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Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority

A-Level Biology Teacher Assessment Scheme

TAS Software Manual

June 2008

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Contents Pages

1. Copyright Notice 22. System Requirements 23. About TAS Software 24. Download and Install TAS Runtime (Optional) 35. Download TAS Subject Package 46. Install TAS Subject Package

6.1 Extract setup files 5

6.2

Install the subject package 6

7. Operate the TAS Subject Package7.1 Initial setup 77.2 Import student data from WebSAMS (optional) 87.3 Promote classes 107.4 Enter student data manually (optional) 117.5 Enter experiment information 127.6 Enter assessment marks 147.7 Enter attitude marks 147.8 Print assessment reports and charts 157.9 Maintenance of experiment title pool (optional) 177.10 Check out / Check in student assessments (optional) 187.11 Backup data (recommended) 217.12 Restore data from backup file (optional) 227.13 Export data for submission to the HKEAA 23

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1. Copyright NoticeTAS Runtime / TAS Subject Package

Copyright (c) 2002-2009 Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. All Rights Reserved.

The copyright of the following portions of the TAS Runtime and TAS Subject Package belongs to MicrosoftCorporation:

Access 2000 Runtime and The related files necessary for setting up, running and uninstalling the application.You may use the TAS Runtime and TAS Subject Package for the processing of Teacher Assessment Scheme data

for examinations conducted by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.

Except as permitted by the Copyright Ordinance, no part of this software may in any form or by any electronic,mechanical, photocopying, or other means be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or broadcast or transmittedwithout the prior permission of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.

2. System Requirements PC with Pentium 166 or higher processor Microsoft Windows 98 (Chinese or English), or

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 (Chinese or English) with Service Pack 5 or later, orMicrosoft Windows 2000 (Chinese or English), orMicrosoft Windows XP (Chinese or English)

64 MB RAM 88 MB hard-disk space for the TAS Runtime 10 MB hard-disk space for each TAS Subject Package VGA resolution of 800 x 600 or higher (1024 x 768 recommended)

3. About TAS Software The Teacher Assessment Scheme (TAS) software is designed for school teachers to enter TAS data and

print TAS reports and charts. It is developed using Microsoft Access 2000 or 2003. The TAS softwarefor a subject is composed of two components:

o a TAS Runtime component common to all subjects (irrespective of exam year), ando a TAS Subject Package component specific for each subject (for a specified exam year only)

To install the TAS Runtime or TAS Subject Package for Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000 andWindows XP, users need to log on as the administrator or as a user with administrative rights. Pleaseconsult the IT Technician of school for installation of the software with administrative rights.

TAS Runtimeo The TAS Runtime is a supplementary tool for running TAS Subject Package in a computer

without Microsoft ACCESS 2000 or 2003, i.e. if the users computer has a full version ofMicrosoft Access 2000 or 2003, there is no need to install the TAS Runtime.

o The TAS Runtime should be installed before the installation of TAS Subject Packages.o The TAS Runtime only needs to be installed for once in a personal computer, regardless of the

number of TAS Subject Packages to be installed in the computer.o The TAS Runtime can also be downloaded from the website of Microsoft Corporation.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?

familyId=0C8F40CA-9ECC-426A-AC5F-E1F98A6ACD73&displayLang=en(Please refer to Section 4 of this software manual for download and/or install TAS Runtime.)

TAS Subject Packageo The TAS subject package is used for a specified examination year only, e.g. the 2009 AL

Biology V2.2 Subject Package should only be used for entering TAS marks of the candidatestaking 2009 HKALE AL Biology exam.

o The TAS subject package can be downloaded from the HKEAA web site:http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk.(Please refer to Section 5 of this software manual for download and installation procedures ofthe TAS subject package.)

o Each teacher should install his/her own TAS subject package to enter TAS marks of his/herclasses. For team teaching, i.e. a team of teachers jointly responsible for more than one TASclasses, a coordinating teacher should be nominated as the representative of the teaching team

to enter all TAS assessment data of all classes taught by the team into one single software.

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4. Download and Install TAS Runtime (Optional)Users should install TAS Runtime before installation of TAS Subject Package, if his/hercomputer does not have a full version of Microsoft ACCESS 2000 or 2003. Users maydownload TAS Runtime from Microsoft Corporation website for installation.

Step 1 Access Microsoft Corporation Download Centre (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=0C8F40CA-9ECC-426A-AC5F-E1F98A6ACD73&displayLang=en).Download may automatically start. If not, you may click the link as follows to start download.

