Sunday, October 14, 2012

Data driven seating charts

I finished up what seems to be a working automatic seating chart creator. It is meant to be an add-on for those using my course management system. The idea is that after a given assessment or data point, a seating chart can be made to organize what will be happening in class that day with minimal time spent on creating the chart itself. A teacher could group by higher or lower ability or heterogeneous for peer-to-peer tutoring in a review session.
The new feature is included for those new to downloading my template but for those already using it you'll have to install a script:
  1. From your course management file menu choose "Tools" then "Script Editor".
  2. A new tab will open, in that tab click on the "File" menu, choose "New" and then "Script File"
  3. Call it "Seats" and paste in this code.
  4. After doing so, click the "save" icon and then in the "Run" menu, choose "installSeats". You may have to authorize the script and then make the selection again.
  5. You should have a new sheet on your system now titled "Seats".
  6. To make a chart, select a test in the yellow cell and then in the columns to the right type in numbers 1-(max of 60). The 1 represents the lowest score, and as you move up these represent students that performed better on the given assessment. After filling in all values for your largest class size, click the "Create Chart Formula" button--you may have to authorize the script and click it again.
  7. Now when you change classes and units in the dashboard sheet this chart will update based on your selections. If you want multiple arrangements just duplicate the sheet, reset it and do a different configuration.
Now Google really can make your seating charts!


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