When the instructor clicks on the Pattern button in the Preferences landing page or the Pattern button in the preferences toolbar, they will be taken to the screen seen in figure 2.2.3.1.

Figure 2.2.3.1: The Pattern Preference Screen

This screen has all of the patterns that the instructor's classes can have. The listing of the patterns is broken down into subsections, lab patterns, seen in figure 2.2.3.2, and lecture patterns, seen in figure 2.2.3.3, and within those subsections, sections are further broken down into how many days a week the class is to meet and how many min per week the class is to meet.

Figure 2.2.3.2: Lecture Subsections

In the above lecture subsection, there is a field called Other. This field is used if there isn't a pattern available that the instructor would like to teach. Upon submitting their preferences, the administrator can grant or deny this suggested pattern. In figure 2.2.3.3, the lab subsection, there is an option to have the lab follow immediately after the lecture, which by default is selected as yes.

Figure 2.2.3.3: Lab Subsections

In every subsection (figures 2.2.3.2 and 2.2.3.3), there is a day pattern, and a text field box. The text field is where the instructor can enter in any number ranging form 0 to 10. 0 means that they cannot teach that pattern under any circumstance. The numbers 1 to 10 are the levels of desirability, 1 being the least desirable pattern and 10 being the most desirable. A partially filled out pattern preference screen can be seen in figure 2.2.3.4.

Figure 2.2.3.4: A Partially Filled Out Pattern Preference Screen

Multiple text fields can be edited in the same manner as the time preferences and the class preferences. In short, the instructor page (section 2.2.1) highlight the text fields corresponding to the course they want to fill out, as seen in figure 2.2.3.5, and just enter in the value, as seen in figure 2.2.3.6.

Figure 2.2.3.5: Multiple Boxes Highlighted

Figure 2.2.3.6: Multiple Boxes Filled Out After Being Highlighted

Any text field with a 0 in it will be grayed out, as seen in figure 2.2.3.7, for the instructor to easily see what pattern they decided they cannot teach, and just like the time preference screen and course preference screen, these text boxes can still be edited at a later date.

Figure 2.2.3.7: Zeros gray Out Text Fields

If the instructor put 0's for an entire day on their time preference page (section 2.2.1), then any pattern that has that day will be automatically grayed out when they see the pattern prefernce page, as seen in figure 2.2.3.8 where the instructor decided he did not want to teach Friday class, and the text field cannot be edited unless the instructor edits their time preferences.

Figure 2.2.3.8: Text Fields grayed Out Due to the Pattern Not Being Available

Just like the time preference screen (section 2.2.1), and all the other preference screens, there is a save button for the instructor to save their progress at anytime. When the instructor is completely done filling out their pattern preferences, as seen in figure 2.2.3.9, they can click save to save what they have done so far.

Figure 2.2.3.9: Completed Pattern Preference Screen

If all the text boxes do not have a value assigned to it, as seen in figure 2.2.3.10, and the instructor clicks the save button, a pop up window will come up stating that not all the fields were filled out and will also ask if the instructor wants to fill the empty text fields with the default value of 5, as seen in figure 2.2.3.11.

Figure 2.2.3.10: Time Preference Screen with Empty Text Fields

Figure 2.2.3.11: Pop Up Window Stating Not All Fields Were Complete

If an instructor clicks "yes" then all the empty fields will be filled with a 5, as seen in figure 2.2.3.12, and save the preferences. If an instructor selects "no" then the pop up window will close and the instructor can fill in the blank boxes.

Figure 2.2.3.12: Empty Text Fields Filled in Automatically with the Default Value 5

If the instructor wants to close the window without saving any of the changes they have done all they need to do is click the "x" square button at the top right hand corner of the preference screen and they will be brought back to the preference landing screen.