Step 2 Click Save to save the TAS Runtime zip file ART2KMin.exe in your computer.

Step 3 Double click the downloaded ART2KMin.exe to extract setup files. You may change the default foldername (e.g. C:\TAS Runtime\ART2KMin Setup) to any other names for storing unzipped files.

Step 4 Double click Setup.exe (file size = 256KB) in the unzipped files. You may click Install Now andfollow all default settings, or choose Customize to install the program files in a specified folder youpreferred.

Step 5 When this message appears, the TAS Runtime has completed successfully. Please restart computer beforestepping into Section 5 & 6 of this software manual for download and install TAS subject package.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3b

Step 3a (optional)

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5. Download TAS Subject PackageStep 1 ClickSBA() on the HKEAA home page (http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk).

Step 2 ClickSchool Teachers () at the left-top corner.

Step 3 Enter your User Name () and the corresponding Password () (the User Name/Passwordwould be announced in annual TAS teachers seminars.).

Step 4 ClickTeacher Assessment Scheme (Software/Information)()

Step 5 Click the relevant Software Manual and Subject Package and save them in a folder (e.g. name thefolder as 2009Bio) in your computer.

All the setup files necessary for installation have been packed together into one Package file, i.e.2009ALBiologyV2.3Package.exe. For installation, please follow the Section 6 in this software manual.

Step 3

Step 2

Step 4

Step 1

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6. Install TAS Subject PackageUsers should install TAS Runtime before installation of TAS Subject Package, if their computer does not have afull version of Microsoft ACCESS 2000 or 2003. (Please refer to Section 4 of this software manual for installationof TAS Runtime.)

If the same TAS subject package is installed a second time using the all default setting, ALL of the original datawill be removed without warning. Therefore, if you need to re-install the package after entering some data, youhave to run the Backup All Data function to save the data on a floppy diskette or at any specified directory.

Then re-install the package and run the Restore All Data function to recover all data.

6.1 Extract setup files(If teacher follows all default setting in the installation process, the extracted set up files would be stored inthe path C:\TempHKEAA.)

Step 1 Double-click and download 2009 Biology (Advanced Level) V2.3 Software Package fromHKEAA website (www.hkeaa.edu.hk SBA School Teachers).

Step 2 Specify a directory / folder name to store the extracted setup files.(The recommended folder name is HKEAA\TempHKEAA. You may change it to any othernames if necessary, e.g. type C:\2009Bio software to replace C:\TempHKEAA. Forsimplicity, you may wish to follow all default settings.)

Step 3 Check using the Windows Explorer if the output folder (default path C:\tempHKEAA) contains2009BiologyV2.3, setup and Setup.Lst file. If yes, the setup files have already been extractedsuccessfully.

optional

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6.2 Install the subject package

(If teacher follows all default setting in the installation process, after installation, all program files would bestored in C:\Program Files\2009 AL Biology V2.2.Logon\.)

Step 4 Double click setup to install the subject package.

Step 5 Click the Next button to start the installation procedures and follow all default settings duringinstallation process.

(Note: Teacher may also click Change Directory and change the default path to any other name,e.g. append CTM to the end of the default folder name for teacher Chan Tai Man, i.e. changethe folder name to C:\Program Files\2009 Biology V2.3 CTM. This is particularly important todifferentiate subject packages of different teachers, if they share the same computer.)

Step 6 Specify personalized program shortcut file in the Start Menu after installation, if two or moreteachers install their individual TAS subject packages in a single computer.

Teachers may use Window Explorer to change the folder name, e.g. append CTM to the end ofthe default folder name for teacher Chan Tai Man. This step can be repeated for other teachers.

Operating system Folder

Windows 98 C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\HKEAA

Windows NT C:\WINNT\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\HKEAA

Windows 2000 C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\HKEAA

Windows XP C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\HKEAA

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7. Operate the TAS Subject Package7.1 Initial setup

Step 1 Start the programThe software can be started up by choosing:Start/Programs/HKEAA/2009 AL Biology V2.3.

Step 2 Setup logon passwordThe password is setup by teacher for protecting the TAS data. After this initial setup, teachers shouldenter this password to start up the program.

Step 3 Enter school and teacher informationa. Click on Schoolb. Choose your school name from the pull down menu, the school code and group numberwill appear automatically. (If you cannot find your school name in the pull down menu, you

may type the school name, school code and group number manually.)c. Enter surname and other name of teacher.d. The logon password could be changed here at anytime

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7.2 Import student data from WebSAMS (optional)Teachers may opt to follow the procedures in this section to import student data (name of students, HKIDno., class, class no., etc.) from WebSAMS. Otherwise, teacher may use copy and paste function to transferthe data prepared by any software such as Excel to the software, or type in student data to the softwaremanually. (Please refer to Section 7.4 for procedures about Enter student data manually.)

