LogiSkor Help

LogiSkor is a program for keeping track of student scores from LogiCola, an instructional program that goes with Gensler's Introduction to Logic (Routledge Press). Both programs (including their help files) are copyrighted © 2008+ by Harry J. Gensler.

Both programs can run in Windows, Macintosh, or Linux. LogiSkor running in any of these systems can process LogiCola scores generated in any of these systems.

LogiCola Assignments
I assign LogiCola exercises to go with each written exam; for example, I assign 11 exercises (AEM, AET, AHM, AHT, BC, BD, BE, BF, BH, BI, and BS) to go with my exam on syllogistic logic. My syllabus tells students how these exercises work into their grading:

You'll do much of your homework on computer using the LogiCola program. Download LogiCola from http://www.harryhiker.com/lc. Give me your scores on a USB flash drive or by e-mail when you take the corresponding written quiz; I won't accept scores after I return the quiz. Try to do the exercises at an average level of 7 or higher (levels go from 1 to 9).
Your exercise scores add a bonus or penalty to your exam score. Let's say your average level (dropping fractions) is N. You get a +1 bonus for each number N is above 7; so you get a +2 bonus if N=9. You get a -1 penalty for each number N is below 7; so you get a -3 penalty if N=4. If you fake scores, your course grade will be lowered by one grade.

At exam time, most of my students send me their scores by e-mail; but a few bring their USB flash drives to the test, where I process scores using the classroom computer or my laptop.

Collecting Scores by E-mail
To send LogiCola scores by e-mail, students bring up TOOLS | VIEW SCORES within LogiCola, click PASTE TO E-MAIL, and then follow the directions. You'll receive an e-mail with score data and directions about how to process this data, like this:

  LogiCola scores from Harry Gensler (Nov 22, 2012).

  Teachers: To process the scores, start LogiSkor; then
  highlight the whole e-mail (or hit Ctrl-A), or at
  least highlight the dashed lines and everything in
  between, and then just click COPY (or hit Ctrl-C).

  ==--==--==
  A5B9E41F7D GENSLER HARRY AEM9
  C42F5A6A45 GENSLER HARRY BF9
  ==--==--==

  Students: Don't delete or tamper with any
  part of what you pasted!

This method works fast and checks the authenticity of the scores. If you want to respond to a student's e-mail, then in your e-mail program click REPLY, click PASTE (Ctrl-V) to put "Thanks, I recorded the scores!" into the e-mail, and then click SEND.

In Macintosh, use the command key (⌘) to highlight, copy, and paste. So ⌘-A highlights the whole e-mail, while ⌘-C copies it (so LogiSkor can get the scores); and ⌘-V pastes "Thanks, I recorded the scores!" into your return e-mail.

Collecting Scores from Flash Drives
At exam time, I use the classroom computer (or bring my laptop), attach a couple USB extension cords to the computer (some USB hubs work well too), start LogiSkor, check AUTORECORD, and have my students insert their USB flash drives into the extension cords. Scores record automatically. When the student's name appears on the screen (and the student can see this or else I call the student's name), then the student's scores have been recorded. AUTORECORD automatically records scores from all folders of inserted flash drives; several flash drives can be inserted at once.

If you're running LogiSkor under Windows, students can remove their flash drives after their scores have recorded.
If you're running LogkSkor under Macintosh, you have to eject properly each flash drive (e.g. right-click it and then pick eject) before the flash drive is removed, or else your Mac will complain and the files on the flash drive may be corrupted.

If you prefer not to use AUTORECORD, you can double-click a flash drive that is listed in the right-hand box, or else single-click it and then click the RECORD button.

All these methods search the flash drive for all Score.lc files, even those on deeply buried folders. If more than one Score.lc file is found, you can examine the contents of each by clicking the down arrow next to the BROWSE button. A flash drive whose scores have been recorded has its name displayed in lower case.

Processing Collected Scores
After I've collected scores, I click SELECTED EXERCISES to display just the exercises I assigned. I click EVERY STUDENT to display scores from every student, and I click VIEW SCORE COLLECTION FILE. I click LEVEL (under the TOOLS menu) to make sure that 7 is the expected scoring level. Then I click PRINT to preview a score report that lists the students, what exercises they did, and their resulting bonus or penalty. If it all looks right, I again click PRINT to get a neat printout of student scores.

The score report will mirror your current settings. So you can generate a score report for every student, or just one student; for all exercises, or just selected exercises; and based on a student score-file, or a score collection file. Generally you'll want a score report for every student, for selected exercises, and based on a score collection file.

LogiSkor Boxes and Buttons
LogiSkor has three listboxes at the top, the first two listing student names and exercises. You can set these two to display in various ways:

You can have the exercise listbox display scores from EVERY STUDENT or just ONE STUDENT (click the name of the student whose scores you want to display).
You can have the exercise listbox display ALL EXERCISES or just SELECTED EXERCISES.
You can have the information be based on a specific STUDENT SCORE.LC FILE (for example, a score file on a USB flash drive or one just sent by e-mail) or on your SCORE COLLECTION FILE.

