Customising the Kit
To customise the Kit to suit your sorting requirements, you must declare them using the Factors sheet.
The following information details all the options you have and how to input your choices:
General Options
| Option |
Meaning & Restrictions |
How to Change |
| Max Classes = |
The maximum number of classes you wish to create in any particular sort (minimum of 2) |
Type the number in cell B1 |
| Link Method = |
The method you want to use to link students (Initial SPACE Surname or Unique ID). Further details on P.5 |
Click the grey button in cell C2 |
| Student Weight = |
Always leave this as 1. You can increase it at a later stage if your class sizes need better balancing |
Type the number in cell E1 |
| Restrict Cols = |
The number of Restriction Elements you require (e.g. if your sort is affected by Language Choice, you will need at least 1 restriction element) |
Type the number in cell E2 |
| Friend Cols = |
The number of Friend columns you wish to have on the List sheet |
Type the number in cell H1 |
| Anti Cols = |
The number of Anti (Keep-Away) columns you wish to have on the List sheet |
Type the number in cell H2 |
Choosing the Linking Method
This can be done using two different methods:
- INITIAL-SPACE-SURNAME is the most popular method. It means that a student called Frasier Heron will be identified as F Heron in the friends or keep-away columns. The disadvantage of this method is that Freda Heron would have the same identifier. To avoid ambiguity, it would be necessary to change Freda's surname to Heron1.
- Unique ID is a method that will avoid all ambiguities. Each student is given a unique pupil number and then these numbers are used in the firends and keep-away columns.
Declaring Your Factors - Options
| Option |
Meaning & Restrictions |
How to Change |
| Status |
Turns the Factor On (if you want to use) or Off (if you don't) |
Click the grey button in cell C5, G5 etc |
| Name |
The name you wish to give the Balancing Factor (e.g. Gender, Ability etc) |
Type the name in cell B6, F6 etc |
| Entry Type |
The type of data you will be using (Text, Integer or Real) |
Click the grey button in cell C7, G7 etc |
Choose Text if you want to use letters or a mixture of numbers and letters (e.g. M, F, White UK, S1, 5P etc)
Fill in the text categories and their weights under the headings
Choose Integer if you want to use whole numbers (1, 4, 102 etc). Fill in the integer categories and their weights under the headings
Choose Real if you want to use any numbers and then balance the students across different ranges (e.g. 0 to 2.5, 2.5 to 5.0, 5.0 to…. etc)
Fill in the "from (& incl)" and "to (not incl)" and their weights under the headings. "from (& incl)" is the minimum, "to (not incl)" is the maximum
|
| Balance Others? |
ON results in the “Others” being forcibly balanced. Only choose ON if you really need them balanced |
Click the grey button in cell C8, G8 etc |
Combining Factors
Each factor has 10 optional "Combination" Factors allowing you to indicate that you also wish to balance the sum of more than one factor. For example, if you wished to balance the total number of students who are "White UK" and "White Other" you could create an entry in Factor 2 as follows
| Name |
Formula |
Weight |
| Total White |
F2C3,F2C4 |
1 |
The formula indicates you want to balance the sum of Factor 2 Category 3 and Factor 2 Category 4. (Note that the comma is not an essential part of the formula).
You can even combine categories from different factors as in the example supplied on the disk.
| Name |
Formula |
Weight |
| Total Beh/Learning |
F4C1,F4C2,F5C1,F5C2 |
1 |
The formula balances the total number of students with behaviour and learning problems (Factor 4 Category 1 plus Factor 4 Category 2 plus etc.)
Building the customised application
Once you have made all your choices click on the Utilities sheet and press the "Build" button. The program will then check that your instructions are valid. If it finds an error the problem will be highlighted and a suggestion as to how to correct it, displayed. If all information is deemed valid the List, Balance, Feeders, Restrictions and Targets sheets will be rebuilt and the chosen settings maintained (even after closing the program) until you again choose to rebuild the application.