Exams Organiser Course Manager Exam Links For School Examination Officers

Transcription

1 Warwickshire County Council Exams Organiser Course Manager Exam Links For School Examination Officers Contents Introduction to Courses and Awards... 2 Award Details in Exams Organiser... 2 Using Course Manager to link Courses to Exams Awards... 3 Using Course Manager to link a QWS QAN to a Course... 4 Appendix A - Downloading and Importing the Current QWS QAN Catalogue... 7 Downloading QWS QAN XML Files... 7 Downloading the Required Fields... 8 Importing QANs into SIMS.net... 9 Activating QWS QANs for use in Course Manager... 10

2 Introduction to Courses and Awards Within Examinations Organiser basedata, elements are linked together under a single award. Awards should be arranged so that they represent specific certification options. If the candidate is studying for the award they would be expected to be entered for the associated elements. Students are members of classes, and classes in the same subject at the same level are organised together in Courses. In most cases every student on a particular course will be working towards the same learning aim/qualification. Those qualifications should be represented in Examinations Organiser as awards, and this link is made explicit by linking courses to awards in Course Manager. Ideally there should be a one-to-one link between awards and courses. Award Details in Exams Organiser Trying to link Courses to Awards through route Tools / School Setup / Exam Award in Exams Organiser is no longer possible as the Course is read only in this screen. Page 2 of 10

3 Using Course Manager to link Courses to Exams Awards 1. In SIMS.net, select Tools / Academic Management / Course Manager / Maintain Course. 2. Click Search to display the full list of courses, or use the filters to find the course you need. 3. Ensure that the View Memberships filter is set to Current Academic Year and that you are in the correct Academic Year (check the dates in the From and To boxes). 4. Double click on the course to open the course details. 5. Navigate to the Panel 3 Examinations panel. 6. Click New to the right of the panel. 7. Search for the appropriate Award. 8. Click OK. Only one exam award should be attached to a course at any one time, if there is more than one attached then the system will highlight any affected cells in yellow. To rectify this an end date will need to be added to the old exam award. This is useful to maintain a historical record of previous links. Page 3 of 10

4 The Certification Elements related will also be shown. Click on the Certification Elements Once this has been viewed the window will need to be closed before proceeding. Remember to save the work you have done by clicking on Save (top left of screen). NOTE: There is a report that will help to identify any awards not linked to courses: In Examinations Organiser, select Reports Basedata Structure. Run the report for the appropriate season for the AQA GCSE series and leave the Report Type as Award. The Course column will be blank if no course has been linked. Page 4 of 10

5 Using Course Manager to link a QWS QAN to a Course (See Appendix A Downloading and Importing the Current QAN Catalogue.) The DfE are leaving the QWS QAN and Discount Code combinations in line with what existed for School Census Autumn 2013, while AOs (Awarding Organisations) have modified their combinations in line with government policy on discounting. The majority of changes made to the combinations by AOs are for Key Stage 4, but some changes to AS level qualifications has also taken place to allow discounting between GCSE and AS level. The above is awkward for School Census Autumn 2014, as the DfE requires QWS QAN and Discount Code combinations, while many aspects or Examinations Organiser require the AO QAN and Discount Code Combinations. The SIMS.net software supplier intends to map the QWS QAN s and AO QANS in order to facilitate links for the 2014 Census. It is therefore important for the AO QAN and QWS QAN to be linked into Post 16 Courses. 1. In SIMS.net, select Tools / Academic Management / Course Manager / Maintain Course. 2. Click Search to display the full list of courses, or use the filters to find the course you need. 3. Double click on the course to open the course details. 4. Navigate to the Panel 4 Classification panel. 5. In the example shown, a QAN already exists. If this is the case at your school, check this is a current QAN (see QAN Expiry column). If it is, no further action is required. If not, you will need to attach the current QAN by clicking on the New button to the right of the panel. Page 5 of 10