Step 1 Extract student data from WebSAMS and prepare a file students.txt in a floppy diskette.(Note: If your school is using WebSAMS, you DO NOT need to receive any interface files fromthe HKEAA for extraction of students data.)

a. Login WebSAMS (leave TAS subject package and enter WebSAMS system for a while)b. Expand HKEAAc. Expand TASd. Click Create Diskettee. Select the target School Year, Class Level, Class Name and School Subjectf. Click Prepareg. Click OK to proceedh. Click download the Students.txt filei. Click Save to proceedj. Insert a floppy diskettek. Select Drive A and click Save to store the students datal. The file should be named as STUDENTS.TXT.

The file students.txt should contains 6 columns, with the field length/properties as specified in thefollowing table:

Field No. Field Name Type Length Details

1. Stud_ID Character 9 HKID without brackets.

2. Stud_Name Character 40 Student English Name.

3. Stud_Rep Character 1 A blank field.

4. Stud_Term Numeric 1 School Term, should be 6 or 7.

5. Stud_Class_N Character 4 Students Class, e.g. A or B

6. Stud_No Numeric 3 Students Class Number.

An example of student.txt is illustrated as follows:

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7.3 Promote ClassAt the beginning, student data would be stored under the class name of S6, i.e. 6A or 6B. After entering

all experiment information and assessment marks of S6, teachers should promote the student data to S7 for

entering information in S7. The attitude marks for students two-year performance can only be entered after

promote class.

Step 1 Promote Classa. Expand Classes Promote Classesb. Enter name S7 class name, e.g. 7A and 7B to the formc. Click the button Promote.

Step 2 Check student data after promotiona. Expand Students click an S6 class name, e.g. 6A, no student data remains in the data

sheet.

b. Expand Students click an S7 class name, e.g. 7A, the student data are transferred from6A to this data sheet.

Step 1a Step 1c

Step 1b

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7.4 Enter student data manually (optional)7.4.1 If the student data can be imported from WebSAMS directly, the data such as class, class no.,

Name of student in English, HKID card no. will be transferred to the software directly. Teachersonly need to enter Work in Chinese in the student data sheet.

7.4.2 If users prefer to enter the data manually, they may follow the following procedures:Step 1 Expand Class, enter a class name, e.g. 6C in the column Class.

(Note: the number of students of the class name newly created is 0 at this stage.)

Step 2 Expand Students 6C, enter Class no., Name of student in English, HKID Card no.and Work in Chinese manually.

Step 2a

Step 2b

Step 2c

Step 1aStep 1b

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7.5 Enter experiment informationStep 1 Enter experiment titles

a. Expand Experiments choose a class name.b. Enter a reference number for the experiment, e.g. 1, 2, 3,... under the column Expr. no.. The

Date of experiment would appear automatically.c. Choose an experiment title from the pull down menu under the column Title.

(Note: All experiments recommended in TAS Handbook can be chosen from the pull downmenu. Teachers may also enter experiment title manually, or import the experiment pool used

in previous year. Please refer to Section 7.9 about import and export of experiment pool.)

Step 2 Enter assessment area A informationArea A (Practical Skills and Abilities) A1: ability to organize and perform practical work (max 10 marks), and A2: ability to make good-quality biological drawing with annotations (maximum 5 marks)If the experiment does not aim at assessing area A, leave SCA, A1 and A2 as blank,otherwise, specify the details about area A as follows:

a.

Put a tick in the column of SCA if this is a Split Class assessment for area A, i.e. SplitClass means some students are assessed, others are not.b. Choose from the pull down menu of column A1 to specify if this experiment assesses for

animal dissection (D: Dissection) or use of microscope (MS: Microscopy). If OT:Others is chosen, the relevant information should be provided in the Remarks column.

c. Choose from the pull down menu of column A2 to specify if this experiment assesses forHP: High-power drawing, LP: Low-power drawing or WS: Whole specimens dissection

drawing.

