Section Table Generator Help

Overview

The Section Table Generator is a World-Wide Web tool that allows users to access information about GVSU courses and sections over the internet.   Using the table generator, getting the information you want about GVSU section offerings is a simple drag-and drop process, but the tool has the flexibility to help you get exactly the data you need without a lot of unnecessary information.

The table generator consists of two principal sets of components:

1. About 25 colored boxes which represent the section characteristics that can appear in your table ("Pods");
2. A gray table diagram (at the bottom of the page), with white boxes representing the ways the data can appear in the table ("Slots").

For example, if you put the Section Location pod into one of the of the slots labeled "Row", it would specify a table that looks something like this:

The table shows the course sections taught at each of GVSU's campuses (and at some other locations), with the locations listed down the left side of the table. (You specified Section Location as a "Row" variable, so the table has a row for each location.) If you put Section Location in one of the slots labeled "Column" instead, the table would look like the following, with the locations listed across the top of the table:

When you've designed your table the way you want it to appear, click the "Submit Request" button, and your table will be created exactly as you've requested, and you can read it in your browser, print it, go back and modify the specifications, or open it up as a spreadsheet.

The parts of the window:

The available pods -- Here you'll find all of the variables you can use to design your table. The table diagram -- This is where you create your table layout. The white boxes are empty slots. Help and Table options -- The buttons on the left side of the page allow you to (a) access this help page, (b) specify whether you want an HTML table or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, (c) save or restore a pre-defined table layout, (d) submit your table request, or (e) reset all parameters to their initial values.

How to move a pod:

The easiest way to move a pod is just to click it and drag it to where you want it to be. Use the left mouse button to click and drag the pod, and release the button over the desired location to drop the pod. Pods can only be dropped in appropriate slots or in their "home" location. If you drop a pod anywhere else on the page, it will return to its "home" location. The home location is the space reserved for the pod in the list of available pods (the upper 2/3 of the page).

You can also move a pod by using its options menu. Left click on the pod to view the list of actions you can take with the variable. Among the options listed will be a list of places where the pod can be moved. These options will include some, but not all, of the following:

• Make it a COLUMN variable -- puts the pod in the highest available "Column" slot.
• Make it a ROW variable -- puts the pod in the highest available "Row" slot.
• Make it a PAGE variable -- puts the pod in the "Page" slot.
• Make it a DATA variable -- puts the pod in the highest available "Data" slot.
• Promote it -- Moves the variable to the next higher slot within the same table dimension. For example, a pod in the second "Row" slot can be promoted to the first "Row" slot.
• Demote it -- Moves the variable to the next lower slot within the same table dimension. For example, a pod in the first "Row" slot can be demoted to the second "Row" slot.
• Remove it from the table -- sends the pod back to its "home" location.
  
  For information about the difference between higher and lower slots within a table dimension, see the section on slot order below.

If you move a pod (either by drag-and-drop or the pod options menu) to a slot that is already occupied by another pod, the pods will trade places, with the displaced pod going to the place where the pod you moved started. (If the pod you moved was in its "home" location, the displaced pod will go to its own home, not to the exact spot where the new pod was located.) If the displaced pod is not allowed to occupy the slot from which you moved the new pod, the displaced pod will go to its home location instead.

Other things you can do with a pod:

In addition to moving a pod into, around in, or out of the table, there are several other useful actions available from the pod options menu. Not all options are available for all pods, and some options are context-sensitive -- they only appear on the options menu when the situation makes them appropriate.

The following actions may be available from the options menu:

• See more details about it in the data dictionary -- Opens this help page to the Data Dictionary entry for the variable. The data dictionary contains more extensive information about the variable, its values, and its formatting.
• Control the way values will be grouped in the table -- Opens the Formatting Window for the variable. The formatting window allows you to customize the way values of certain variables will be grouped in your table. This option is only available for selected variables and only when those variables are in a "Row", "Column", or "Page" slot.
• Use it for record selection -- Opens the Record Selection Window for the variable. The selection window allows you to limit the population included in your table to those sections with certain values of the variable.
• Clear its record selection setting -- Removes any current selection parameters for the variable. This option only appears if record selection parameters have been set (either by you or by default).
• Do nothing -- Closes the option window without making any changes. (Note that clicking the "X" at the upper right of the options window has the same effect.)