6 6. In the Select Code box displayed highlight QAN in the top half of the screen. The bottom panel will display all QANs made available for Course Manager that have not yet been attached to a Course. If known, populate the Containing Code box and click on Go, the corresponding code will be highlighted, click on OK to add to Course. 7. The new QAN will be displayed in Panel 4, if the row is highlighted yellow, put a date in the To box next to the old QAN and ensure there is a date in the From box next to the new QAN. 8. Click on Save to save the new QAN in the Course (top left of screen). Page 6 of 10

7 Appendix A - Downloading and Importing the Current QWS QAN Catalogue Even though the way SIMS deals with Performance Measures information has changed, before you commence the new process it is recommended that you download and import the latest QAN catalogues from the DfE QAN Website. Courses need to have the correct QWS QAN code in the classification panel of the course in Course Manager in order for the Exam Analysis reports, Marksheets and Clash Analysis to run correctly. In Post 16 schools this link is also critical for Post 16 Census. There are several steps required to ensure that correct QWS QAN is attached to a course which are shown below. It is recommended that this is done regularly throughout the Academic Year and before the end of term in July as the QAN Catalogue is updated frequently. Downloading QWS QAN XML Files The DfE maintains this list and data is available for download from the following DfE QAN Website: Above the latest news, close to the top of the first screen, click the generic QAN data link. A list of available files will be displayed: Page 7 of 10

8 Four files are needed from the Generic QAN Data / Data in XML Format area: Current QAN.xml (QAN_Current_<version>.xml) Awarding Bodies (QAN_AB_<version>.xml) Discount Codes (QAN_DiscCode_<version>.xml) Qualification Types (QAN_QualType_<version>.xml) Click the applicable buttons to download the files, which should be stored on the local computer ready for import (see below). Downloading the Required Fields 1. Create a new folder in a memorable place on your computer. 2. Navigate to the DfE QAN website as above. 3. Click the Generic QAN data link. 4. Click the Awarding Bodies XML button. 5. Save the file to the new folder created in Step Repeat the process for the other files. Page 8 of 10

9 Importing QANs into SIMS.net 1. Within SIMS.net select Tools / Exams / Import Qualification Data, click OK when prompted to confirm that your download is up to date. 2. Click the Browser button to the right of each of the four fields. Browse to the files in the folder created earlier into which the files were downloaded from the QAN Website. 3. Select the files as appropriate. As long as you have selected the correct file name for each file type, when you click the Import Catalogue Files button, the files are automatically imported in the correct order. This may take a few minutes. An activity Log dialog is displayed once the import is completed. 4. The Select Performance Measures panel may also need to be populated. Latest Performance Measures files may be included in the SIMS Summer Upgrade and therefore will not need to be imported using this screen. However, there may be occasion where the file will need to be imported here, such as the omission of the file in upgrades or subsequent updates. Files to be manually imported will be available for download from the MIDAS WeLearn365 portal when available. They will need to be saved to a folder on your machine and then imported by going to the above screen and browsing to the saved location and then clicking on Import Performance Files. Page 9 of 10

10 Activating QWS QANs for use in Course Manager Although the entire QWS QAN catalogue has been downloaded and imported, only a small selection of QWS QAN codes need to be present for selection within either Edit PI Data screen or Course Manager. If a code is required and it is not present in these areas, it is necessary to make it available. 1. Select Tools / Statutory Return Tools / Update QANs and Discount Codes for Course Manager. 2. The QAN catalogue contains thousands of records and clicking the search title button would load the entire list to be browsed and may take some time. Awarding body, level of the qualification and title contents can all be used in combination to narrow the search. 3. Select the qualification required, and then click the Add button to move the selection into the lower field and click the Update button (top left of screen). NB. If a classification is already active in Course Manager it cannot be located in the catalogue. This can be checked in Tools/Academic Management/Course Manager/Maintain Course Classification. For details of how to link an Award and QAN to a code please see separate document Linking Courses to Awards and QANs. Page 10 of 10