MarkBook Attendance Grid Screen

    MarkBook^®     section 6-2

Attendance Grid and Data Entry
Reach this screen from MarkBook's Main Operating screen, section 3-1, by clicking on the Attendance button. Use this attendance grid or the seating plan grid, section 6-3, to record daily student attendance or to edit same. There are as many as 36 user-definable attendance codes available in MarkBook.

On this sample screen is a fictitious class with attendance for one month. MarkBook automatically opens this screen to the current month provided that your computer's clock is properly set. Change months by clicking the Month pop-down menu at the upper left as shown.
GRID ENTRY

Attendance Entry Grid Screen

To record an absence, use your mouse to locate and click the appropriate cell. Your default character at the bottom of this screen will appear - an "A" in this example. The four columns to the right of the student's name will immediately update. YTD is "Year To Date". To select your second default, click the cell again. In this example an "L" will replace the "A". To clear the cell, click it a third time.

To alter the sequence, use the toggles at the bottom of this screen to place other codes in your click sequence. Once entered, all attendance data will be summarized on the analysis screens and on the reports that you print.

Use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars to move through the entire class or through all days of the month.

FLOATING CELL ENTRY

Floating Cell Attendance Entry System

If you use numerous attendance codes, use the Floating Cell input method. Check the Use Floating Input cell at the upper right of the grid.

Click on the attendance grid cell of choice. With the Use Floating Input cell checked, a yellow toggle image appears with *No Code* as the default. Click the down toggle and select one of your attendance code options from the drop-down menu. F for Field trip is being selected in this image. Note the value of zero. This trip is a school sponsored event and the subject teacher does not plan to count it this student's record of absent classes.

The Print tab near the top right enables a printout of this class for the current month. You will have the option of selecting a blank form (names but no attendance data filled in) OR printing the form with the attendance data merged. If you have installed the bar code font from your MarkBook 2003 CD into your Windows Font Folder, you will also be able to print bar-coded attendance forms. Individual summaries may be printed as well. Go to section 6-4 to see a sample of each of these kinds of attendance printouts.

The Seating tab at the top will move you to the seating plan attendance entry screen as described in section 6-3.

Save will save all updated data and exit this screen.

If you wish to alter the size of any cell, use your mouse to grab the black lines in the blue-gray name area and drag these to create a new height or width. The change will not save when you click on Save.

PalmOS & POCKET PC HANDHELD ATTENDANCE ENTRY

If you have classes on your PDA handheld, as described in section 2-3, you have the option of entering attendance data on the handheld and then transferring that data to MarkBook on your PC. Launch MarkBook CNX. Tap the Start button. Then touch the current class on the handheld to select it. Touch the Attendance button. The handheld will move to a screen similar to the following.

If the handheld's internal clock is set properly, the current week will display. Tap any grid cell with the handheld's stylus. A will appear in the cell. Tap the cell again to get the next code like M, P, or L. If you have defined custom codes as in section 6-1, these will cycle as you continue to tap the same cell.

Select any other week with the Select Week button. Tap Done when finished.

HotSync or Active Sync to move the collected data from the PDA back to MarkBook on the PC.

ATTENDANCE PRINTING

Attendance Printing Options

Click the Print tab in the first image above to get this screen. There are two kinds of printouts available. Print a Grid for the whole class and Summary reports for one or more individuals. The Bar Coded Form cell adds bar codes to your monthly attendance form. The Blank Form prints a monthly form with no merged data. Uncheck it to print a form with all entered codes in each student's record.

The Summary from .... section enables an individual printout for the whole class (select Class and Print Summary) or one or more selected students. Print and send an Individual summary for troublesome individuals to administrators, counselors, and parents. While it's unlikely that you would need to print a report for each student in class, the Sequentially from cell permits this.

Manual: Go to section 6-3 to see how to record attendance data from the seating plan.