This lesson will walk you through the creation and editing of timeblocks for your district/site.
Where to Start
1. Click on the Administration Gear.
2. Under School, click Timeblock Management.
3. Select a Session from the drop-down menu for which you want to add a timeblock (e.g., full day at an elementary, Period 1, Period 2, etc.).
4. Click Search.
5. Click Create Timeblock.
1. Enter Timeblock Name (e.g., Full Day, Period 1, etc.) and a timeblock Short Name that should be either the same or shorter (e.g., Full Day, Per. 1, etc.). Note that if you use homerooms, you should create a period for the homeroom, as later you can indicate that the period represents homeroom.
2. Enter a Short Name for the timeblock so that it appears on the Schedule Board.
3. Select the Academic Year.
4. Select the session you created in earlier steps (for example, is this for a normal 2011-2012 school year - as opposed to summer school - you would select 2012 Normal).
5. Select Yes for Is Primary in most cases. "Is Primary" should be Yes for most timeblocks, as it indicates periods that are part of the "main" bell schedule, as opposed to things like 0 period or after-school periods that are not part of the main bell schedule. This selection impacts some of the scheduler, the schedule board, The Incomplete Schedules Report and any other scheduling-related reports in the Illuminate system that filter results to just the main part of the day.
6. Also save this to- save to multiple sites.
7. Click Save.
Note: A timeblock will need to be set at the district site.
If this site should have multiple timeblocks/periods, continue to click "Create Timeblock" and repeat the above steps as necessary until all timeblocks are added.
Note some of the things you can do at this point:
1. Use the icons to the left of any timeblock to edit, view timeblock occurrences, or delete.
2. Click the Make Homeroom link next to a timeblock (e.g., Period 1) to indicate that it serves as a homeroom period.
If a Timeblock/Period is selected as a Homeroom (aka Yes):
- This flags a student's 'Homeroom' in the student banner/ribbon. The student ribbon is the basic info area across the top of the screen after you select a student.
- This also allows for homeroom sorting in other areas of the system (e.g. STAR PRE-ID, CELDT PRE-ID, etc.)
- Allows you to filter by Homeroom in custom reports.
3. Click a download icon to download your timeblock list as a Microsoft Excel workbook (xls), Adobe Reader (pdf), text document, or data (xml) file.
4. Use the up (^) or down (v) arrows after any timeblock to change its order in relation to the other timeblocks/periods.
5. If you want to change the number of timeblocks listed on your screen at once, use the Show drop-down menu to select a different number.
6. Click Next, Last, or a page number to view other pages of timeblocks.
This is where you will add the actual bell schedule (start and end times per period).
From Timeblock Management, click on the Calendar/Clock icon next to the timeblock you would like to add an occurrence for.
Note: While most elementary schools do not have typical periods, timeblock occurrences still need to be set in order for the ADA reports to run. They can be as basic as the start and end times for each type of day. The question about what to do with kindergarten always comes up. At this time it is not necessary to be super specific about kindergarten and it can be treated as the rest of the grade level timeblocks unless you would like to see a separate "period" listed out on the scheduling board for it. Keep in mind that the grade level is also listed on the scheduling board.
Occurrences should ONLY be added to timeblocks in which attendance is going to be taken. If you have timeblocks in which sections tied to those timeblocks will have attendance disabled, adding occurrences to those timeblocks will skew your Attendance Reporting (ADA) data.
Once you have selected your timeblock, at the top click Add Timeblock Occurrence.
1. Start Time - Enter a start time for the timeblock.
2. End Time - Enter an end time for the timeblock.
3. Day Type - Select a type of Normal, Weekend, Holiday.
4. Day of Week - Monday through Saturday
5. Week Number - Leave at Week 1
6. Click Save.
You will be prompted with Timeblock Saved at the top of your page.
Illuminate Tip: While a timeblock needs to be created for the district site it will not be necessary to create timeblock occurrences for the district site unless there is a rare case where students are actually scheduled to courses taking place at the district office.
1. Start Time - Enter a start time for the timeblock.
2. End Time - Enter an end time for the timeblock.
3. Day Type - Select a type of Normal, Weekend, Holiday.
4. Day of Week - Monday through Saturday
5. Week Number - Leave at Week 1
6. Click Save.
You will be prompted with Timeblock Saved at the top of your page.
Bell Schedule is available to view as a List or Agenda. This is a feature that let's you see your timeblocks in a more familiar way.
List View
List View displays the timeblock management or schedule in a list form as opposed to the TImeblock List. You can sort the various headers to see the list in a particular order.
Agenda View
Agenda View displays the timeblock management or schedule in similar to a calendar, allowing for a clearer understanding of timeblocks and their structure. It is also a more user friendly view to make available for users.
Next Steps
Now that your timeblocks are all set, let's move onto learning how to Manage Course Catalog.