Seating Plans

seating plans were added to aplus+ v3 9 1 and extend the attendance recording screen to allow seating to be managed as attendance is recorded seating plans are intended to allow the system to track which seats are available and where students are seated terms and concepts each timetable has a seating plan mode , which is set when the first seating plan is created multiple timetables within one course are independent in terms of seating plans there are three modes occasionally seating layouts inherit from previous sessions but student seat assignments are not inherited always seating layouts + student assignments inherit from previous sessions student defined seating layouts inherit from previous sessions but student seat assignment are not inherited, so that students can assign themselves to seats via their student interface when a seating plan layout is created for a session, it will apply to future sessions as well (depending on the seating plan mode) if those sessions are in the same location if a session is inheriting a seating plan from a previous session in the same location and changes are made to the seating, those changes won’t affect the past seating plan, and will then then apply to future sessions in the same location unless those future sessions have their own seating plans configured sessions which do have seating plan layouts saved are indicated on the attendance sessions calendar and list views with a small chair icon as shown below a seating layout is the arrangement of seats at a location seats can be placed on a grid with a defined width and height and are numbered (a1, a2…b1, b2 etc) although the numbers can be hidden if required student seat assignments are the assignment of a student to a seat typical usage depends on the seating mode never the seating plans option remains available to click through to but unless a seating mode is defined, a seating plan won’t exist occasionally a seating plan is configured for a session when first needed on other occasions when a seating plan is needed, students can be assigned to their seats if sessions are in different locations a new seating layout will need to be created for the location as needed always a seating plan is configured for a session when it’s first needed, with students assigned to seats this seating plan applies to future sessions in the same location, and can be adjusted over time as attendance is recorded should students change seats or new students join the course if sessions are in different locations a new seating layout will need to be created for the location as needed student defined a seating plan is configured with no students assigned, for the first session where students will self enter their seat seat number visibility will need to be enabled the seating layout will persist for future sessions so students can enter their seats according to the seat numbers if sessions are in different locations a new seating layout will need to be created for the location as needed settings the seating plan settings are with attendance settings at admin > attendance > settings note that each of these settings can be set differently for each school/account by first selecting from the drop menu which to apply the setting to, at the top of the attendance settings page enable seating plans set to 'yes' to allow a seating plan to be used when recording attendance default 'no' seating plans disable location set to 'yes' to disable the location sensitivity of seating plans for the purpose of seating plans, sessions are assumed to have the same (unspecified) location default 'no' seating plans show seat number by default set to 'yes' to show seat numbers by default default 'no' each timetable can override this setting in each timetable’s layout options accessing seating plan when seating plans are enabled, when you click through to record attendance as usual – there is an option on the attendance entry screen to select the seating plan view attendance entry list view is always shown when you click through to attendance and so the seating plan must always be selected if a seating plan applies to the attendance session, this will be indicated by an orange icon user access anyone with access to open the attendance entry view to make changes to attendance also has access to seating plans creating a seating plan when you first click through to the seating plan for a timetable, you will be asked to specify the seating plan mode this can be changed later select the option to continue to the next screen you will then confirm additional layout options, which can also be changed later each option is explained below the ‘i’ icon on the lower left can be clicked to see other settings which may be configured for reference all layout options can be changed later location; because a seating plan reflects a physical location, the name of that location is required this will initially be set to the location of the session seating mode; this will already have been selected, but can be edited by clicking the edit icon layout; ‘grid’ is the only layout available which has seats arranged on a grid seat number visibility; will be set to the system default and you can select to show or hide seat numbers seats rows; the number of rows of seats seats per row; the number of seats in each row seating layout and assigning students the seating plan view is shown below in this example screen, no students have been assigned to seats, so all students are on the left unassigned area we can see the location of this layout and that seat numbers are visible the grid has automatically numbered seats starting with a1 on the front (bottom) left if a session does not yet have a layout, the layout (and student assignments depending on the seating plan mode) will be based on the previous session which has a seating plan at the same location, and this will be indicated at the top of the seating plan view the screen below shows that the layout is based on an earlier session to assign students to seats, drag them from the unassigned area to an available seat you are not required to assign all or any students to seats any changes you make to the layout or assigned students will be saved with the layout for the current attendance session, and these changes won’t affect previous sessions changes you make to future layouts or assigned seats won’t affect this layout student view when a seat has been preassigned, students will be shown their assigned seat in the aplus+ attendance student portal it will only show to the student if the session occurs that same day editing attendance to edit attendance for seated or unassigned students, click the student the attendance status, comment (and other relevant options) can be set in the popup window as shown below you can switch between the seating plan and list views to record attendance note that your changes will not be saved until you click the save changes button student entered seats when a student has entered their own seat, this will be indicated by a pointing hand icon as shown (right) you can hover your pointer over the icon to see the seat entered by the student if the seat enters a valid seat number then that student will be seated automatically at that seat if the student does not enter a valid seat number or if they enter the seat number of a filled seat, they will remain in the unassigned area and a warning indicator (see below) will show which can be clicked on to see more information about locations aplus+ supports more than one location for each session, and also for the timetable if a session does not have a location specified then the location of the timetable applies if available each seating plan layout is for one location only multiple locations are not supported – one of the locations must be selected seating plans work best when either all sessions have one location specified, or all sessions have no session specified when sessions are imported from an external system, they would usually have one location specified for each session for the purposes of seating plans, if a session has more than one location, then the “location” of that session will be the first of those locations to have been created within aplus+ this ensures that the system consistently determines the location of the session when it actually has multiple locations when opening the seating plan view for a session which does not have one saved, aplus+ will load the layout from a previous session with the same location if the session does not have a location, then the first previous session with a seating plan will be found, regardless of the location of that seating plan about the warning indicator at the top of the seating plan view a warning indicator may show to indicate a problem encountered with assigning students to seats for the most part this can be ignored unless you’re investigating something click the indicator to see a list of the problems which were encountered possible reasons for problems a student has self entered their seat to a seat which is already occupied – either by a student who has entered the same seat number, or a student who has been manually seated you could make manual changes to the seating assignments based on other information available about who was seating where a student who has a self assigned seat does not exist in the unassigned area possibly because they have already been assigned to a seat, or an unlikely possibility they may have been removed from the session no action required a student who has previously been assigned to a seat manually, no longer exists in the session and cannot be assigned to a seat this is rare and their seat assignment will remain in this case no action required if classes (streams – separate groups of students within a course) are enabled in aplus+ and the session has loaded a seating plan for one class, but students in that class have changed, then students would be expected who are not shown no action required