Step 1a

Step 1bStep 1c

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Step 3 Enter assessment area B informationArea B (Reporting of Investigatory Work) B1: quality of the written accounts on the design and method of investigation (max. 15 marks) B2: quality of the recording and presentation of results (max. for B2 and B3 = 15 marks) B3: quality of the interpretation of the results and conclusion (max. for B2 and B3 = 15 marks)If the experiment does not aim at assessing area B, leave SCB, B/Topic, B/B1, B/TH,B/2M and B/3M as blank, otherwise, specify the details about area B as follows:

a. Put a in the column of SCB if this is a Split Class assessment for area B, i.e. SplitClass means some students are assessed, others are not.

b. Specify the assessment topic for area B from a pull down menu in the column B/Topic

c. Put a in the column B/B1 if B1 is assessed earlier than B2 and B3.d. Put a in the column B/TH if this is a take-home-report.e. Enter the maximum marks for area B2 and B3 in the columns B/2M and B/3M

respectively. The maximum marks for B2 and B3 should be equal to 15.

Step 4 Enter assessment area C and D informationa. Put a in the column C if the experiment assesses students experience in Rat Dissection.b. Put a in the column D if the experiment assesses students experience in Ecology Field

Work.

Step 5 Copy experiment information between classesTeachers may copy and paste experiment titles between classes, if the experiments for all classesare similar.a. Click on the left-top cell of the data sheet to highlight whole sheet

b. Click copy on the menu bar.c. Expand experiments click another class.d. Click on the left-top cell of the data sheet to highlight the blank data sheet as step 5a.e. Click paste on the menu bar.

click on this cell tohighlight the wholedata sheet

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7.6 Enter assessment marksStep 1 Open mark sheet for entering marks

a. Expand Assessmentb. Expand a class name, e.g. 6A expand an experiment title.

(Note: the first three columns Class no. and Name of student in this data sheet are fordisplay purpose only. If teachers need to amend this student information, please expandstudents to open student data sheet for amendments.)

Step 2 Indicate Abs, NAA or NAB

a. Abs: Abs abbreviates for Absence. If some students are absent from this assessment,teachers should specify the reason of absence from a pull down menu in this column.

b. NAA: NAA abbreviates for Not Assess Area A. If some students are not assessed for areaA, teacher should put a in NAA and there is no need to enter mark A1 and A2. Ifteachers did not put a in SCA column in experiment sheet, NAA column would notappear in the mark sheet.

c. NAB: NAB abbreviates for Not Assess Area B. If some students are not assessed for areaB, teacher should put a in NAB and there is no need to enter mark B1 to B3. If teachersdid not put a in SCB column in experiment sheet, NAA column would not appear inthe mark sheet.

Step 3 Enter Marksa. Mark A1 must be between 0 and 10.b. Mark A2 must be between 0 and 5.c. Mark B1 must be between 0 and 15.d. Mark B2 must be between 0 and maximum mark of B2 (B/2M) set by teacher; Mark B3 must

be between 0 and maximum mark of B3 (B/3M) set by teacher. B2 + B3 should not exeeds 15.e. If teachers give 0 mark to a certain assessment, they should also enter explanations for zero

mark(s) in the last column.

7.7 Enter attitude marksa. Expand Attitude Marks 7A (the mark sheet would not show up before Promote Class, please

refer to session 7.3 regarding details about Promote Classes.)b. Enter a mark between 0 and 5 in the column Attitude Marks

Step 1a

Step 1b

For display only,cannot be amended

Step a

Step b

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7.8 Print assessment reports and charts7.8.1 Types of documents to be printed:

Optional lists (for teachers own reference only) Reports and Charts (for submission to the HKEAA)

7.8.2 Steps to print documents:Step 1 Expand Optional Lists or Print Reports and ChartsStep 2 Click a report name to print the report for ALL classes or expand a report name and then

choose a class to print the report for the selected class only

7.8.3 Mockup of documents: Optional lists (for teachers own reference only):

1. Print Student List by Level by Class Number

2. Print Student List by Level by Name of Student

Reports and Charts (documents for the submission of assessment records to the HKEAA):1. Print Experiment List

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2. Print Academic Term Report

3. Print Zero Mark Report

4. Print Mark Summary Sheet (only available in S7)

5. Print Assessment Charts

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7.9 Maintenance of experiment title poolTeachers may export experiment titles pool data from the TAS software if they wish to make use of theexperiment pool in the subsequent exam year. The exported experiment title pool can be imported to theTAS software of next exam year at a later stage. The software also support simple Window copy andpaste function, that teachers may copy the experiment title pool directly and paste it in an excel. At a laterstage, teachers can copy the data in excel and paste it in the data sheet of TAS software of next exam year.

7.9.1 Export experiment title pool dataStep 1 Expand Experiment Titles Pool Export Experiment Titles Pool Data

Step 2 When the following screen appears, the experiment pool data is exported successfully.