The parts of the table (the slots)

A table can show your information in up to four different ways: across the columns of the table; down the table in rows; broken up into many different table pages; or as the data element summarized within the table's individual cells.  The following example illustrates the 4 types:

The Table Generator allows you to select up to 2 column variables and up to 2 row variables.  You can select one page variable and up to 4 data elements.  If you select more than one data element, a new pod, Data Variables, will appear in your table diagram. This pod is a placeholder that controls how the multiple data variables will be dispayed in your table. You can move it around in your table (to other "Column", "Row", or "Page" slots), but the only way to remove it from the table is to remove "Data" variables until only one "Data" slot is occupied, at which time the Data Variables pod will disappear. The Data Variables pod will initially be placed in an empty "Column", "Row", or "Page" slot if possible. If all of those slots are filled, Data Variables will displace the pod in the second "Column" slot.

The following tables illustrate effects of different placements of Data Variables:

• Data Variables in a "Column" slot

  Course Prefix = FRE

  		Data Type
  		Number of Sections	Student Credit Hours
  Instructor Rank
  Assistant Professor		10	446
  Associate Professor		3	142
  Total		13	588

  ---

• Data Variables in a "Row" slot

  Course Prefix = FRE

  		Instructor Rank
  		Assistant Professor	Associate Professor	Total
  Data Type
  Number of Sections		10	3	13
  Student Credit Hours		446	142	588

  
  

  ---

• Data Variables in the "Page" slot

  Data Type = Number of Sections

  		Instructor Rank
  		Assistant Professor	Associate Professor	Professor	Total
  Course Prefix
  FRE		10	3		13
  GER		3		6	9
  Total		13	3	6	22

  
  

  ---

  Data Type = Student Credit Hours

  		Instructor Rank
  		Assistant Professor	Associate Professor	Professor	Total
  Course Prefix
  FRE		446	142		588
  GER		151		183	334
  Total		597	142	183	922

  ---

Table Layout Hints

1. Only use variables that you actually need.
2. Use record selection to trim the amount of data your table presents.
3. If you use variables with lots of different values (like SECTION ID or INSTRUCTOR), use them as row variables, since row variables take up much less space on your screen or page than column or page variables.

• Selecting a range:

  To select a range of values, simply enter the lower and upper bounds of the range in the appropriate boxes in the selection window. The default contents of the text boxes, "Low" and "High", are special values which can be used to create open-ended ranges. For example, "Low" to "50" is how you would select all values less than or equal to 50. (Note that selection ranges include both their lower and upper bounds.) You also have the option of excluding the values in the range (and keeping all others). To do this, select "Exclude" instead of "Include" in the first selection box.

  
  

• Selecting specific values:

  To make a single selection from the drop-down list, just click the desired value. To make multiple selections, select the first value by clicking it, then make subsequent selections by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking the additional values.

  
  

• Text string matching

  Type as much of the text value as you want. Use the ? and * wildcard characters to represent unknown characters. ? represents any single letter, numeral, or symbol (including space). * represents 0 or more letters, numerals, or symbols (including spaces). Note that a trailing * is presumed. That is, if you type "Clark" in the selection window for INSTRUCTOR you might get results for people named Clarkson as well as those named Clark. Examples: Smith, C Smith, Calvin Smith, Carl Smith, Carla Smith, Carol Smith, Charles Smith, Cheryl Smith, Cristine Smith, Ch Smith, Charles Smith, Cheryl Smith, C*r Smith, Carl Smith, Carla Smith, Carol Smith, Charles Smith, Cheryl Smith, Cristine Smith, C?r Smith, Carl Smith, Carla Smith, Carol Smith, Carl Smith, Carl Smith, Carla Smith, Carl? Smith, Carla

  All of the text-matching selection windows are case-insensitive, meaning that capital letters will be matched to their lower-case counterparts and vice versa. Additional information about text-matching is available in the appropriate data dictionary entries.

