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Asylum Software Inc. - October 2010 Newsletter

1. LogiNotes Mise-à-jour

Nos avons composé une mise-à-jour pour LogiNotes qui se trouve affiché au site-web. Celle-ci sera requise seulement si vous planifiez à rendre un rapport de données électronique vers Trillium. La mise-à-jour comprend les sept habilités d'apprentissage et habitudes de travail récemment ordonnés par le Ministère de l'Éducation et autres zones qui se trouvent au nouveau bulletin scolaire de l'Ontario. Veuillez cliquer ci-dessous pour vous abonner du fichier. Faites certain de savoir l'endroit sur l'ordinateur où il se trouve et puis faites le double-clic pour l'exécuter. Le programme de transfert qui s'appèlle LNT_2010.exe dans la racine C:/LgNt2010/ pour compléter le nouveau bulletin scolaire.

http://www.asyluminc.com/downloads/files/LNT10_MAJ.exe

2. For Our Many Ontario Users - MarkBook Update for the Secondary Report Card

If you submit your Ontario report data by sending an export file to Trillium, Maplewood, eSIS, PeelSIS or Trevlac, we have a necessary update to match the new provincial report card. If you don’t use Ontario reports or you don’t send data directly from MarkBook as a file, this update isn’t mandatory. See the Universal Transfer Mechanism described in section 3 below.

For affected teachers: your MarkBook 2010 (Windows) version number is in the upper right corner of the "Open a Class" screen. If it’s version 10.4, you’ll need the update to version 10.5 or higher. For Trevlac clients, v10.5.3 dated Oct 15 or later is required.

If in doubt, get the update!

If you have MarkBook 2010 installed, use the following link to get version 10.5.3. Or, with any class open, click on "Help" and select the option to "Update on-line". After the website survey, select the option to save the update file to a known location on your computer. You could copy this file to a USB stick and use it to update MarkBook 2010 on numerous computers using the following instructions:

  1. close MarkBook.
  2. double click on the downloaded file name to start installation. It’s a self-extracting zip file.
  3. the zip file is designed to replace older files in MarkBook 2010's default location, C:/MkBk2010/. If your copy of MarkBook is installed in another location, use the "Browse" option in the zip installer to point it to the folder where MarkBook is installed.
  4. launch MarkBook – it should show 10.5.3 as the new version number.
  5. let your colleagues know.

The following changes are included:

  1. a bug that appeared when attaching a template file to a new Mark Set is fixed.
  2. the recording table under each student’s name on a printed seating plan used to be a 5X5 grid. You’ll now have the option of choosing any combination of rows and columns from 1X1 up to 6X6. This may be useful for tracking six learning skills on a seating plan.
  3. teachers can now merge each student's code name onto a private printed MarkBook report card. This is a convenient way of letting the parents know how to identify their child on a code name class report posted on the Internet.
  4. if the user has not yet identified Learning Skills, v10.5.3 defaults to the new six Ontario skills. If a user has already setup a list of skills in an earlier version, they can go to "Learning Skills > Setup" and load the installed scheme called Ontario LS. Users can also load and track Behaviours, Class Performance, Thinking Skills and other items of their own choice. See section 8-13 of the Reference Manual in the "Help" menu and on the website.
  5. MarkBook defaults to the new Levels-to-Percentage conversion scheme in Growing Success.
  6. "I" is allowed in transfer files to the official report cards.

3. Universal Transfer Mechanism for Report Cards

Both MarkBook and LogiNotes have a universal transfer mechanism for sending data to other reports and the update above isn't needed to make this work. Both will send data to any report card application that's capable of handling a "Paste" command. Virtually all student information systems have a data entry screen for teachers that performs this function. This includes on-line applications like TWEA and MxWeb.

To activate the transfer mechanism, click "Comments" in the upper menu bar and select "Transfer Mode". In LogiNotes, "Commentaires / Mode transfert". Details on use are in the MarkBook "Help" menu / Reference Manual, section 13-4. Or download the manual from the MarkBook website.

4. Using the "Assessment Type" Tool

The last newsletter discussed MarkBook's Type Tool. Of course, only the Summative assessments should be considered in the assignment of an overall mark on a formal report card (as opposed to an Interim report). To temporarily remove the others, uncheck the unwanted Types. Now, the unchecked Types will be excluded from the calculations, analysis and reports.

For discussion and detail on using the Type function in MarkBook, see the "Five Types of Assessments" in Appendix A-2 of the MarkBook Reference manual, "Type" in section 8-2, and the suggestions throughout chapters 9, 11 and 12. The manual is installed with MarkBook - open any class, drop down the "Help" menu and click on "Reference Manual". Or, browse the C:/MkBk2010/Manuals/ directory. The latest version of the manual (Aug/10) can be downloaded from our website.

5. Interim Reports

Recognizing the benefits of frequent reporting, many districts and schools have developed interim reporting policies. However, in the absence of such policies, some teachers are reluctant to send home early reports because they feel that an overall mark is misleading if presented too early in the term. There's a solution: any teacher may exclude both a mark and a level from any MarkBook report.

6. e-Newsletter

We send this e-Newsletter three to five times each year. As always, you may forward this Email to colleagues and/or post it in chat rooms. If you'd like to get future e-Newsletters directly, please send your name and email address to robh@markbook.com with "Add Me" in the subject line.

7. MarkBook CY 2011 For Our Southern Hemisphere Clients

MarkBook CY 2011 ('Calendar Year' - for schools with a Jan-Dec academic year) is now available. Most of the schools using the 'CY' version of MarkBook are in or near the southern hemisphere. However, some southern hemisphere schools use a Sep-Aug academic year, particularly those associated with a European or North American education system.

There's a 2011 CY demo on our website and full-function copies are available from your distributor. Other than the difference in academic year, MarkBook CY 2011 is identical to the latest version of MarkBook 2010 v10.5.3 used in the northern hemisphere (academic year Sep-Aug) and described in item #2 above.