Sekonic SR-3500's ready to scan NCS compatible green and blue scan forms seen below.
NCS Compatible Scan Forms
(click on the forms for a larger image)
10 Question Green Form
5 Question Blue Form
These forms can be purchased at the campus bookstore or the convenience store located in the union. The green form has ten choices for each answer and the blue form has five choices for each answer. When students fill out these forms it is important that the name field is filled out with the appropriate letters filled in below the name. See the Example of a Correct Student Scan Form for more information. If this is not done the scanner will report an error. Also make sure none of the forms are damaged. Damaged forms cannot be checked. There are two sets of preprinted marks that help the scanner read the form. They are the "Skunk Marks" and the "Timing Marks". See the picture below for the location of these marks.
It is important that you use NCS compatible forms as the OMR is specifically designed to check these forms. The five and ten response NCS forms are the standard forms used for surveys and tests. If you wish to use other NCS forms, contact Information Technology at 766-2939 to find out what support we can offer.
Once you have the filled in the scan forms and wish to process them, here is what you must do. First complete a cover scan form. For test grading this will be ananswer key, for teacher evaluations this will be a form filled out with the instructor’s information, and for surveys this may be general information about the survey.
Once this is completed you will need to go to the Information Technology Center to process the forms. The OMR's are located in room 101A. When you come into the lab go behind the lab assistant’s desk. The OMR's and the computers connected to them are located there on the table just left and right of the color printer. Printed versions of the OMR istructions explaining how to scan, process, and print are located in a binder near each machine. Also inside each binder is a printed version ofScanning Errors. It is a handy reference when problems occur. If you wish to print on the scanned forms, please contact the fulltme staff during regular business hours.
At this point you should determine what kind of forms you are going to process, test forms, teacher evaluations, Cafeteria teacher evaluations, or surveys. Those links will take you to the How To Pages of processing each type. Before you start it is important to note that the system is case sensitive. You will need to type in all responses exactly how they appear in the How To Pages for the type of forms you will be scanning. If you do not, problems will occur. Sit down at the computer and follow the directions for the type of forms you will be scanning. When you start, the computer prompt should be Count>. If not ask the computer lab assistant for help; they will correct the problem. In the second step of the How To Pages the directions specify to accept the defaults. Advanced users and users with more than one answer key may want to change these. For directions on changing these defaults see theChanging Scan Defaults page. Most users will not need to do this. We recommend pressing return on the keyboard at each prompt to accept the defaults. After completing the first few steps in the How To Pages for your form type, the computer will prompt you to PUT THE STACK OF FORMS IN THE INPUT TRAY. Meaning it is time to load the scanner with your scan forms.
There are a few things you should know about the Optical Mark Reader that will help you understand how to scan the forms. In the How To documents there are OMR related terms that may seem confusing. Use the following picture to guide you when you come across terms referring to the parts of the scanner.
The Optical Mark Reader
The input hopper holds the forms to be scanned. The Sheet Guide is used to keep forms aligned in the hopper. This is important as forms not properly aligned will become jammed in the scanner. Actual scanning occurs on the Transport bed. Once a form is scanned it comes to rest in the Output Stacker. The Operator Panel displays the scanner status and any error messages. If the scanner stops scanning in the middle of a job check the Operator Panel for information.To load the scanner place your forms in the hopper so that they are readable to you and the timing marks are on the same side as the Operator Panel. The picture above shows how to load the scanner. Never place more than 300 forms in the input hopper at a time as this causes the scanner to jam.