Applying your selection

When you have designated your selection criteria, click the "Done" button. The pod for which you just created selection criteria will now have asterisks (*) in its upper corners as a visual reminder that you have made exclusions. (Note that Term always has this appearance. See below for an explanation.)

If you specify selection criteria for more than one variable, those criteria are compounded -- sections must meet all selection criteria to be included in the table. For example, if you select undergraduate courses under Course Level and "SCH OF COMMUNICATIONS' for Department you will get data only for sections that are at the undergraduate level AND offered by Commmunication. (In logic terminology, you're making "and" operations, not "or" operations.) With these selections you could get the following table showing where School of Communication's various types of sections have been offered:

To remind you that your table shows a subset of GVSU sections rather than the entire population, there will be a small extra table at the end of each report that summarizes the selection criteria you submitted.  For the example above, the summary table looks like this:

Summary of Record Selection Criteria

You can generate tables with GVSU section data from a single semester or from multiple semesters. By default, tables will include data from the most recent semester.

Note that selecting more than one term in this step will not automatically result in a table that shows trend data.  You must also include Term as a table element (That is, the Term pod should be in the table diagram). If you use multiple terms' data, but do not specify TERM as a table variable, data will be aggregated across terms.

There are two types of formatting windows you may encounter. A few variables have a limited number of formatting options available, and their formatting windows present a drop-down list with the choices. In the Section Table Generator, Course Level and Instructor Rank are the only variables with these special formatting options. The formatting details are described in the data dictionary entry:    Course Level    Instructor Rank.

The other type of formatting window appears for continous variables -- that is, variables like Student Credit Hours or Enrollment that can take any value within an expected range. For these variables a default rule for separating the values into categories has been assigned (these are described in the variables' data dictionary entries), but you can apply a customized formatting rule if you want.

The custom formatting rule for a continuous variable can take either of two forms: a list of specific cutpoints, or an interval for equal-size ranges.

• To designate specific cutpoints, simply type the cutpoints in ascending order, separating the values with commas. For example if you want to see data about three groups of sections -- those worth 0 credits, those worth 1 to 3 credits, and those worth 4 or more credit hours -- you would type "1,4" (without the quotation marks) in the formatting window for Scheduled Hours.
• To designate intervals, you use the form "byRatL", where R is the size of each range and L is the low end of the lowest interval. For example "by10at15" specifies that each of the categories should span 10 units (let's say students, in the case of Enrollment), and the lowest 10-student range should start at 15. This would result in categories like 15-<25, 25-<35, 35 -<45, etc. Note that any values that are less than L will still be reported in a catch-all category labeled ".-<15". Either R or L or both can be a negative number or a decimal, but they cannot contain letters, special symbols (other than "-" and "."), or spaces. (Quotation marks in these instructions are for clarity -- you should not type them in the formatting window.)

The labeling for the categories created for continuous variables can be confusing. They take a form like "25-<35" which means "25 up to but not including 35". This is ugly and confusing, but it's necessary to account for the possibility that someone could have a value of 34.9. If we labeled the categories "25 - 34" and "35 - 44", it would be more pleasing to the eye, but it would not be clear what we should do with 34.9. In the table generator, formatting categories (unlike selection ranges) always include their lower bound but exclude their upper bound.

The lowest possible category for continuous variables will always have a period (.) as its lower bound. (This is the lowest possible category -- it will not necessary appear on your table, since categories that are empty are not printed.) The period represents missing data, meaning that the university does not know (or did not know at the time the data were captured) the value for that variable for one or more sections. Missing values are always the lowest possible value for the variable, so if it's important to distinguish between missing values and very low values, make sure you designate a cutpoint that will be lower than the lowest valid value you might find. Most of the default formats are already set up this way, so it should only be custom-formatted variables that require attention to this detail.

Some Grand Valley course sections are "cross-listed" -- a single section is listed in the course catalog under more than one section ID. By default, section characteristics are tabulated separately for each listing -- e.g. AAA 352 A and WGS 352 A are counted as two separate sections, even though they actually meet in the same room, at the same time, etc..