7.9.2 Import experiment title pool dataStep 1 Expand Experiment Titles Pool Import Experiment Titles Pool Data

Step 2 When the message Import of Experiment Pool Data completed appears, the importingprocedures are completed.

Step 1a

Step 1b

Step 1c

Step 1a

Step 1b

Step 1c

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7.10 Check Out (Delete) / Check In Student Assessments (optional)If some students transfer from one class to another class in the same school during the two-year course,teacher may use the check out (delete) function to export the data of these students in a floppy disketteand pass the diskette to the new teacher for importing (use check in function) the data to his/her software.

If some students left schools or withdraw the subject during the two-year course and therefore would notparticipate in 2007 AL Biology Examination, teacher may use the check out (delete) function to removethe data of these students from the software.

7.10.1 Check Out (Delete) Student AssessmentsStep 1 Setup password to protect the checked out student data

a. Expand Check Out / Check In Check Out (Delete) Student Assessmentsb. Enter a password twice. Click OK to confirm the password.

(Note: this password is ONLY used for protecting the exported student data. It may ormay not be the same as the password used to start up the software. Teacher should passthe diskette containing the exported data together with this password to the new teacher.Teacher would not be able to retrieve the exported student data without this password.)

Step 2 Choose the names of the students to be checked outa. Insert a floppy diskette into A: drive, choose the names of the students to be checked

out, put a tick in the box of the column check out?(Note: if you dont have an A: drive, when a pop up window appears to ask you insertdiskette to A: drive, please specify a directory to store the exported data.)

b. Click Check out.

Step 3 When the message Checkout completed. appears, it means the data of the studentschosen have been transferred to floppy diskette.

Step 1a

Step 1b

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7.10.2 Check In Student AssessmentsStep 4 Setup a password for importing student data

a. Expand Check Out / Check In Check In Student Assessmentsb. When the following screen appears, enter the password set-up when exporting data.

Click OK to confirm import.

Step 5 When the follow screen appears, insert the floppy diskette containing checked out studentdata to A: drive, click open.

Step 6 Confirm the name of students to be checked in. For those students not to be imported,teacher may cancel the tick in the box under the column Check In?

Step 7 When the message Check in completed appears, that means the student data has beenimported successfully.

Step 1a Step 1b

Step 2

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7.10.3 Change the class name of the imported student dataStep 1 Change the class name

a. Expand Students click the class name of the imported data, usually there will bea # with the class name.

b. Change the class name with # to an existing class name, e.g. change 7A#1 to7A.

Step 2 Delete the class name with a #a. Expand the Classes in left frame.b. Highlight the row with the class name with a # and click delete button in thekeyboard.

c. Expand the Students to check if the class name with a # disappeared or not.

Step 2a

Step 2b

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7.11 Backup Data (recommended)Step 1 Enter password

a. Expand Backup and Restore Back up ALL Data.b. Enter a password twice to protect backup data. This password may or may not be the same as

that used to logon the software. Insert a floppy diskette to Drive A: and then click OK.(Note: Users may specify any directory other than floppy diskette to store the backup data.)

Step 2 When this dialogue box appears, it is recommended not to change the default file name of thebackup file and click Save/ directly.

Step 3 The backup data procedures are finished when Backup of all data completed appears.

Step 1a

Step 1b

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7.12 Restore data from backup file (optional)Step 1 Enter password

a. Click Backup and Restore Restore ALL Datab. Enter the password you setup before for protecting the backup data.c. Insert the floppy diskette containing backup data file to Drive A: and click OK.

(Note: If the backup data was not stored in a floppy diskette, users need to specify thedirectory for storing backup data.)

Step 2 Choose the backup file in the floppy diskette and click Open/.

Step 3 The restore data procedures are finished when the message Restore of all data completedappears.

Step 1a

Step 1b

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7.13 Export data for submission to the HKEAAStep 1 Enter HKEAA reference number

a. Click Export data for submissionto the HKEAA, when thefollowing screen appears in theright frame, enter the HKEAAReference which should be foundin the left bottom corner of the

Mark Summary Sheet.b. Insert a floppy diskette to Drive A:c. Press the button OK.

Step 2 A text OK would appear in the column Result of Data Consistency Check if no error isfound. Then a dialogue box would appear as follows. It is recommended not to change thedefault file name of the export file and clickSave/ directly.

Step 3 The exporting procedures are finished when the message Export completed appears.

Step 2

Step 1a Step 1b