of all situations (see the case studies in the following pages).

Creation of the complex courses

Create a new complex course

1. Put all the resources of all the class meetings in the new course (New course).
2. Indicate Subject not designated or choose a generic subject created beforehand.

Create a complex course by aligning the already created courses

If you have already created the class meetings, you can reunite them in a complex course with the command Edit > Align the course (Aline the courses (timetable)).

Specification of the complex courses

Specification of a complex course consists of indicating to the software, who sees who (teachers and groups) and how the class meetings are sequenced.

Provide the specification necessary to create the class meetings

1. Go to the tab Timetable > Course >  List.
2. Select the course in which you have added all the necessary resources.
3. In the menu Edit > Specify the complex courses or use the shortcut [Ctrl + R]: the specification window will open.
4. If you have specified a preferential subject for the teachers, it is allocated by default (Subject).If not, specify the subject with a double-click in the column Subject.
5. If one or several class meetings are in co-teaching, select the co-teachers [Ctrl + click], right-click and choose Place in co-teaching (Co-teaching).
6. Double-click in the column Room to indicate the room of every teacher.
7. Click in the column Classes to indicate the classes of the students seen by every teacher. In the popup window, tick:
   • the class parts if the teacher only sees a part of the students of every class,
   • the half-classes if the class is divided into two groups (alphabetic or male/female division),
   • a full class if the teacher sees the students in a full class.
8. If a corresponding group already exists with the same combination (teacher + subject + public), EDT will reuse it. If not, EDT creates a new group, according to the defined naming rules. If ever this new group corresponds to an existing group, indicate it in EDT: double-click in the column Name of the group and select the existing group to be used.
9. If the composition of the groups varies during the year, tick the option Manage as groups with a variable population (Group with a variable population).
10. Select the distribution mode in the drop-down menu. According to the available resources and the specifications provided by the teacher, some modes may not be available.

Delete a class meeting

In the specification window, select a class meeting, right-click and choose Delete. Verify that all the resources of the course are distributed in the class meeting.

Verify in the course form on the left, that all the resources of the complex course are used. The resources that are not allocated to any class meeting appear with the icon .

Unlock the class meetings if possible

If it is not imperative that the class meetings are arranged exactly as you have indicate inside the complex course, un-tick the option Lock the class meetings : at the time of the placement, EDT can eventually invert the weeks and permute the course that follows to optimize the timetables.

Customize the class meetings if necessary

If no default distribution mode suits your situation, select the closest match and later customize the class meetings. The class meetings of the complex courses can be modified like any other course in the timetable grid.

Directly in the grid, you can:

• modify the duration of a class meeting (Course duration);
• modify the frequency of a class meeting in the grid (Frequency of a course).

With the commands available using a right-click, you can:

• duplicate a class meeting;
• delete a class meeting;
• empty a class meeting of its resources.

With the form of the selected class meeting, you can:

• add resources;
• remove resources.

If your base has periods, you can customize the course per period:

• either by selecting an adapted distribution mode  (see the distribution modes 7, 8 and 9);
• or by ticking the option Display the period bar after having chosen a standard distribution mode.

Separation of the class meetings

Disassociate the class meetings of a complex course

1. Go to the tab Timetable > Course > List.
2. Select the complex course and in the menu Edit, select Transform complex courses into simple and independent courses > the selected courses.

Only remove one class meeting from a complex course

1. Go to the tab Timetable > Course >  List.
2. Click on the arrow preceding the teachers' names to unfold the complex course and select the class meeting to be detached.
3. In the menu Edit, select Transform complex courses into simple and independent courses > the selected class meetings.

Note: You can also detach a class meeting from a complex course from the specification window.

Sorting of the complex courses

Only display the complex courses in the list of courses

1. Go to the tab Timetable > Course > List.
2. From the menu Extract, choose Extract the complex courses.

Find the complex courses that are not sufficiently specified

1. Go to the tab Timetable > Course > List.
2. Sort the list of courses in the column D. ( Distribution): the complex courses appear on top of the list. Those whose distribution is not complete are displayed with the icon . The icon  indicates that the course is correctly specified.
3. You can also use the two predefined extractions of the menu Extract:
   • Extract the courses whose specifications do not allow the placement,
   • Extract the courses that are insufficiently specified for PRONOTE.

Printing of the complex courses

Configure the printing for the complex courses in the classes’ timetables

1. Go to the tab Timetable > Course > List.
2. Select the complex courses in the list, right-click and choose the command Modify > Printing class' timetable: name of public and class meetings. The selection window is displayed.
3. By default, during the printing the slot is divided vertically in as many boxes as there are class meetings of complex courses.
4. Tick Consolidate the class meetings of the complex courses if you only want to display one box for the slot (this can be useful to ensure the legibility of information when the number of class meetings is high).
5. Double-click on the information to be displayed (name of the parts or classes). If you choose No preference, it is the options chosen in the printing window from the tab Contents that are taken into account.

Configure the printing for the complex courses in the teachers’ timetables

1. Go to the tab Timetable > Course > List.
2. Select the complex courses in the list, right-click and choose the command Modify > Printing of teacher's timetable: name of public.
3. In the popup window, double-click on the information to be displayed (name of the groups, components or classes). With No preference, it is the options chosen in the printing window from the tab Contents that are taken into account.

Distribution modes

Select the distribution mode in the drop-down menu. (According to the available resources and given specifications, some modes may not be available.)

Mode n°1: A class meeting per teacher (CM). All the teachers see the same group throughout the duration of the course. This is the case for language alignments.

Mode n°2: A class meeting per teacher for every fortnight (SF). Every teacher sees a group in F1 and another in F2.

Mode n°3: The teachers change group in the middle of the course (A). Every teacher sees a group and changes group in the middle of the course.

Mode n°4: The teachers change group in the middle of the course and alternate every fortnight (AF). Every teacher changes group in the middle of the course, and every other week, starts by the other group.

Mode n°5: The teachers change class every fortnight (CF). The class sees a teacher in week F1, and another in week F2.

Mode n°6: Three groups for two classes (3G). Every one of the three teachers sees a group. When you close the specification windows, EDT proposes to duplicate this course twice over and to permute the groups.

Mode n°7: A class meeting per teacher, the students depend on the period (SP). This distribution mode corresponds to a class meeting per teacher (S), to which is added a variation for periods.

Mode n°8: The teachers change groups every period (AP). Every teacher sees a group during a period and changes group the following period. To use this mode, you must have as many teachers as periods (except in the case of co-teaching).

Mode n°9: A specific group changes teacher every period (PP). A single group changes teacher at every period (there is no course planned for the teachers in the periods where he/she does not see the group). To use this mode, you must have as many teachers as periods (except in the case of co-teaching).

Also see

Group with a variable population