Manage Seating Charts

Settings > Manage Seating Charts

This page allows you to create and maintain seating charts for all of your classes. The seating chart lists the student name, gender, and ID. The seats are color coded by gender.

Student seats can be rearranged at any time.

You must create a new seating chart for each semester of a course. If the course is more than one semester, you can copy the seating chart to subsequent semesters.

IMPORTANT: It is recommended that you set the Combine Courses in Attendance field on your Update Profile page the way you want it for the semester before creating the seating chart.

About combining and uncombining courses

If you change the setting of the Combine Courses in Attendance field, the data will be preserved as much as possible; however, you must then verify that your seating charts are correct for all periods, make the necessary changes, and then save the seating charts again.

If you change the Combine Courses in Attendance field during the semester, the following applies:

If Combine Courses in Attendance was not originally selected and you have only one course per period, you created a seating chart, and then you selected Combine Courses in Attendance, the seating chart is not affected; however, you must re-save the seating charts for all periods.
If Combine Courses in Attendance was not originally selected and you have some periods with multiple courses (each with its own seating chart), you created a seating chart, and then you selected Combine Courses in Attendance, the following occurs when you retrieve one of the periods on the Seating Chart Setup page:
- Only the seating chart for the first course in the list is preserved.
- The remaining students are displayed under Unassigned Students.
- If the first course in the list has no students enrolled, no seating chart is preserved. You must recreate the chart.
If Combine Courses in Attendance was originally selected and you have only one course per period, you created a seating chart, and then you cleared Combine Courses in Attendance, the seating chart is not affected, you must re-save the seating charts for all periods.
If Combine Courses in Attendance was originally selected and you have some periods with multiple courses, you created a seating chart for students from multiple courses, and then you cleared Combine Courses in Attendance, the following occurs when you retrieve a period/course on the Seating Chart Setup page:
- Only the chart dimensions of the seating chart for the first period/course you attempt to edit is preserved.
- Only seats for students enrolled in the course are preserved.
- The remaining students are displayed under Unassigned Students.
- You must recreate the chart for the other courses that were previously combined in the period.

If a student transfers to the class, he is listed under Unassigned Students.

If a student drops the course, his seat is blank.

Create a seating chart:

Date	Type a date in the MMDDYYYY format, or click to select a date from the calendar. The date is used to verify current enrollment in the class. NOTE: If you are setting up a seating chart before the first day of school, enter the date of the first class.
Semester	The current semester is displayed by default. You can select another semester.
Period	Select the period-course to create a seating chart for. By default, the field displays the first period for which you have not posted attendance. NOTE: If Combine Courses in Attendance is selected on your Settings > Update Profile page, the courses are combined by period.

If a seating chart already exists for the period, the seating chart is displayed.

Layout Options	Select a layout for the seating chart: Alphabetical by row - Students are placed in alphabetical order by last name starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing horizontally, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are at the back of the room. Alphabetical by column - Students are placed in alphabetical order by last name starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing vertically toward the back of the room, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are on the right side of the room. Numerical by row - Students are placed in numerical order by student ID starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing horizontally, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are at the back of the room. Numerical by column - Students are placed in numerical order by student ID starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing vertically toward the back of the room, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are on the right side of the room. Random - Students are placed in random order. If there are more seats than students, the empty seats are at the back of the room. Every time you click Preview Layout, the random order changes; you can try multiple random layouts until you find one that works best. Blank - A blank seating chart is displayed, and all students are listed either beside or below the chart (depending on the size of the chart). You can drag students from the Unassigned Students list to the seating chart. If you previously saved a seating chart and return to this page, the student seats are arranged according to your last saved layout; however, the Layout Options field is always set to Random by default. Even if you selected an alphabetical or numerical arrangement, you may have manually moved students; therefore, the program assumes the students may have been moved.
Rows Columns	Type the number of rows (horizontal) and columns (vertical) for the seating chart. You can have up to 11 rows and 11 columns.

Layout Options

Select a layout for the seating chart:

Alphabetical by row - Students are placed in alphabetical order by last name starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing horizontally, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are at the back of the room.

Alphabetical by column - Students are placed in alphabetical order by last name starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing vertically toward the back of the room, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are on the right side of the room.

Numerical by row - Students are placed in numerical order by student ID starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing horizontally, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are at the back of the room.

Numerical by column - Students are placed in numerical order by student ID starting at the front-left corner of the room (from the teacher’s perspective) and continuing vertically toward the back of the room, filling each seat until all students are placed. Empty seats are on the right side of the room.

Random - Students are placed in random order. If there are more seats than students, the empty seats are at the back of the room. Every time you click Preview Layout, the random order changes; you can try multiple random layouts until you find one that works best.

Blank - A blank seating chart is displayed, and all students are listed either beside or below the chart (depending on the size of the chart). You can drag students from the Unassigned Students list to the seating chart.

If you previously saved a seating chart and return to this page, the student seats are arranged according to your last saved layout; however, the Layout Options field is always set to Random by default. Even if you selected an alphabetical or numerical arrangement, you may have manually moved students; therefore, the program assumes the students may have been moved.

Rows
Columns

Type the number of rows (horizontal) and columns (vertical) for the seating chart. You can have up to 11 rows and 11 columns.

❏ Click Preview Layout.

The seating chart is displayed according to the criteria entered.

REMINDER: When you click Preview Layout, the changes are not saved. You must type your PIN and click Save Seating Chart to save the changes.

Unassigned Students	If there are more students enrolled in the class than seats available, the extra students are listed either beside or below the seating chart (depending on the size of the chart).
Show Pictures	Select to display student photos in the seating chart. Photos are only available if they have been added by the district.

Each seat lists the student's name, gender, and student ID.
You can click the student ID to view the student's profile.
The seats are color-coded by gender. Seats for females are shaded pink, and seats for males are shaded blue.

❏ You can manually arrange students as needed by dragging a student to a new location.

If a student is dragged to a new location that is currently occupied, the two students switch seats.
If the student is dragged to an unoccupied location, his original location becomes unoccupied.
You can drag students to and from the Unassigned Students list. If a student is dragged to a new location that is currently occupied, the two students switch places. The student from the list now has a seat, and the student who had a seat is now in the list.
To re-sort the students using one of the layout options, select an option from the Layout Options field, and then click Preview Layout. The students are sorted according to the new layout.

Save changes:

PIN	Type your four-digit personal identification number (PIN).

❏ Click Save Seating Chart.

Print the seating chart:

❏ Click Print.

The Seating Charts Report Selection page opens allowing you to make selections for running the report.