VCAT Class Lists
Quite some time ago, Steve and I had this discussion via email:
Kim's Question: I will be updating class lists in VCAT soon. Would you please remind me of what you told me to consider if I use the student import feature to do this? I recall you saying something about if it is a small list of kids, it may be better to go in and change them manually. If it isn't, is there a down side to using the student import feature that I should know about? To my knowledge, this will be a combination of adding new kids and updating class room/home room/team assignments for kids who have been moved.
Steve's Answer: When importing class lists, the importer compares the entire input file to what is in VCAT for the selected school. If the input file contains all of the assignments exactly as you want them, tell it to “Remove Existing Assignments” when the importer asks and students will be removed from their old assignments and moved to their new ones. If the input file in incomplete or you have made changes manually in VCAT that you want to keep, then select “Leave Existing Assignments” and it will just add assignments and not remove any. In this case you will have to figure out which old assignments to remove manually.
I recently updated class lists and made a couple of mistakes, which resulted in new Courses being created, as well as students getting more than one assignment because I chose to Leave Existing Assignments. My question is, have you come up with a way to figure out which old assignments need to be removed manually? Or, would it be best to redo the whole thing and pay a lot more attention to ensure my Course and Section names are an exact match to what's already in VCAT?
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Support Staff 2 Posted by Steve Peery on 30 Sep, 2009 05:07 PM
Hi Kim,
The much delayed answer is that the way it is now, VCAT will by default (if you select remove existing when offered in the importer) make the student assignments in VCAT match the import file. It will remove all assignments to incorrect courses and sections but it will not remove courses and sections. I have added this suggestion to my list of future changes. The other issue with this is that sometimes users intentionally want VCAT to be different from the imported file. I intend to address this by marking courses and section that were created by the importer so they can be treated differently than the ones created manually.
Steve Peery closed this discussion on 30 Sep, 2009 05:07 PM.