Copying and Replacing

A major feature of the Subject record’s Assessment Items tab is the ability to copy assessment items in bulk, using the Copy assessment items icon.

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It allows the copying of assessment items:

•	From one subject to other subjects in the currently selected academic cycles.

•	Within the same subject.

•	To make changes to the same items across many subjects.

Note that the Rollover window is available to copy assessment items from one academic cycle's subjects to the equivalent subjects in another cycle.

When copying assessment items, in any of the above situations, Accelerus will check to see that the code being copied does not already exist in the subject being copied to. If it does, a warning box appears, informing you that a potential duplication has been detected, as shown here.

The message includes the code of the assessment item that already exists and the subject in which the duplication has been found.

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You are presented with 6 actions, each used in different situations.

Action option	Usage
Skip this Assessment Item	Does not copy the assessment item to the subject stipulated in the potential duplication message and continues to the next potential duplication which may be the same assessment item in another subject.
Copy this Assessment Item using the code [code][suffix]	This option renumbers the assessment item as it copies it to the subject nominated in the duplication message. If the assessment item does not have a numeric suffix, it adds 1 to the end of the code, eg BEH will be copied as BEH1. If the assessment item ends with a number, the number is incremented, eg BEH1 becomes BEH2, BEH99 becomes BEH100, etc. This is very useful when copying within a subject.
Always copy this Item by renumbering	This is the default option when the potential duplication box is first displayed. If chosen, it renumbers the assessment item in the same way as the previous option but repeats the action for all subjects where the same duplication is discovered, not just the displayed subject. Therefore, all instances of BEH1 found in subjects being copied to will be copied as BEH2, and the message will not appear again for this particular assessment item.
Replace the existing [code]	This option deletes the existing item and inserts the new one in its place for the currently stipulated subject, ie it replaces it.
Always replace this item if exists	The same action as the previous option, replacing the assessment item in all selected subjects where the duplication is discovered. The message will not be displayed again for the particular assessment item. This is a very useful means by which identical assessment items across subjects may be modified in bulk.
Abandon the copying process	Any items already copied prior to the potential duplication box appearing and this option being chosen, remain. This option will not attempt to copy any more items, but cancel out of the copying process.

The potential duplication box has the option Always copy this Item by renumbering set as the default when the first duplication is found.

Thereafter, your last selection will be remembered and this will be the default. Therefore, if copying five assessment items, all of which need to be replaced if they exist, you will only need to select the Always replace this item option for the first of the items and it will be selected for the next four, automatically.

Most of the copying of assessment items is from one subject to other subjects in the currently selected academic cycles.

For example, when setting up your Accelerus database, the usual process is:

•	Assessment items for the first report run are set up in a typical subject, using a consistent coding system.

•	All or subsets of the items are then copied to other subjects.

•	Even if the assessment items' descriptions vary from subject to subject, often the base information in each will be similar, eg the marking schemes and tags. Changes may then be made in each subject to the descriptions of the assessment items so that they are pertinent to the subject.

For example, a school may have three outcome items coded OC1, OC2 and OC3. The description of these outcomes will vary in English compared to Maths, but it is easier to change just the descriptions than to begin from scratch with each subject's items.

Copy assessment items in an organised manner so that as little work as possible is required. For example:

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If all the English subjects have a similar set of assessment items with the same descriptions, set up one English subject and then copy its items to all other English subjects, plus one typical Maths subject. The Maths subject may be customised as required and then it can be copied to other Maths subjects, and so on.

•	If subjects have different numbers of outcomes and then all have a comment item, finalise all of the outcomes before copying the comment item to all subjects, so that it is always at the bottom and does not need to be moved down in some subjects.

Assessment items may only be copied from one subject to other subjects in the currently selected academic cycles, and not across academic cycles. Therefore, for example, where you have subjects in semester or term cycles and require duplicate sets of assessment items across semesters or terms, you cannot copy using this method.

However, the very powerful Rollover window can be used to copy across all cycles, whether they be years, semesters or terms.

When copying assessment items in a subject, you may select the subject itself to copy to, ie copy within the same subject.

In some instances, the subject itself was selected in error and, therefore, when the potential duplication box is displayed, you would skip instances of the same item being found in the same subject.

However, copying to the subject itself is very handy when you have annual subjects, in particular. In this case, you may have a set of assessment items for semester 1 and require an identical or very similar set for semester 2. All of the semester 1's items end with 1. You may copy the semester 1 items back into the same subject and have the semester 2 items automatically renumbered at the same time, ie the 1 suffix will be replaced with 2.

As seen below, we are copying from 07ENEN to 07ENG, ie the same subject, and because the item WHE1 exists, it will create a new coded WHE2. We can then use this for semester 2.

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Note, however, that when the items are copied, they will still have the same tags in the duplicated set as in the original. You will need to open the subject, change the first of the items copied to the correct tags and then fill this down to the other copied assessment items.

replace existing items

Often changes need to be made to the same items across many subjects.

For example, all subjects may have a COM1 item that allows 500 characters to be entered. If this needs to be increased for all subjects, a new marking scheme could be attached to the item in one subject and this may be copied to all other subjects, replacing the original.

The same process is followed to copy the assessment item to other subjects and, when the warning message regarding a potential duplication appears, the option to Always replace the item if it exists should be chosen, as shown below.

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If this option is chosen, the potential duplication message box will only appear once for each assessment item being copied and replaced.

If you inadvertently select subjects to copy to that do not already have the assessment item, the items being copied will be added to those subjects, as well as replacing any existing items.

Only use this replacement method where all of fields of the assessment item are the same across subjects, ie cannot use it to just replace the marking scheme and retain the original description, for example.

items

To copy assessment items, whether to create them or copy them over the top of existing ones, in other subjects or the same subject, the same steps are followed:

•	If not already opened, find the subject record required, using the normal selection procedures, via:

➢	The Subject Explorer window

➢	Quick Find.

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•	Open the subject in one of the following ways:

➢	Double click the subject's row to open it in its own tabbed window.

➢	Right click the subject and select the Open details option.

➢	Highlight it and click its Open details icon, in the bottom left-hand corner.

•	In the subject's Assessment Items tab, select the assessment items to be copied:

•	Click in an individual assessment item's row.

•	Select multiple individual rows by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking rows.

•	To select a contiguous set of rows, click the first row and, while holding down the Shift key, click the last of the rows required.

•	Click the Copy assessment items icon.

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•	Right click over the selected items and select the Copy assessment items option.

•	In the Copy assessment items to other subjects window:

➢	Find the subjects you wish to copy to, using the standard search and selection procedures.

For example, as shown below, all subjects in levels 7, 8 and 9 with 2012 as their academic cycle have been selected.

➢	With the number of subjects selected being displayed, click the OK button.

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Be careful that you do not select the subject you are copying from, unless you mean to do so. In the case above, we are wanting to copy the five work habit items to other subjects. Therefore, the subject 07ENEN should have been deselected, as this is the subject that is being copied from.

Because it has been selected, the warning message about a potential duplication will appear because we are copying within a subject. In this situation, we would choose the Skip this Assessment Item option.

•	If a warning message appears, informing you of potential duplications as the assessment item already exists:

➢	Carefully read the message so that you know which item is duplicated and in which subject.

➢	Select the appropriate action option.

In the situation below, the Skip this Assessment Item option has been selected as the duplication has been found copying into the subject itself and a duplicate item is not required.

➢	Click the OK button.

➢	Repeat for all other times the potential duplication message is displayed.

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•	At the end of the copying, click OK at the completion message, informing you of the number of assessment items copied.

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