Teaching School: constraints

Asking the teachers for constraints

On the "Teachers" screen tick the teachers and tap "Send constraint request (N)". A window "Constraint request - recipients and language" opens: each email goes out in the language of the person who gets it (the default), and you can change the language for this send only, for everyone ("One language for everyone") or for one teacher (Hebrew, English, Russian, Arabic or "Hebrew and English together"). Then tap "Send (N)".

• Requests can be sent only after you confirm the school's own email address (the confirmation message arrives when you sign up). If it is not confirmed yet, the screen says so and offers to send the confirmation message again.
• The teacher gets an email with a link only. The email cannot be replied to.
• The link is personal and works once. It is valid for 30 days.
• Up to 3 requests a day per teacher. Anyone the request was not sent to appears in the list with the reason (no address, archived, viewer, or the limit on requests).
• On the "Constraints" screen open "Requests sent to teachers" to see, for each teacher, whether the request was sent, whether the link was opened and whether it was answered. "More" also has a list of all the messages the system sent.

What the teacher sees

The teacher taps the link and lands on a page called "The request from your school". The page does not open by itself: you tap "Open the form". In the form:

• "In your own words": free text, for example "I cannot on Tuesdays, and I would rather finish by period 6".
• "Days I am not available" and "Most periods a day" - both optional.
• "Send". The teacher can come back and add more, and everything given is shown with its state: waiting for approval, approved or not accepted.

The teacher has no password. A link that was already used or has expired shows "This link no longer works", and from there they can ask for a new link to their own address ("Send me a link"). That link is valid for 15 minutes and works once. After the link is opened, the sign-in stays open for 12 hours and is limited to this page: the teacher cannot see anything else in the school.

Constraints and approval

The "Constraints" screen has three tabs: "School", "Teachers" and "Classes". You can also write a constraint yourself in the "A new constraint" form - freely, the way you would say it.

• For each constraint "What was written" and "What the system understood" are shown side by side, with the confidence. When needed, the part of the text the constraint was taken from is shown too.
• The system reads the text and suggests what it means. The suggestion is not binding: no constraint takes effect until someone at the school has approved it.
• A constraint the system is not sure about, or did not understand, is marked "Needs a look". A constraint that was not understood cannot be approved as it is: tap "Fix", define it in the fields, and "Save and approve".
• "Approve" approves what the system understood. "Reject" rejects it. An approved constraint can be undone with "Withdraw approval".
• If you shorten the school day or remove a school day in "More", every constraint that mentions a day or a period the school no longer has goes back to "Needs a look" with an explanation of what changed, even if it was approved before. It has to be fixed or rejected - it cannot be approved as it stands.
• The filter at the top of the list: "Waiting", "Approved", "Rejected" or "All".
• If a very large number of texts arrives at once, some of them are saved without analysis. You can define them with "Fix".

The kinds of constraints

In "Fix" you choose one of seven kinds. A constraint the system did not understand stays as free text until you define it.

• "Not available": days and lessons when the teacher cannot.
• "Max periods a day": the most lessons in a day.
• "A subject only at / never at": a subject that is given only at certain times, or not given at them.
• "Consecutive periods": a minimum and a maximum of consecutive lessons.
• "A shared room": the name of a room and how many classes can use it at the same time.
• "A subject on the same day": how many more lessons of the same subject are allowed on the same day (0 = never two).
• "A preference": days or lessons where it is better to place lessons or to avoid them, or that the homeroom teacher opens the day.

Every constraint is either "must" or "wish". For a wish you set "How much it matters" from 1 (barely) to 9 (very important). Write lessons like this: 1-3, 6. An empty lessons field means the whole day, and days with no mark mean every day. The tabs "School", "Teachers" and "Classes" show constraints by what they apply to.

Checking and approving a constraint, step by step

1. On the "Constraints" screen choose the filter "Waiting".
2. Open a constraint and read "What was written" and "What the system understood" side by side, with the confidence in percent.
3. A clear constraint: press "Approve".
4. A constraint marked "Needs a look": press "Fix", choose the kind, the days and the lessons, and for a wish also how important it is, then press "Save and approve".
5. A constraint that should not enter the solve: press "Reject".
6. To write a constraint yourself fill in "A new constraint": who it is about and what should happen, then press "Add". It too waits for your approval.