You have the option of treating cross-listed sections as a single section. To do so, check the appropriate box in the "Table Options" section of the main Section Table Generator window. Sections will be tabulated according to the characteristics of the "master" section record (as designated in the SIS system), but enrollment and capacity data will reflect the combination of all appropriate section listings. For example, the tables on the left pane below show results using the default behavior of not consolidating listings. The example on the right shows the same data, but with cross-listed sections combined. Notice that a message appears below the "Record Selection Criteria" table to remind you that cross-listed sections have been consolidated.

Data Type Student Credit Hours Enrollment Number of Seats Section ID AAA 352 A 57 19 15 GPY 352 A 105 35 35 MKT 352 A 120 40 40 WGS 352 A 42 14 15 Total 324 108 105 Summary of Record Selection Criteria Characteristic Selected Values Term Fall 2005 Section ID * 352 A Scheduled Hours 0.1-HIGH

Data Type Student Credit Hours Enrollment Number of Seats Section ID AAA 352 A 99 33 30 GPY 352 A 105 35 35 MKT 352 A 120 40 40 Total 324 108 105 Summary of Record Selection Criteria Characteristic Selected Values Term Fall 2005 Section ID * 352 A Scheduled Hours 0.1-HIGH Note that cross-listed courses are consolidated and categorized under the characteristics of the "master" section record.

   Following is a list of data elements available in the Section Table Generator.  A list or range of the extant values is given for each element.  Definitions or explanations are provided for selected elements/values.

• COLLEGE OF COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SERVICES
• COLLEGE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS
• COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES
• COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
• UNIVERSITY-WIDE INTERDISCIPLINARY INITS
• KIRKHOF COLLEGE OF NURSING
• PADNOS COLLEGE OF ENGIN. AND COMPUTING
• SEIDMAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

The instructor assigned to the section in the university's SIS records. Despite insistence by the Records office that all sections have their instructors attributed correctly, there are still some sections assigned to "STAFF." Since Table Generator data are reflective of data as they exist on the census date for the term (generally 1 week into classes), they are not corrected retroactively -- if a section appears as staff and you know who the real instructor was, it's too late to fix the table generator data, but please encourage department and college administration and staff to submit correct and timely information for future terms.

Names are formatted LAST, FIRST.

• ALLENDALE CAMPUS
• GRAND RAPIDS CAMPUS
• MUSKEGON
• OTHER GRAND RAPIDS LOCATIONS
• HOLLAND
• OUT OF COUNTRY
• OTHER MICHIGAN LOCATIONS
• TRAVERSE CITY
• OUT OF STATE

• CLINICAL STDY
• DISCUSSION *
• FIELD STUDY
• INDEP STUDY
• INTERNSHIP
• INDEP READING
• INTL STUDIES
• LABORATORY *
• LEC-DISC *
• LECTURE *
• LEC & LAB *
• PRACTICUM
• RESEARCH
• REHEARSAL *
• SEMINAR *
• STUDIO *

• THE ARTS
• PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE
• HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
• MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
• PHYSICAL SCIENCES
• LIFE SCIENCES
• SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

• WORLD PERSPECTIVES
• US DIVERSITY

• CHANGING IDEAS: CHANGING WORLDS
• EARTH AND ENVIRONMENT
• ETHICS
• FREEDOM AND SOCIAL CONTROL
• GENDER, SOCIETY AND CULTURE
• MAKING WAR AND PEACE
• PERSPECTIVES FROM THE OUTSIDE
• RELIGION
• REVOLUTION AND EVOLUTION IN THE AMERICAS
• SOCIETY AND MEDIA
• THE HUMAN JOURNEY
• THE U.S. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• DEATH AND DYING
• GLOBAL CHANGE: INTEGR. AND FRAG.
• HEALTH, ILLNESS, AND HEALING
• CITIES
• CREATIVITY: IDEAS & INNOVATION
• PERCEPTION
• THE AMERICAN MOSAIC
• DEMOCRACY
• SPORT & LIFE