To select just some exercises (such as the ones you assigned), first use the settings that display the most exercises (show ALL EXERCISES from ALL STUDENTS and the SCORE COLLECTION FILE). Then hold down the CTRL key and click-highlight the exercises you want to select; you may have to click the scrollbars up and down to get to some of them. Then click SELECTED EXERCISES.

To delete a student from the SCORE COLLECTION FILE (perhaps a student who dropped your course), highlight the student's name and hit the DELETE key; you will be asked to confirm the deletion.

The third listbox at the top displays USB flash drives. These display when you insert them. To display a flash drive that is already inserted when you start LogiSkor, remove the flash drive and then insert it again. (In Macintosh, eject it properly before removing it.) As mentioned above, you can use AUTORECORD or else double-click a flash drive or else single-click a flash drive and then click RECORD. LogiCola will record every Score.lc from every folder of a flash drive, and then put the drive's name in lower case to show that its scores have been recorded.

On occasion, you might want to browse for a folder containing a Score.lc file; then you can click the BROWSE button to find the desired folder, and then click RECORD. You might do this, for example, if you want to record a specific Score.lc file from a flash drive without recording ALL the Score.lc files on a flash drive. You'll might never need to do this.

If somehow the flash drive doesn't show on the list, just type its letter followed by ":" (like "F:) and click RECORD. If you type "F:\" instead, then LogiSkor will just search the root directory for the Score.lc file.

If your flash drive is "F," then a Windows or Linux flash drive will generally have the score file on a "F:\LC" folder, while a Macintosh flash drive may have it there or at "F:\" or at "F:\logicola.app\contents\resources\drive_c\program files\logicola\lc" (sometimes with a duplicate at "F:\logicola.app\drive_c\program files\logicola\lc"). But you'll generally not have to worry about this, since you'll just have LogiSkor record ALL the Score.lc files on a flash drive.

The instructor's SCORE COLLECTION FILE is initially named "Data.lco," and you could just keep it that way. Then at the beginning of a new semester, you'll want to erase the old "Data.lco" file that had scores from the previous semester's students.

There's no command for saving score collection files, since these are saved automatically when you add student scores to them.
If you want to create a new score collection file, type a suitable name (e.g., "Fall12" or "Fall 2012 logic classes") in the score-collection-file box; the ".lco" ending will be added if you don't type it. If you've used various score collection files, you can switch between these files by clicking the down arrow.
If you want to keep score collection files in a folder of your own choosing, then click the OPEN button. This brings up a file browser where you can travel to other folders and open their score collection files or create new such files (by typing a new name in the little box).
If LogiSkor isn't running, you can click an ".lco" score collection file to load it into LogiSkor. (If you click a student "Score.lc" file, it instead brings up a little dialog box from LogiCola for viewing or printing the scores.)

Students who complete an exercise more than once get credit for the highest score at which they completed it. Special codes verify that the scores listed come from the program and not from a student manipulating the Score.lc file. If the verification code isn't authentic, LogiSkor will note that the score is faked and not give the student credit. The code is sophisticated and should be difficult or impossible to break.

Menu Commands
LogiSkor's menu bar has various commands:

FILE MENU:
- PRINT: Previews the score report and gives various printing options. The score report mirrors how you set things up -- for example, to list all exercises (or only selected ones), to include all students (or only one), and to be based on your score collection file (or on individual student Score.lc files).
- EXIT: Quit the program.
TOOLS MENU:
- LEVEL: Lets you specify an expected scoring level (I use 7). LogiSkor calculates a bonus or penalty on this basis. The bonus/penalty = the first digit of the student's average level (on assigned exercises) minus the expected level. For example, if Jones has an average level of 8.7 and the expected level is 5, then the bonus is +3 points.
- HELP BALLOONS: Lets you turn these off once you know how the program operates.
- BIG WINDOW: Lets you choose between a smaller and a larger size window for LogiSkor. The larger size is useful if you have students insert flash drives in "Autorecord" mode where they remove their drive when they see their name appear.
- CLOUD SYNC: Lets you sync configuration info (in the LogiSkor.ini file) and LogiSkor score collections (files ending in ".lco") between various computers.
- UPDATE: Checks if you have the latest version of the program. If you need to update LogiSkor, you can then do so by just clicking YES.
- RUN LOGICOLA: This displays if you have LogiCola in the same folder.
HELP MENU:
- HELP: Gives you the help file you are now reading.
- ABOUT: Gives you the "about box," which displays the current version, program folders, and important Web addresses.

A small toolbar to the right of the menu provides additional access to the PRINT, LOGICOLA, and HELP commands.

Concluding Remarks
I finished LogiSkor in August 2008, and then thoroughly revised it in fall 2011; I urge you to e-mail me at gensler@jcu.edu about any bugs or suggestions. LogiSkor is file-compatible with any version of LogiCola since 2002 and with the older MC-SCORE score processor.