This lesson comprises an optional part of student scheduling and covers the process of generating course requests en masse. Since packages are course requests that will be assigned to a student group, they are most useful when the vast majority of students need to receive the same course. For example, if most 7th grade students take a core English, math, science and social science course, you can create a 7th grade package, add the core English, math, science, and social science courses, and then create an exclusion group for students in honors courses. Please note, the “student group” that will be given course requests via a package must be created before assigning students to a package.
For users who have completed master scheduling in Illuminate before, please note that student groups have replaced scheduling groups.
IMPORTANT: Student groups must be created prior to creating packages (see video). VIDEO: Student Groups
Where to Start
1. You must be logged in under the school year for which you are impacting scheduling, as well as a specific school site. Confirm in your Control Panel that you are now logged in under the upcoming school year.
2. If you are not, use the Change Student Set / Site in the Control Panel to log in under the upcoming school year.
1. Click the Scheduling tab.
2. Under Course Requests, click Packages.
Create Course Request Package
Click Create Package.
1. Enter a name by which you can later identify the package (such as a short description on the type of student to which it applies). These packages are typically named by grade level ex: 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade etc.
2. Select the appropriate student group from the drop-down menu.
3. Click Submit.
Recall that student groups must be created prior to using packages.
Student Groups allow you to classify students by any category of your choosing so you can use them in conjunction with scheduling packages to schedule/exclude students from course packages quickly and efficiently.
A benefit to creating such groups is that can also share access to those students with other users and/or view the site and its reports through the lens of that group.
For example, you might want to assign students to an "Honors English" student group based on grades, assign Special Ed. students to a case carrier based on selected students or Special Ed. classification, assign students to a "Struggling Students" student group based on test scores, assign students by name and/or section to a teacher who has a job share with another teacher and her roster, etc. Since you can design any student group label, the possibilities are endless.
You can then share that student group with other users and give them "visibility" permissions so they can opt to log in under the student group to gain access to the students within (as well as their test scores, etc.) when viewing particular reports (e.g., Student Profile Report, custom report, etc.). Meanwhile, you can also give yourself "visibility" to log in under your student group (for the same reasons).
Please refer to our Create a Student Group help document.
Student Group Considerations for Scheduling
- Name your Student Group according to how you will use it for Scheduling (for example, if you are wanting to assign Honors courses to this group, perhaps include "Honors" in the name)
- Visibility must be set to Yes for use in Packages
Adding Courses to a Package
1. Select the Courses tab.
2. Select Add Course from the dropdown menu and click the > button.
3. Select a course you want to add to the package (so that every student assigned to the package receives this course in his or her schedule).
4. The priority for course requests created via the package can also be set here. The default value is 1, but you may alter it if you like for less-crucial course selections.
5. If this is a single-term course, you should select the term during which it takes place (e.g., Fall Semester). If this is a year-long course, you should leave the default (Auto Select) selected.
6. To add more courses, click the + button.
7. Click Submit.
Repeat these steps until you have added all of the package's course requests.
Deletions, Exclusions and Exclusion Replacements
1. Note that you may delete any course you no longer want by clicking the box next to the course name then selecting Remove Course from the dropdown menu. Click the > button to complete.
2. You can also add an exclusion to a course, see #2 con't below.
2. Con't. If you want to exclude a particular group of students from receiving this package of course requests, you must have set up the group ahead of time following the "Manage Student Course Requests via Scheduling Groups" lesson.
3. Select the check box next to the course from which you wish to exclude a specific student group.
4. Select Add Exclusion from the dropdown menu and click the > button.
5. Select the desired group from the Select a Group dropdown.
6. Click Submit. The exclusion group will show in the 'Exclusions' column. You can exclude more than one student group per course if you wish.
To remove this group, simply click on the check box next to the group name and click Remove Exclusion.
Exclusion Replacements
1. Click on the fork icon next to a course name under exclusions to add a replacement course.
2. Use the dropdown menu to select the replacement couse.
3. Click Save.
Your replacement couse will display underneath the original exclusion, to remove it at any time, select the X button.
Individual Student Exclusions
The 'Student Exclusions' tab displays any individual students you have excluded from this course. You can re-include these students by clicking on the blue 'X' and selecting Okay when asked if you're sure you want them included again.
Editing/Deleting Packages
1. To edit a package, select the Pencil/Paper Icon.
2. To delete a package, select the red Trash Can Icon.
Next Steps
Proceed to the next lesson in this manual for support with the next step.